Descendants of Robert W. Ragland, A Study of the U. S. Census of 1870

Earlier this week, I posted information about the family of Robert W. Ragland, a brother to my paternal third great-grandmother, Winiford Ragland Branch.  In that post, I wrote that Robert's wife, Sarah Jane Porter, who he married in Hinds County, Mississippi, had died, and Robert, age 32, and his four daughters and one son named Turner were living in rural Attala County. Robert's occupation was shown as "farmer."  Since the Ragland household, as it was enumerated on the U. S. Census of 1860, did not include a wife or an older female, it appeared that Robert had not remarried. Based on this information, I decided to locate Robert on the 1870 U. S. Census to see if he eventually remarried and had additional children.  


Before I can go on, I must preface the rest of this post with a statement about the U. S. Census of 1870. Each U. S. census has had specific objectives for capturing certain information about the citizens of this country, and the U.S. Census of 1870 was no different.  Since that census was the first U. S. Census recorded since the abolition of slavery, one in which all citizens, including those who had been former slaves, would be enumerated together, one of its objectives was to identify the race of the individuals enumerated. The census form included a column for recording one of five codes listed on the form itself, including "W" for White, "B" for Black, "M" for Mulatto, "I" for Indian, and "C" for Chinese. No one knows for certain exactly how the determination of race was made, whether it was a "self-identification" process prompted by the census taker's question, or whether the census taker simply made a visual determination based on skin color and/or certain physical characteristics. And without a doubt, census takers may have recorded racial identity information without input from those who were enumerated. 


An examination of the U. S. Census recorded in 1870 for Attala County, Mississippi, found R. W. "Raglin" a 45 year old white male as the head of a household living in Beat 4 of Attala County.  Interestingly, Robert Ragland and his family lived just three residences away from the household of his sister, Winiford, and her husband Edward Tillman Branch, as well as a household where Joseph Arthur Branch and Edward T. Branch, both still unmarried, lived. 


In 1870, Elizabeth (enumerated on this census as "Bettie"), Turner, and Sarah, now 19, 15, and 14, no doubt children born to Sarah Porter Ragland, resided as they had in 1860 with their father.  However, Robert's household included three additional children, Louvega (9), Adam (6), and Lucy (4), all born since the U. S. Census of 1860 was recorded.  Since "Louvega" is such an unusual name, it is possible the name was an incorrect transcription of "Louisa," the name of Robert's late wife's mother and the grandmother of his older children. (This is supposition, however, since Sarah Porter Ragland's relationship to Louisa Lawson Porter, has yet to be verified by the writer of this blog.)  


While Bettie, Turner, and Sarah, like their father, were identified on the census as "White," the racial identity of each of the younger children, Louvega, Adam, and Lucy, was recorded as "M,"  the abbreviation for "Mulatto." Although relationships were not identified on the 1870 census, all six children were listed under Robert's surname, incorrectly shown on this census as "Raglin." Again, like the 1860 U. S. Census, no wife, older female relative, or an older unrelated female, was enumerated in Robert's household. 


The composition of Robert W. Ragland's household on the U. S. Census Record of 1870 raises two important questions: Who was the mother of Louvega, Adam, and Lucy?  And were they biological children of Robert W. Ragland? 


Watch for a future post in which I hope to answer these questions.


Source: 
Census Year: 1870; Census Place: Beat 4, Attala, Mississippi; Roll: M593_722; Page: 122B; Image: 248; Family History Library Film: 552221. Ancestry.com. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.

The Ragland Sons

John W. Ragland and Elizabeth Smith Ragland were the parents of four sons: John W., Jr. (1808), Arthur S. (1811), William J. (1825), and Robert W. (1826).  Arthur Ragland, for whom my paternal great-great-grandfather, Joseph Arthur Branch, was named, died in 1845 and is buried in Palestine Cemetery near Raymond, Mississippi. Although Arthur may have had a wife and children, I have not yet found that information.


According to the U. S. Census recorded in 1850 for Hinds County, Mississippi, William J. Ragland, a planter by occupation, was the head of a household that included Mary M., 27 years old, and four children named Josaphine (age 8), Benjamin F. (age 6), Rebecca A. (age 4), and Winferd Ragland, age 2.  Likely, "Winferd" was named for William's sister, Winiford Ragland Branch, my paternal great-great-great-grandmother. Although Mary was shown to have been born in South Carolina, William and each of their four children were born in Mississippi. To date, I have been unable to locate William J. or his wife and children on an 1860 census record. Look for more about William and his family in a later post.


Also, I have had difficulty in locating John W. Ragland, Jr., born approximately 1808.  Although I did find a John W. Ragland, born in Virginia in 1808, living near Nashville, Tennessee in 1850, further research is needed to determine his relationship, if any, to John W. Ragland, my fourth great-grandfather.


Two issues that most family researchers must deal with when reviewing old census records is the inaccurate spelling of surnames, often recorded phonetically by the census taker, and the  mispelling of names contained in transcribed records.  Searching for Robert W. Ragland on U.S. Census records for 1850 and 1860 found both situations existed. In 1850, R. W. "Raglin" was enumerated on the U. S. Census in Hinds County, Mississippi.  A twenty-four year old "overseer," his birthplace was shown as Louisiana.  R. W., based on his age, birthplace, and the place of his residence, was Robert W. Ragland, son of John W. and Elizabeth Smith Ragland.  According to the 1850 census record, R. W. was the head of a household that included his twenty-one year old wife, Sarah Jane, and a one-year old daughter named Laura. Later research revealed Sarah Jane was the daughter of William and Louisa Anastacia Porter of Hinds County, Mississippi.


In 1860, the U.S. Census record showed Robert "Rogland" living in Attalaville, now an extinct town in Attala County, Mississippi, in a household that included five young children.  The oldest child was Laura, 13, almost certainly the same small child who was listed on the 1850 census recorded in Hinds County.  A second daughter, an 11-year old named Elizabeth, lived in Robert's household in 1860 and most likely named for Robert's mother, Elizabeth Smith Ragland. Robert's other children included  Mary, 9 years old, Turner, age 7, and Sarah, age 5. Since Robert Ragland's household did not include a wife, I believe that Sarah Jane, with whom he lived in 1850, may have died during or shortly after the birth of 5-year old Sarah, probably named for her deceased mother. Since Robert's sister, Winiford Ragland Branch and her husband, Edward Tillman Branch and their children, already lived in Attala County in 1860, Robert may have moved his family from Hinds County to Attala County to be near relatives who could help him care for his children.


A review of the U.S. Census of 1860, Slave Schedules, found that Robert Ragland of Attala County, Mississippi, was the owner of three slaves, a 30 year old black female and two black males, aged 25 and 15.


In 1860, Robert's neighbors in Attalaville included the Burell and Jenkins families, of whom I have written on this blog, along with the family of James M. and Eliza (Walker) Porter, my paternal great-great-great-grandparents in my paternal grandmother's line.




Sources:
Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.
Ancestry.com. 1860 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Census Place: Township 13 Range 4, Attala, Mississippi; Roll: M653_577; Page: 464; Image: 464; Family History Library Film: 803577. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. 
Ancestry.com. 1860 U.S. Federal Census - Slave Schedules [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.