The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 57, July 1953 - April, 1954 Page: 41
585 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Statistical Review of the Settlement of Peters Colony
Schedule I, was obtained on microfilm from the library of the
University of Texas.5 Population schedules (Schedule I) were
used for Collin, Cooke, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Tarrant," Grayson,
and Navarro7 counties. The microfilms were scratched and worn
and in some places quite difficult to read. A lack of consistency
in the enumeration technique was noted; for instance, the Ellis
enumerator, instead of numbering families and residences con-
tinuously and consecutively as he visited them, began numbering
anew on each page. All of the enumerators in the colony area,
contrary to directions, apparently listed negro slaves as free
Negroes.8 Further, the columns for indicating literacy, school
attendance during the year, and afflictions were obviously slighted
by the enumerators. Data taken from the census for use in this
study were the county of residence, number of the family by
order of visitation (or page number), name of person as it ap-
peared on the census, age, color, profession, occupation or trade,
place of birth, number of children, and apparent migrations based
on birthplaces of children.9
(2) Reports of Colony Agents: For the fiscal years ending June
30, 1844, and June 30o, 1845, agents of the empresario company
reported the number of colonists living in the area in accordance
with the company's contracts. The reports were made to the secre-
tary of state and were found in the Colonization Papers, 1843-45,
file in the archives of the Texas State Library. Both reports con-
sisted of several hand-written pages. The report for 1844 was
made by agent Ralph Barksdale who certified that 197 families
and 184 single men had settled in the Peters Colony prior to
5An excellent appraisal of the manuscript census can be found in Barnes F.
Lathrop, Migration Into East Texas, 1835-z86o (Austin, 1949).
6Some of the residents of Tarrant County were enumerated in the Ellis County
schedules under the heading Ellis-Tarrant County. The reason for this is not
readily apparent. Possibly there was some confusion or ambiguity in the directions
of the supervisor of the census, for as Tarrant County was not organized until 1850,
the Ellis County enumerator may have been authorized to work the present Tarrant
County area or part of it. Curiously enough, no overlapping (or double-
enumeration) was noted in this case.
7That part of the colony comprised by portions of present Johnson and Hood
counties was in 1850 included in Navarro County.
sSchedule I is (or is supposed to be) an enumeration of free inhabitants. Columns
on the schedule are for indicating the color of the free inhabitant. For the counties
examined, however, in every case where Negroes were listed in the color column
they were simply enumerated, unnamed, by age only, as a part of a white family.
9See Procedure, following, and Lathrop, Migration, 22-33.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 57, July 1953 - April, 1954, periodical, 1954; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101152/m1/59/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.