The huge lead mines on the Upper Mississippi River were opened by the U.S. Government for leasing in 1822. The nearest neighbors to the first miners were 90 miles south, Fort Armstrong, at Rock Island, Illinois, and 90 miles north, Fort Crawford, at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. They lived among the Fox and Sauk and the Winnebago Indians tribes who also claimed the lead mines.
In the rush to get rich, family members spread out over the entire Lead Mine Region. The first miners worked around Galena, Illinois, in JoDaviess County, working north into Grant, Iowa and LaFayette Counties, Wisconsin. The Dubuque County, Iowa, lands were not available to American miners until 1833 as designated in the Blackhawk War Treaty. Families split to claim the rich mines or to open a branch store unconcerned with state or county boundaries.
The following census also includes Clayton and Jackson Counties in Iowa. Though no mining is known to have occurred in those counties, these families might be connected to the leadmine people.
Many of the people in the following census were squatters. The Federal Government owned must of the lands. The city lots in Galena were sold in 1836 after a two year investigation of who had the first right to purchase the lots. Non-mineral lands in Wisconsin were also sold. :A huge investigation was undertaken when some of these lands were found to contain rich lead deposits. Some St. Louis men claimed title to the Dubuque lands by purchase from Julien Dubuque who had a grant from the Spanish Governor during Spain's tenure. Not until the 1850s did the U.S. Supreme Court declare the title to reside with the Dubuque residents..
In the late 1840s the President of the United States decided to put all these lands up for sale for $1.25 an acre. Lands with mineral deposits were to be charged $2.50 an acre. Preemption, giving those who had settled and improved the lands the first right to purchase, was denied. Boundary disputes were settled by township boards of arbitrators. A designated person purchased a block of the lands from the land office which were then deeded back to each claimant.
This census transcription is an effort to locate people in the leadmine region. Most census transcriptions stop at a county line or a state boundary. This census like the early leadminers ignores these boundaries grouping all the leadmine families together in one census transcription.
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Crawford County, Wisconsin |
Crw |
Grant County, Wisconsin |
Grt |
Iowa County, Wisconsin |
Iowa - (latter divided into LaFayette and Iowa Counties) |
JoDaviess County, Illinois |
JoD |
Dubuque County, Iowa |
Dbq |
Clayton County, Iowa |
Cly |
Jackson County, Iowa |
Jck |
The second column of the census is the District within each County
Crawford County, Wisconsin |
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Prairie du Chien |
PduC | |
This includes Fort Crawford under General Brooke with 167 males. Chippewa River Cr Co. is indicated on page 10 of the census which would have involved forestry operations around Eau Claire, WI | ||
Grant County, Wisconsin | ||
Eastern District |
East | |
Western District |
West | |
City of Platteville |
Pltvl | |
No inidication is made what the dividing line was between the eastern and western districts | ||
Iowa County, Wisconsin |
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Eastern District |
East |
designated by the census taker as Range one and two East |
Western District |
West | |
Dubuque County, Iowa |
First District 1st
Includes the city of Dubuque
Second District 2nd
JoDaviess County, Illinois
City of Galena Gal
West Galena Wgal
Vinegar Hill Vhill
Council Hill Chill
East Fork Efork
Pleasant Grove PlGrv
Imus Imus
Small Pox Spox
Apple River AppR
McDonald McDld
Plum River Plum
Scales Mound Scls
Clay County, Iowa
First District 1st
St. Peters Precinct StPtr
The census taker describes this as the Second District including
a tract of county six hundred miles in extent. This includes
Fort Snelling on the Minnesota River (then called St. Peter's)
though no census count appears for the fort.
Jackson County, Iowa
No District designation was made
Column 3 is the Head of Household
Column 4 and 5 are the Age Statistics for the males and females in each household. The ages included in each category are at the bottom of the page in a footer. If an age category had more than nine people, an asterisk [*] or pound sign [#] was substituted. The actual count for that age group is given in the Other Column; i.e. * = 96, # = 59 designating 96 people should be substituted for the asterisk and 59 people for the pound sign in the male or female age statistics.
The age categories are:
less than 5 years
5 - 9 years
10 - 14 years
15 - 19 years
20 - 29 years
30 - 39 years
40 - 49 years
50 - 59 years
60 - 69 years
70 - 79 years
80 - 89 years
90 - 99 years
100 and over years
Columns 6 through 11 are the occupation statistics
Mining Mi
Agriculture Ag
Commerce Cm
Manufacturing and Trade Mfr
Navigation of Rivers Rvr
Learned Professions and Engineers Prf
The last column designated as Other includes the black age statistics. Slaves are designated as such. Others identified as Black are Free Blacks. Pensioners and schools are also included in the Other column.
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