52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks
Week 34
Prompt - Non Population
Census is the backbone of genealogy.
They are also known as Population Schedules. However in the United
States between the years of 1850 – 1885 additional information was
collected and these were called Non Population Schedules. This
information was collected for the government that they could see more
specifically what resources were needed and where they were needed.
Also they looked into the social issues of the day. The 6 types of
non population schedules were; Agriculture, Manufacturing / Industry,
mortality, slaves, social statistics and the last was Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent (also known as DDD).
The DDD put them into the following
headings; insane, idiots, deaf – mutes, blind, paupers &
indigent people, homeless children, and prisoners. The information
one can gain from this schedule is astounding. However in my case I
have not discovered any relatives in these schedules. My maternal
side arrived in 1911 and my paternal side arrived in Canada in 1876.
Both settled in Canada. My research is unable to find similar non
population schedules for Canada. It was only done in USA. Maybe one
day I will discover and American extended family member in the
schedule.
It occurs to me that just like the DDD
Schedule collected information for government to appropriately
discover economic need and where best to disperse it, the Mennonites
had done this in the latter part of the 17th century. You
may recall my blog on Census (Week 5). I spoke of my 3rd
great grandfather, Aaron Peters born in 1746. In the period between
1772 to 1795 Poland was divided among Austrians, Prussians, and
Russians. Most of the Polish Mennonites became Prussians under King
Fredrick The Great. The king wanted to know how many Mennonites he
now ruled. In this 1785 census to find out the number of Mennonites
I found Aaron Peters had a wife and one daughter, and no servants. He
owned his own land and was considered low class.
In his compilation of the 1789 Census,
A. Goertz explained 1789 census situation as this; “after his (
King Fredrick The Great) death in 1786, his successor and nephew King
Frederick William II was not nearly as tolerant as his great uncle.
Since the Prussian army was based on the landowners and their
resources in manpower and horsepower and since the Mennonites were
granted religious freedom and exemption from military service, it
became increasingly worrisome to the military that Mennonites kept
increasing their land holdings and, thus, would decrease the military
land base which was called the canton system. The new king agreed to
the suggestion that land holdings of Mennonites be frozen and issued
the Edict of 1789 which regulated and limited Mennonite land
ownership. Each land acquisition from non-Mennonites was made
dependent on a special permit (Consens). A Consens was not necessary
for transfer Mennonite-to-Mennonite or if the Mennonite purchaser
would relinquish his military exemption Privilegium. Whether Consens
was granted or refused depended largely on local government
recommendation and on how much land was sold by Mennonites to
non-Mennonites. “
In order to track land ownership by
Mennonites they had another census in 1789 whereby they needed to
know who owned land and how much. I discover that my third great
grandfather owns 12 morgen of land. A morgen of land is a unit which
varies but is anywhere between 1/2 to 2 1/2 acres.
It occurs to me that this census may
have been a non population census in that it was taken to determine
how much land Mennonites owned. Thus they could quantify
specifically how much the Prussian Army suffered at the hands of
Mennonite land ownership. The result was that an edict was made to
limit the sale and distribution of new land to the Mennonites. And in that same year my third great grandfather moved to Russia where land was abundant and exemption from military service was promised.
Wendy
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