Thank you for your thoughts re the meaning of BS on the 1820 Cumberland County Census. Might it mean bastard son? Or would a bastard take his mother's name? I don't think it has any geographic meaning, because the record shows occasional indications of the village/town where the individual lived. Sally Phillips ----- Original Message ----- From: "Elizabeth Shown Mills" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2008 2:30 PM Subject: Re: [VA-ROOTS] 1820 Census BS > David wrote: >>Just to throw another possibility into the mix - I've seen people > designated > as "blacksmith" or "b.s." on tax lists. Perhaps "BS" in this census record > could be an abbreviation for blacksmith. > >>C. Etter wrote: >>It looks like column number 15 is for people > engaged in manufacturing, and blacksmithing could be considered as > manufacturing. >>Teach of the 3 guys shown with a "BS" in > the above examples appears to have people listed in the manufacturing > column, which would be consistent with a blacksmith operation. > > > > Good points. > > Column 17 (15 columns after the name) is, indeed, headed "Numbers of > persons > engaged in Manufactures." And blacksmiths would, logically, seem to be > included in this column. > > On the other hand, what seems "logical" to us may have been considered > differently in the past. On this particular issue, the evidentiary waters > are really muddy. > > According to the census instructions issued 20 June 1820 by the Department > of State (which are not included at the IPUMS website for census > instructions, but can be found in the 1820 census compendium published the > next year as _Census for 1820: Published by authority of an Act of > Congress, > under the direction of the Secretary of State_ [Washington: Gales & > Seaton, > Printer]): > > "In the column of manufactures will be included not only all the persons > employed in what the act more specifically denominates manufacturing > _establishments_, but all those artificers, handicraftsmen, and mechanics, > whose labor is pre eminently of the hand, and not upon the field." > > I.e., smithies--who worked with their hands--would seem to be included. > > *However,* the Descriptive Pamphlet that NARA has prepared for M279 > (Records > of the 1820 Census of Manufactures" follows the issue through some > bureaucratic wrangling. Page 2 of the DP tells us: > > "In May 1820 Secretary of State John Quincy Adams began drafting > instructions to the marshals for taking the census of manufactures. The > results were incorporated with the instructions relating to the taking of > the population enumeration and were sent to the marshals on June 20, 1820. > When several marshals noted difficulties in interpretation, the Secretary, > on August 5, sent them a letter of 'elucidations' to the instructions. . > . > . The instructions [of June 20] applied the exception of household > manufactures to section 10 and to the column for manufactures in the > population schedules. The August 5 letter included in the "excepted" > category all persons of the 'mechanical professions or handicrafts' and > defined household manufactures as the products of artisans who produced > "works of handicraft" and were therefore commonly known as mechanics." > > Unfortunately, Virginia's returns for the manufacturing schedule of 1820 > appear to have been lost and aren't included on M279, so we can't test the > theory that these three men were blacksmiths. > > Playing Devil's Advocate, one thing keeps me from settling into the > hypothesis that "BS" means blacksmith. Actually, 2 things: > > 1. "BS" appears only 3 times in the entire county. Surely a > well-established county in 1820 would have more than 3 blacksmiths. > > 2. If the enumerator was noting, there on the population schedule, the > specific occupation for individuals included on the manufacturing > schedule, > then why aren't all the other occupations noted? > > 3. the one other initialism found after a name, "SM," still remains > unexplained and does not seem explainable under the BS=Blacksmith > hypothesis. SM appears only once--in the Field Robinson case for which we > have (p. 134) > > Robinson BS, Field 1 male 16-26, 1 male 45+, 0 slaves, 2 in mfg. > Robinson SM, Field 1 male 26-45, 2 fem 45+, 20 slaves, 7 in ag > > We can't argue that it was necessary to distinguish a "Field Robinson, > Blacksmith" from "Field Robinson, Something More" because there are too > many > other cases of same-name individuals in the county who don't have > distinguishing initialisms--including multiple John Robinsons other than > "John Robinson, BS" > > We sure need more grist for this mill! > > > Elizabeth > > ------------------------------------------------------ > > Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGL, FASG > Advanced Research Methodology & Evidence Analysis > Samford University Institute of Genealogy & Historical Research > > _Evidence: Citation & Analysis for the Family Historian_ > (the "briefcase edition") > _Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts > to Cyberspace_ (the "desktop reference edition") > _QuickSheet: Citing Online Historical Resource, Evidence Style_ > _Professional Genealogy: A Manual for Researchers, > Writers, Editors, Lecturers & Librarians_ > > To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions > at > http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html > To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html