The Everett 1870 Brick Wall - Part III - 1870 Census (X2) vs. 1880 census

Previous post in this series are Everett Brick Wall Part I and Everett Brick Wall Part II. 

The next step in the journey of finding and confirming my Everett ancestors was to find documentation / evidence prior to the 1880 census to indicate that the Frank Hargit and Peter Hargit enumerated in the household of John and Vicy Ann Hargit in 1880 were actually Great Grand Uncle Frank Everett and Great Grandpa Peter Everett.

So, I turned to the 1870 census. For whatever reason, I initially was unable to find my ancestors listed on the 1870 census via Ancestry.com, so I turned to FamilySearch.org. Of late, I’ve obtained many more leads and information using Family Search than I have from Ancestry and depending on the information I’m seeking I prefer it to Ancestry. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that Family Search is free.

Okay, back to my findings. The 1870 census as listed on Family Search provides the following enumeration:

Everette, Frank, living in Williamston Township, Martin, NC, Age 72, Male, Black, Farm Hand (Dwelling 530, Family 545)

·        Venus, Age 70, Female, Black, Keeping House

·        Frank Jr., Age 23, Male, Black, Farm Hand

·        Mariah, Age 20, Female, Black, Keeps House

·        Nicy A, Age 25, Female, Black, Farm Hand

·        Frank, Age 12, Male, Black, Farm Hand

·        Peter, Age 4, Male, Black

·        Lurenee, Age 2, Female, Black

·        Wiley, Age 1, Male, Black

Frank Jr. and everyone that follows him are listed as Family 546. This enumeration was performed on 1 Sept. 1870.

Comparing Nicy Ann, Frank, and Peter Everette to Vicy Ann, Frank, and Peter Hargit / Hargett in the 1880 household of John Hargit / Hargett (refer to previous post) provides strong circumstantial evidence that these are the same persons.

The discovery of my great grandfather, 2^nd great grandmother and great grand uncle on the 1870 census lead to what appears to be the peeling back of another layer of my family. Based on the ages of the household members, 3 generations of Frank Everetts, etc., it appears that Frank and Venus Everett(e) are my 3^rd great grandparents and Frank Everett, Jr. is more than likely their son and Grandma Vicy Ann’s brother.

I would later find Frank Everett, Jr. death certificate on Ancestry, which indicates his parents as Frank and Venus Everett. I’m still hoping for similar evidence for grandma Vicy Ann.

I’m sure you are wondering about the X2 for the 1870 census. Well after finding that initial grouping on Family Search, I eventually found a second 1870 census listing for my Everett ancestors.

The second listing is actually the first as far as chronological order. It was done on 26 Aug, 1870.  This enumeration is as follows

Everette, Frank Jr. living in Williamston Township, Martin, NC, Age 22, Male, Black, Farm Hand (Dwelling 350, Family 364)

·        Mariah, Age 19, Female, Black, Keeps House

·        Wiley, Age 1, Male, Black

·        Frank, Sr., Age 77, Male, Black, Farm Hand

·        Venus, Age 53, Female, Black, Farm Hand

·        Vessy, Age 28, Female, Black, Farm Hand

·        Frank, Age 10, Male, Black, At House

·        Peter, Age 4, Male, Black

·        Lorena, Age 2, Female, Black

Frank, Sr. and everyone that follows him are listed as Family 365.

The first thing I noticed between the two enumerations was the order of names was different and Venus’ age was drastically different, but otherwise, clearly this was the same 1870 family. My family was enumerated not once but twice.

By the way, back in the early 1990’s, during the early days of my research, I had written down the enumeration in which Frank Everette Jr. is listed first. I did something similar with the research on my maternal side but unlike my maternal side, I didn’t know much if anything about any of the collateral relatives on my paternal side. Therefore, there was no gut feeling when I recorded this family way back when but I think deep down, I must have known this had to be them.

Following my Everett / Hargett ancestors has been fun and exciting in getting back to the proverbial 1870 brick wall. I’ve discovered quite a few collateral line along the way, which I hope to pursue further but the time has come to stop procrastinating and attack that 1870 wall with al I’ve got and knock out a few brick or at least chip a few of them. I’m sure the journey from here on will be both exciting and frustrating.