Not sure where the other info comes from but from the Census Publicaiton,
Measuring America: The Decennial Census from 1790 to 2000 states and I quote
By an act of May 5 1860 a clerical force was provided for the census office
and on June 1 1860 and Joseph C.G. Kennedy was appointed superintendent
unquote.  It later goes on to state the office was disbanded in May of 1862.
This was published by the Department of Commerce in Sept 2002 and available
for download as a pdf.

I would have no qualms in writing Dr. Ayers and asking what his source was?
The worst he can do is ignore and the best is answer.
Douglas Burnett
Satellite Beach
FL



On Fri, Oct 22, 2010 at 12:24 PM, mlichtsr <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> On page 15 of America on the Eve of the Civil War (Edward L. Ayers and
> Carolin R. Martin, eds., University of Virginia Press, 2010) the reader
> notes that the 1860 census may have taken place a year earlier.  In the
> opening paragraph of Chapter 1, Professor Ayers, leading the discussion,
> states:  "It strikes me that these 1850s have been pretty interesting times.
>  What do you think is going to leap out from the census that is being taken
> for the country?  It will later be known as the 1860 census, but it was
> actually taken in 1859."
>
> Though it was authorized on May 23, 1850, I had always thought that if no
> law was passed by January 1, 1860, that the Eighth U.S. Census was to begin
> on June 1, 1860 as the original enabling legislation ordered.   The June
> 1860 start date seems to hold true for Orange County, VA.   Assistant
> Marshal John F. Taliaferro started on June 15,  turned in 220 pages of
> census schedules on October 31, 1860 and had Thomas R. Towles, justice of
> the peace, sign off on the transfer on that date.
>
> I am sure that Dr. Ayers is very busy as president of the University of
> Richmond, and I would not ask him to take the time to explain what he said.
>  Perhaps someone else can enlighten me?
>
> Mitchell Lichtenberg
> Mt. Pleasant, SC
>
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-- 
Douglas Burnett
Satellite Beach
FL

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