What an interesting discussion this has become. I suppose my favorite example is Columbia County, Georgia 1870 census. This was deep south federally occupied territory with black Re-constructionist era hirelings doing the census. Here we find all sorts of people enumerated that were never known before, and perhaps just made up out of whole cloth, perhaps still just never acknowledged before. It's a great read, and a great story and one that deserves more study.

The entire Reconstruction era is not an area of study that gets much attention. Corruption was rampant and abuses were awful. It gave rise to the terrible Jim Crow laws and the KKK. It is  a disturbing and dark period in our national history, to say the least. Dark and terrible indeed, but still, it happened, and it needs to be talked about. There are no clean skirts here and I suspect this is why this epoch is brushed under the rug and largely ignored--or worse, painted over.

Craig

On Oct 26, 2010, at 4:10 PM, Bill Crews wrote:

> I hesitate to make a global comment about the assistant marshals but I've done 
> extensive transcriptions from the Valley and SW Virginia 1870 census and it 
> seems to me that all of them are not only residents but come from amongst the 
> most prominent residents.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ________________________________
> From: "Barbara Vines Little, CG, FVGS" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Tue, October 26, 2010 4:03:42 PM
> Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] 1860 and 1870 Census
> 
> The census taker for Madison County was W[illiam] D Fry. His family had lived in 
> the area since 1720s. I don't think you could classify him as a Yankee.
> 
> Barbara Vines Little, CG, FVGS
> 
> PO Box 1273
> Orange, VA 22960
> [log in to unmask]
> 540-832-3473
> 
> CG, Certified Genealogist, is a service mark of the Board for Certification of 
> Genealogists, used under license by board certified genealogists after periodic 
> evaluation, and the board name is registered in the US Patent & Trademark 
> Office.
> 
> 
> On 10/26/2010 12:53 PM, Hannah Powell wrote:
>> I would say it's a matter of attitude.  Virginia was not as devastated as some 
>> other states.  Military rule did not end until 1872 in Alabama for instance.  
>> But the southern mind never forgot the yankees.  Military rule in other states 
>> was not pleasant and a yankee census taker was not welcome .. simply tolerated. 
>> ... and that IS a fact. Did the Confederate Virginians have a different view of 
>> the world?  Virginia in view of her population mix of Yankee and Confederate 
>> might have been more subdued at the end of the war.  Regarding the 1870 Census 
>> taker ... was a yankee plain and simple.
>> Hannah Powell
>> Hannah Powell
>> 
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tarter, Brent (LVA)" 
>> <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2010 8:28 AM
>> Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] 1860 and 1870 Census
>> 
>> 
>> Precision is important when characterizing things, especially things
>> that the Feds did during the decades before and after the Civil War.
>> 
>> In the first place, Virginia was not under military rule when the census
>> of 1870 was taken. Congressional, or as it is sometimes called military,
>> reconstruction ended in Virginia in January 1870.
>> 
>> In the second place, federal government employees always conducted the
>> census, so what, if anything, does it matter whether a former
>> Confederate state still had military rule when the census of 1870 was
>> taken?
>> 
>> Brent Tarter
>> The Library of Virginia
>> [log in to unmask]
>> 
>> Please visit the Library of Virginia's Web site at
>> http://www.lva.virginia.gov
>> 
>> 
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