Cleaning Up the 1820 Census of Granville County

For the 1820 census of Granville County, the enumerators did something unusual – they enumerated every household by district. Most censuses of rural counties during this time period, simply enumerated every household in the county without dividing them among the districts within the county. For reasons unknown to me (perhaps the 1820 census was based off of a tax list?), the enumerators did something different for the 1820 census. What they did is a tremendous help to researchers because we can geographically locate where in Granville, a family was living. Though it was a noble effort, it was unfortunately executed poorly. Many of the census pages for the 1820 census for Granville County were not properly labeled, were sequenced out of order and some pages were erroneously mixed in with the census for Guilford County, creating quite a confusion. But do not fear – I correctly resequenced the 1820 census by district.

1820 Census for the Oxford District of Granville County. Circled in red is where the enumerator marked that the page was for the Oxford District.
Source: 1820 U S Census; Census Place: Oxford, Granville, North Carolina; Page: 3; NARA Roll: M33_85; Image: 13

This is a census page for the Beaverdam District of Granville County in 1820. However it is not labeled in the upper left corner and therefore was incorrectly mixed in with the census for Guilford County. Fortunately the page number on the top right corner helped me reorganize the mixed up census pages for Granville County.
Source: 1820 U S Census; Census Place: Guilford, North Carolina; Page: 46; NARA Roll: M33_85; Image: 35

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The 1820 census for Granville County is divided into the following districts with the corresponding page numbers:

Oxford – pages 3, 4, 33, 34

Henderson – pages 5, 6

Epping Forest – pages 7, 8

Fishing Creek – pages 9, 10

Tabbs Creek – pages 11, 12

Fort Creek – pages 13, 14, 49 (49 mixed in with Guilford County)

Beaverdam – pages 15, 16, 47 , 48 (47 and 48 mixed in with Guilford County)

Ledge of Rock – pages 17, 18, 41 (41 mixed in with Guilford County)

Tar River – pages 19, 20, 39 (39 mixed in with Guilford County)

Goshen – pages 21, 22, 37 (37 mixed in with Guilford County)

Abram Plains – pages 23, 24

Island Creek – pages 25, 26

Nutbush – pages 27, 28

Napp (Knapp) of Reeds – pages 29, 30

Raglands – pages 31, 32

County Line – pages 35, 36 (36 mixed in with Guilford County)

Hatch District – pages 43, 44, 45, 46 (all pages mixed in with Guilford County)

Pages 38, 40 and 42 are blank

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The following is a list of every household headed by a “free person of color” in the 1820 census for Granville County. Most but not all of these families were part of the Native American community.

Oxford:
George Anderson
Thomas Anderson
Peter Anderson
Henry Anderson
Jeremiah Anderson
Isaac Anderson
Benjamin Anderson
John Anderson
Jacob Anderson
Darling Bass
Jason Bass
Moses Bass
John Chavis
William Evans
William Guy
Daniel Harris
John Jones
Mary Jones
George Pettiford
Anderson Pettiford
Willis Pettiford
Abram Plenty
Alexander Stuart
William Taborn
Lemuel Tyler

Henderson:
Lewis Anderson
Henry Vaughn

Fishing Creek:
Nathan Bass
Jesse Bass
Ann Boswell
Jesse Chavis
Elijah Valentine

Tabbs Creek:
Augustine Anderson
Robert Jones

Beaverdam:
Manuel Jones
Nancy Jones
Major Jones

Ledge of Rock:
Dempsey Bass
Cambridge Goss
Jupiter Mayo
Elizabeth Okey
John Silvy/Silva/Silver (incorrectly indexed in Guilford County)

Tar River:
Jeremiah Anderson
Edward Mitchell

Goshen:
Nancy Hart

Abram Plains:
Willis Bass
Charles Brandon
Charles Barnett
Samuel Evans
Thomas Evans
Jacob Fain
Thompson Jones
Charles Proctor
Joseph Proctor
Matthew Stuart

Nutbush:
Easter Pettiford
Austin Pettiford

Raglands:
Zachariah Mitchell
Patsey Scott
Littleton Taborn

Napp (Knapp) of Reeds:
Joseph Curtis
Henry Huddleston

County Line:
Matt Cousins
Robert Cousins
Martin Cousins
Evans Chavis
James Durham
Simon Davis
Polly Harris
Collins Pettiford  (incorrectly indexed in Guilford County)
Abram Smith (incorrectly indexed in Guilford County)

Hatch District (all incorrectly indexed in Guilford County):
Mark Chavis
Jupiter Megehee
Elias Bookram (enumerated as “Elias Puckins”)
Edmund Taborn

There were no “free colored” head of households in the Epping Forest, Fort Creek, and Island Creek Districts.

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If you located your research subject in the list above, then you now know what district of Granville County in 1820 they were living in. Many of these district names have changed over the years and their boundaries have changed as well. For example, I have found that what was considered Oxford in 1820 included large sections of Fishing Creek.

To aide in identifying where these districts are located, I labeled the following map:

Approximate locations of Granville County’s Districts that were included in the 1820 census. Please note that the names and boundaries of districts have changed quite a bit over the years, so what you see here is my best reflection of where these districts were located in 1820.
Source: http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/ncmaps/id/654/rec/14