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1840 US Census Index Incorrectly Identifies Richmond Co. NC as Rutherford Co.

1840 US Census Index Incorrectly Identifies Richmond Co. NC as Rutherford Co.

Posted: 30 Mar 2015 4:17PM GMT
Classification: Census
Researchers will be confused and disappointed by the fact that Richmond County, NC is not listed as available for the 1840 U. S. Census. Somehow the county was misindefined as Rutherford County, NC in the index for the census database. If, for example, researchers want to find residents in Fair Ground District of Richmond County, they won't find them unless they trip over the Rutherford County mislabeling as I did. I hope that this error report gets to someone who can provide a remedy. I reported this problem today as an issue when using the "Rutherford County" index, but nothing changed when I did the same thing some years ago. This is the first time I've used this message board, so have had some difficulty finding the right place to leave a message. Hope this helps.

Re: 1840 US Census Index Incorrectly Identifies Richmond Co. NC as Rutherford Co.

Posted: 30 Mar 2015 10:26PM GMT
Classification: Query
Poster is exactly right. Using Familysearch, I typed in Richmond County, NC-the list comes up as Rockingham District, Richmond Count, NC but when the image is opened, the index says Rutherford County. I've seen this before and Ancestry never has corrected these problems. They are just always ignored.

Re: 1840 US Census Index Incorrectly Identifies Richmond Co. NC as Rutherford Co.

Posted: 31 Mar 2015 1:03AM GMT
Classification: Query
Richmond County and Rutherford have been mixed together under the index label of Rutherford County. The first two districts and the last two are indeed Richmond County; in between them has been placed a district not identified that is evidently all of Rutherford County. In some cases regarding Richmond County, the companion second page in the 1840 census does not follow the page that has the names. Researchers need to be wary. This is not the same experience as looking at the actual census book! Today I posted notification of the problem in three places, since I don't know how a message effectively gets through to those who can fix the problem.
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