Sometimes you just run across a tidbit, and you know the whole story is probably lost somewhere in that distant past, but you also know that whatever the details are, it's a sad story. Like this: At a Court of Probate holden at Danbury in and for the District of Danbury on the 2nd day … Continue reading Research is not always fun (civil commitment)
research miscellanea
Census 1860 : State Prison : Details of the Women’s Cases
I was able to find mentions in The Hartford Courant (which is available online) of five of the twelve female inmates. Most of these were brief and sometimes tantalizing mentions. I was interested to notice that Jane M. Brown, the woman imprisoned in 1859 for adultery, was described by the paper on July 20, 1859 … Continue reading Census 1860 : State Prison : Details of the Women’s Cases
Census 1860: Wethersfield State Prison: Crimes
The last piece on the inmates of the Connecticut state prison at Wethersfield in 1860 discussed their gender and race; this piece discusses the crimes for which they were convicted. To repeat from before, there were 179 inmates, 12 of them female. The Census marshal also, in accordance with his instructions, reported the crimes for … Continue reading Census 1860: Wethersfield State Prison: Crimes
Census 1860: Census Marshals are People Too
I've been skimming a lot of 1860 census pages lately, and one thing I've noticed is that despite the detailed instructions, the census marshals still have to exercise judgment in a number of areas. Since I'm focusing on African-Americans, I've noticed that some marshals didn't identify any mixed-race people (known as "mulattoes" to the Census). … Continue reading Census 1860: Census Marshals are People Too
Census 1860: Wethersfield State Prison: Gender and Race
So I’m developing a new database from the 1860 U.S. Census for Connecticut, and last week I ran across the pages for the state prison, which was in Wethersfield at the time. Some of these data are interesting – at least to me – so here’s a post about them! Oh, and this is also … Continue reading Census 1860: Wethersfield State Prison: Gender and Race
Tact and the primary school teacher (1881)
One of the benefits of doing public history is the opportunity to research things that I never would have thought to look into on my own. For example, last year I was asked to research the history of a school. In addition to finding information about the building itself, my remit also included the educational … Continue reading Tact and the primary school teacher (1881)
Kristen Noble Keegan, Historical Geographer 