Primary Selections from Special Collections

Family historians of the future urge you to fill out your 2020 Census questionnaire!

The US Census is one of genealogists’ most useful tools for determining family relationships, movements, economic status, and other characteristics over time. As we are also celebrating Women’s History Month, this week’s blog focuses on the changing representations of Scott County, Iowa women in the early decennial census records.

The 1840 Census was the first federal-level count people living in what was then the Iowa Territory. It gave the number of women and girls (free white, free colored, and slave)* in a household by age category, but it only named those women who were heads of households. Sarah Lindey, for example, is named, and because she was the only female between 40 and 49 in her 8-person Scott County household, we may deduce that of 4 persons “employed in agriculture” she was a farmer’s widow who oversaw the work of 3 teenage sons. Similarly, Elizabeth Moore was likely the one female aged 40-49 and the single person employed in agriculture in an 11-person household with many young children. Of the persons in a household identified as “deaf and dumb, blind, or insane,” in the 1840 Census, it is impossible to know whether they were male or female.

Information about Scott County women is much easier to find in the 1850 US Census. Each free person was named and identified by age and sex, so we can learn where a woman was born, if she was married within the year, if she owned property (and if so, its value), and if she could read and write. Mary Ann Doyle owned $1,000 worth of real estate in the 4th enumeration district of Scott County; she was born in Massachusetts and 2 of her 3 young sons, all born in Iowa, were attending school. A woman could now be identified as “deaf and dumb, blind, insane, idiotic, pauper, or convict.” Joanna Shaw (age 30 and born in Ireland) was the only one of the 6 convicts in the Scott County Jail noted as “insane” at the time the 1850 census was taken.

The 1850 census also allows us to determine the relationships between women in a household. The 54-year-old Margaret Walker living with Benjamin (born in New York) and Mary DuBois and their 4 young children (born in Iowa) was almost certainly Mary’s mother, as both were born in Scotland.

The 1860 and 1870 US Census questionnaires were virtually the same as the one for 1850 except that a “Profession, Occupation, or Trade” was listed for women as well as men over 15 years of age. Common occupations other than “keeping house,” (only occasionally noted as such) for the women in the city of Davenport included servant, washerwoman, millner (hat maker) and dressmaker. Famed education pioneer Phebe Sudlow is one of the few women with a professional occupation: She was a school “mistress” in 1860 and a school teacher in 1870.

The 1870 US Census also allows researchers to learn if a woman’s parents were “of foreign birth,” but only in the 1880 Census (otherwise similar to 1850-1870) can we learn a woman’s foreign-born mother and father’s country of origin. Hardware merchant Robert Sickel employed Sophia Hogencamp, 22, as a servant in his home Brady St. While she was born in Iowa, but both her parents came from Prussia (Germany).

We recommend Sharon DeBartolo Carmack’s Genealogists’ Guide to Discovering Your Female Ancestor, 1998, available here in the RSSC of the Davenport Public Library (SC 929.1 CARMA) for further information on how to track down women in these early US Census records and in other sources.

(posted by Katie)

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*Very few free colored persons and no slaves are listed in the 1840 US Census for Scott County.

Most Quad Citizens have heard the name Dick Stahl in many different contexts as an educator, a poet, or an avid supporter of the Quad Cities. Dick Stahl will have a special place in

Richard “Dick” Hugo Stahl was born to Donald Howard and Elta Loretta Stahl on June 12, 1939, in Davenport, Iowa. He attended Davenport Schools culminating in graduating from Davenport High School in 1957 where he participated in football.

He continued his education at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, earning a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1963. In 1964, Dick switched gears the next couple of years because he was drafted into service with the U.S. Army in Baumholder, Germany. When he returned home, he married Helen Moretz on June 29, 1968, in Princeton, Illinois. He continued his education at the University of Iowa earning a Master of Arts degree in English in 1970. Dick completed his formal education with attaining an Education Specialist degree in Administration in 1981 from Western Illinois University.

He returned to teach at Central High School, formerly named Davenport High School, for 34 1/2 years in the English Department. He left a lasting impression on this Davenport school. In 2013, he was inducted into the Davenport Central Hall of Fame.

In addition to his career, Dick wrote poetry which he started when he was at Augustana College. He wrote four books of poetry on a range of topics from the Mississippi River, the Davenport Sky Bridge, Henry Farnam and the first railroad bridge, and many other topics. He served as the first Quad-City Poet Laureate from September 2001 to September 2003. Over the years, he publically performed his poetry and taught the community to write their own.

April 2019, Dick performed some snippets of his poems during the Quad City Symphony Orchestra’s Masterworks VI: Quad Cities Past & Present performance.

From “The Mississippi River, My Compass”

By Richard Stahl

Long as I can see, taste or feel its presence,

I never get lost in the Quad Cities. My internal compass reacts

to the fierce magnetism

of this fabled silver streak, this Mississippi River.

One glance at the sun-stippled water flowing west

with its dashing waves, forward rolls,

and million points of light serves me direction,

distance and a call

like an oracle.

I look down

and I’m up with the current

that makes this part of the river

a natural watermark

for travelers.

I tap my refreshing Mississippi Highball

like a tonic, each drop

a generous libation from the gods –

pure and clean, fresh

and miraculous in effervescence.

That’s the tone poem playing

in my psyche right now, a short composition

on river music

and lore,

transformative and transcendent.

(QCSO Program Notes 2018-19, Masterworks VI)

Below we feature three of his books of poetry:

For more information about Dick Stahl, please read Alma Gaul’s article “‘His love for the Quad-Cities was inspiring’: Quad-Cities poet laureate Dick Stahl dies at 80.”

Bibliography:

Bancks, Jacob. “Quad City Symphony Orchestra Program Notes Masterworks VI: Quad Cities Past and Present.”Quad City Symphony Orchestra., 2018-2019. https://qcso.org/wp-content/uploads/Program-Notes-MWVI-2018-19.pdf

Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d. 1940 U.S. census, Scott County, Iowa, population schedule, Davenport, p. 9-B, dwelling 3325, family 213, Stahl, Richard; NARA microfilm publication T627, roll m-t0627-01202.

(posted by Kathryn)