New York State Secretary of State Population Census of Indian Reservations A1832

New York State Secretary of State Population Census of Indian Reservations

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Overview of the Records

Repository:

New York State Archives
New York State Education Department
Cultural Education Center
Albany, NY 12230

Summary:

This volume contains the 1845 population schedules for all the Indian reservations in New York (except the reservations on Long Island). Census schedules are present for the following reservations or groups: Oneida, Onondaga, Tuscarora, Buffalo [Creek], Seneca of Cattaraugus, Cayuga of Cattaraugus, Seneca of Allegany, Tonawanda, and St. Regis [Mohawk]. Data collected is similar to the general population census but does not include voting, citizenship, or militia service.

Creator:

New York (State). Secretary of State

Title:

Population census of Indian reservations

Quantity:

0.3 cubic feet

Quantity:

1 volume(s)

1845

Series Number:

A1832

Scope and Content Note

This volume contains the schedules of the enumeration of the population of all the Indian reservations in New York (except the reservations on Long Island). Schedules are present for the following reservations or groups (in order of binding): Oneida, Onondaga, Tuscarora, Buffalo [Creek], Seneca of Cattaraugus, Cayuga of Cattaraugus, Seneca of Allegany, Tonawanda, and St. Regis [Mohawk]. The secretary of state appointed Henry Rowe Schoolcraft special marshal to take the enumeration of all the reservations except the St. Regis Mohawk. Schoolcraft made occasional notes on the schedules explaining the data that was collected.

The schedules are the printed forms used for the general enumeration of the state's population taken in 1845. The data collected for the reservations is largely the same, except that the categories concerning voting, citizenship, and militia service are blank. Categories of data usually present for the reservation residents are: name of head of family; number of males in family, including head if male; females in family, including head if female; married females under age 45; unmarried females aged 16-45; male and female births and deaths in family during the year; family members born in New York, other states and territories, and in foreign countries [Canada]; children between ages 5 and 16; children attending schools (common and private).

Statistics of agriculture provide data on crops raised and livestock kept. Native-language personal names and their English meanings are recorded for native heads of households in the former Oneida Reservation and in the Onondaga and Tuscarora Reservations.

Several additional data categories were intended to collect data on the extent to which reservation residents had adopted the European-American economy and culture. (This additional data was collected for all the reservations except the St. Regis.) The additional categories include: number of acres of meadow cut; number of ploughs owned and employed; value of garden and horticultural products; lands cultivated by others-number of acres rented to white men, value received per acre for annual use, and "total avails [sic] of land rented out annually per verbal contract"; number of fruit-bearing trees; value of "avails derived from the chace [chase, i.e. hunting]"; number of persons aged 80 or over; number of persons who possess no lands.

Other additional data categories are: number of "farmers and horticulturists" who are heads of families; number of "mechanics"; number of "semi-hunters or who derive support in part from the chace" [chase, i.e. hunting]; number of "semi-literates"; number of persons who have received a college or academical education; number of physicians; number of "teachers, catechists, or persons in some branch of ministerial labour"; number of interpreters and translators of the Iroquois or its dialects"; number of "persons who have chosen the legal profession"; and number who "have studied the law."

The schedules also contain "statistics of morality," giving number "who still adhere to their native religion," number of church members, and number of members "pledged to temperance." Finally, the schedules state "aggregate population" (total number of persons in household); and annuities received from the United States and New York State governments. Many of these added data categories are blank.

At the end of each schedule is a "recapitulation" aggregating the data from the various data categories. Most of the schedules also contain tables summarizing the numbers of individuals of a particular tribe or nation residing on that reservation, other reservations in New York, and in other states and territories and in Canada.