1850 Agricultural Census

Federal agricultural schedules were taken beginning in 1840.  The 1850 agricultural schedules provide the following information for each farm:

• Name of owner or manager
• Number of improved and unimproved acres
• Number of livestock owned by farmer (broken down by breed)
• Amount of agricultural goods produced during the preceding year (broken down by crop)
• Cash value of the farm, farming machinery, livestock, animals slaughtered during the past year, and "homemade manufactures"

Not every farm was included in the schedule. In 1850, small farms that produced less than $100 worth of products annually were not included.  A blank copy of the 1850 schedule is available from the National Archives at www.archives.gov/files/research/genealogy/charts-forms/1850-agriculture.pdf.

The 1850 agricultural census records available on this website are organized by county and include the following:

• Manuscripts: Original census schedules. These PDF files are organized by township. If a county and/or township is not listed, there is no data for it or it did not exist in 1850.
  
• Tabulated Census Data: County aggregate figures broken down by municipality. The single PDF files includes tables for all available municipalities.
  

In addition to the 1850 census data files included on this website, the United States Census Bureau published summaries of the federal agricultural census, which can be found at the Department of Agriculture website. This information extends from the census taken in 1840 up to the one taken in 1950. These summaries contain data for states and counties, but not townships.

Census Data Maps

Statewide maps organized by crop type using the 1850 Federal Census of Agriculture's county summaries:

Citing 1850 Census Manuscripts

The following format should be used when citing individual data and tabulations for the 1850 census:

National Archives, Washington; Record Group 029, National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration; Federal Decennial Census, 1850, [Name of County], [Name of Township].

When citing individual farm entries, include the page and line number after the Township name.