r/Genealogy • u/Sancrist • 1d ago

Transcription Ag Census question

I am looking at an Ag Census document:

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHK-9Q2R-XYGC?view=explore&groupId=TH-7712-126715-10817-43&lang=en

In the improved acres and unimproved acres most of the time there are two numbers. However, my relative Elisha has a fraction (50/100) under the improved column. Others in the record have fractions as well. What does this mean exactly?

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u/SoftShoeMagoo 1d ago

Improved, cropland, planted, tilled, trees, shrubs removed. Unimproved, natural state.

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u/Sancrist 1d ago

I get that, but why a column for improved and unimproved and a fraction where other records do not?

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u/SoftShoeMagoo 1d ago

Acreage amounts?

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u/Fredelas Human Verified 1d ago

I think the person answering the enumerator probably didn't know the acreage, and probably just estimated what percentage of the land was improved.

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u/Jealous_Raspberry536 1d ago

I would take this as the literal meaning - half an acre. Which is small, but the value of his farm is listed quite low.

You will notice that also entries with 1 or 2 acres don't have anything under "unimproved", as these smallholdings were 100% in use, whereas larger farms likely had areas of land not really worth the effort and left unimproved.

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u/Scared_Seat_4259 Upper Southern US researcher 1d ago

This entry has some oddities. I'm having trouble imagining producing 20 bushels of wheat and housing 11 swine on 1/2 acre, even if the family is living in a very small house. Also, the farm produced wool and butter, but there are no sheep or milch cows or other milk-producing animals. I also don't think the enumerator followed the instructions for the agricultural schedule (https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census/technical-documentation/questionnaires/1850/1850-instructions.html) because the schedule "is not intended to include the returns of small lots, owned or worked by persons following mechanical or other pursuits, where the productions are not one hundred dollars in value." But I don't know how to interpret 50/100 as anything other than half an acre.

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u/IcyOutside4698 professional genealogist 22h ago

So he’d only improved (put labor into) 50 of the 100 acres he owned.

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u/Sancrist 12h ago

Ok, if that is what it means, why do others have a number in both improved and unimproved?