Census Sunday – Say What?

The 1850 federal census shown on this page is probably one of my all-time favorites for my Love family line. It’s a record of two of my 2^nd great-grand uncles, three of my 2^nd great-grand aunts, my great-grand aunt who was obviously staying with her aunts and uncles that summer, and my 3^rd great-grand uncle, Thomas Dixon (1790 – aft 1850), who was listed as 60 years old in that census.

Of the six children born to my 3^rd great grandparents, Charles Jones Love (1773 – 1837) and Frances Peyton Dixon Love (1785 – 1833), four of them were all living together as adults at the family home (“Mansfield”) in Nashville, Davidson County, TN that year. They ranged in age from 21 years old to 34 years old. What were they doing still in the family home?

I know for certain that only nine-year-old Fanny (Frances Peyton Love: 1841 - 1881) would be the only one living in that house that summer who would ever marry. Her uncle, Samuel T. Love (1821 – 1862), would lose his life after being wounded at the Battle of Shiloh. The others never married as far as I know.

When I first accessed the record years ago, I noticed a word out to the side of Thomas Dixon’s name, but I couldn’t read it. I put it aside and forgot about it, as we often do. Thomas was the brother of my 3^rd great grandmother, Frances Peyton Dixon Love.

One day a couple of years ago, I happened to come across the census again and decided to really look at that word.  I almost wish I hadn’t!  Upon closer inspection, the word became disturbingly clear. It says…wait for it….yes, that’s right; it says, “Insane.” 

Now I understand everything!




SOURCE Information for census record found at: Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch

 

@2013 Copyright by Carla Love Maitland