Stearns, MN 1870 Federal Census TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES: ============================================= Microfilm M593-716: 1870 Stearns County, MN. ============================================= This is a transcription of microfilm M593-716, containing the 1870 Federal Census for Stearns County, MN. Please note that there were two completely separate and different microfilmings of the 1870 Federal Census for Stearns County, MN, one labeled M593-716 and the other labeled T132-11. Both contain the complete 1870 Stearns Census. History: When the census was taken in 1870, the enumerator entered the data into a ledger book. After the census was complete, two copies were made, each transcribed by hand onto paper forms. One copy was given to the Federal government, the other to the State of Minnesota. Many years later, in large part because their copy was deteriorating rapidly, the Federal government microfilmed and then discarded the paper version. M593-716 is the filming of the original Federal copy. Unfortunately, about two-thirds of the Federal microfilm for 1870 Minnesota (the M film series) was later destroyed. Stearns is one of the counties whose film survived. Nonetheless, the Federal government borrowed and filmed the complete State copy (as the T132-11 series), so Stearns County ended up with two microfilm versions. Note though, that the two microfilms are from different hand copies of the original ledger books and differ slightly in transcription as well as page order. Furthermore the original Federal copy (the M series) appears to be from the better-preserved paper copy, so ultimately is more complete. In fact, large portions of the State paper copy had faded so much by the time it was filmed that many microfilmed pages are nearly or completely illegible. It is also clear that the transcribers of the original census ledger put their own personal biases into their copy. For example, using Catharina vs Katherina, Gerdruth vs Gerthrud, etc. They also struggled, I'm sure, with the writing of the original enumerator, as spellings of many last names differ slightly between the versions. Thus, the two microfilms differ for reasons beyond legibility also. =========== Townships: =========== The township system of Stearns County was still being formed in 1870. At the time of the 1870 census, only 28 of the current 37 townships existed. Thus, some 1870 townships included all or part of the additional, current-day townships. In particular, Township Included current-day in 1870 township(s) -------------------------------------- Albany Krain Brockway Holding Crow Lake Crow River (west half) Lake Henry Crow River (east half) Spring Hill Lake George (east half) North Fork Lake George (west half) Munson Farming Collegeville (west half) St. Joseph Collegeville (east half) Oak Millwood Sauk Centre Ashley Said differently, Current-day In 1870, Township was in township: --------------------------------- Ashley Sauk Centre Collegeville - west half Munson - east half St. Joseph Crow River - west half Crow Lake - east half Lake Henry Farming Munson Holding Brockway Krain Albany Lake George - west half North Fork - east half Lake Henry Millwood Oak Spring Hill Lake Henry The following townships were the same in 1870 as today: Avon Lynden St. Augusta Eden Lake Maine Prairie St. Cloud Fair Haven Melrose St. Martin Getty Paynesville St. Wendel Grove Raymond Wakefield Le Sauk Rockville Zion Luxemburg =============== Transcription: =============== Transcribing microfilm is not always an easy task, as many of the paper pages were marked up or had become faded before being filmed. Further, the writing styles of 1870 transcribers in Stearns County were both more elaborate and substantially different compared to current day writing; in particular, German script characters frequently appear (and though they may look like current alphabetic characters, they represented other letters). We have attempted to faithfully transcribe what is on microfilm M593-716, but have also consulted film T132-11 (or other resources) when the information on the film was unclear. We have not corrected spelling mistakes (though we often provide a note when we first see an unusual or non-standard spelling). Nonetheless, there are many instances where we are making a "best guess" of what we believe appears on the film; please accept our apology if our interpretation differs from yours. You should contact the transcriber, though, if you can provide documentation that might assist in correcting a bad guess. Our intention is to provide the most accurate transcription possible. Any assistance you can render will be appreciated. Transcriber: Thomas J. Steichen Proofreaders: Sandy Sterling, Kay Linn, Tom Steichen Copyright © 2002-10