INTRODUCTION


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.

Census Description


The first column of the census is the County and Page Number of the Federal Census document.

County, State

Abbreviation

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

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

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.

Back to Census Index




Send comments & suggestions to our County Coordinator