1830 Federal Census Penobscot County, Maine - Transcriber's and Proofreader's Notes The USGenWeb Archives provide genealogical and historical data to the general public without fee or charge of any kind. It is intended that this material not be used in a commercial manner. All submissions become part of the permanent collection. Abstracted by C. Gagnon from public records. Edited and formatted by Janyce King and Maggie Stewart, September 2001. Submitted by the C. Gagnon September 12, 2001. This Transcription was proofread by Tammy Richards. Both above notices must remain when copied or downloaded. ___________________________________________________________ TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: Additional information about the 1830 Census of the Madawaska Settlement, and more information about the history of the upper St.John River valley, censuses, surveys and other documents is available online at: http://www.upperstjohn.com/1830/index.htm ___________________________________________________________ NOTE: For more information on Penobscot County, Maine, Please visit the Penobscot County, MEGenWeb page at http://www.rootsweb.com/~mepenobs/mepenobs.htm ___________________________________________________________ This work follows all guidelines of the USGW Census Project, http://www.usgwcensus.org/. ___________________________________________________________ This is the 1830 federal census for Penobscot County, Maine ___________________________________________________________ Copyright 2001 by C. Gagnon ************************************************************************ Additional information about the history of the upper St.John River valley, censuses, surveys and other documents is available at: http://www.upperstjohn.com/1830/index.htm ************************************************************************ In this file is the following: 1. Explanation of partial transcription 2. French names in the 1840 US Census of Aroostook County, Maine ************************************************************************ 1. This is a partial transcription of the 1830 US Census of Penobscot County, Maine. These seventeen pages (pp.374-390) cover the "Madawaska Settlement, St. John River" including communities on both sides of the upper St.John River, in what is today Aroostook County, Maine and Madawaska County, New Brunswick. Specifically, it covers communities from what is today Hamlin, Maine westward to the St.Francis River. These communities were incorporated into Aroostook County when that county was set up from parts of Penobscot and Washington Counties in 1839. ************************************************************************ 2. Some French names in the 1830 US Census of the Madawaska Settlement One of the biggest challenges of using the 1830 US Census to find people in the Madawaska Settlement is the spelling of the names. Since many of the people were not literate, the census taker often had to guess at the spelling; this was just as true of English names as it was of French. Another complication is that the pronunciation of French in northern Aroostook county (as well as in neighboring parts of Qu‚bec and New Brunswick) has its own specificities; thus, Sirois is pronounced roughly like Searway, rather than the Parisian French Searwah. So imagine an English-speaker hearing a French name, in the accent not of Paris but of Madawaska, and trying to figure out how to write it. That's what we're seeing in the 1830 census. Needless to say, many of the names are very difficult to recognize. Another thing to keep in mind is that in 1830 there was no single, standardized way to spell many names, so even if people could read and write they may have spelled their name differently from others with the same name. This explains much of the variation and the difference between today's spelling and that used in 1830 (Michaud vs. Misheau is one example). This is only a guide to deciphering the names. For those names for which I have definite information, I have included the correct spellings of the names in the "Remarks" section on the census transcription pages. This page is meant to be a guide, that is, to suggest possible ways that some common names were spelled; and to suggest possible correct spellings for some of the more common names found in the census to help point you in a direction for further research. Before you assume that the equivalents given here are correct for a specific individual, you should find other evidence for that spelling of his/her name. If you have any other examples, or know specific names in the census, please let me know. Thanks. I have included English names if the identity of the individual seems likely based on earlier and later censuses and surveys. Please note: This is only a guide. You should always check other sources to confirm the actual spelling of names. Last names 1830 census version ---> "real names" Albear = Albert Bopray = Beaupr‚ Bullia = Boulier Bushee = Boucher Catin, Caten = Keaton Cere = Cyr Chissee = Chass‚ Fary = Farrell Gorney = Gagn‚ Loveway = Lavoie Macra = McRae Markee = Marquis McParson = McPhearson Misheau = Michaud Missude = Michaud Mora = Morin or Moreau Neddow = Nadeau Parron = Parant Pecure = Picard Pelkey = Pelletier Peltier = Pelletier Remo = Raymond Rongute = Ringuette Seroy = Sirois Sophisan, Sopisow = Sansfa‡on Terrio = Th‚riault Torday = Tardif Tye = Tighe Use =? Hughes Wollet = Ouellet Yon = Dionne Last Names: "Real names" ---> 1830 Census version Albert = Albear Beaupr‚ = Bopray Boucher = Bushee Boulier = Bullia Chass‚ = Chissee Cyr = Cere Dionne = Yon Farrell = Fary Gagn‚ = Gorney Hughes = Use Keaton = Catin, Caten Lavoie = Loveway Marquis = Markee McPhearson = McParson McRae = Macra Michaud = Missude, Misude, Misheau Nadeau = Neddow Ouellet = Wollet Parant = Parron Pelletier = Pelkey, Pulkey, Peltier Picard = Picard Raymond = Remo Ringuette = Rongute Sansfa‡on = Sophisan, Sopisow Sirois = Seroy Tardif = Torday Th‚riault = Terio Tighe = Tye First names: 1830 version --> "real name" Alexr. = abbreviation for Alexandre Bartis = Baptiste Bellana = B‚noni Benjn. = abbreviation for Benjamin Clemo = Clement Elway = Eloi Feamer = Phirmain Grigware = Gregoire Jeremiah, Jereh. = Germain John = Jean Loeis, Loei = Louis Lara = Laurent Lawrence = Laurent, Hilarion Michell = Michel, Michael Peter = Pierre Reoff = Raphael Wid. = abbreviation for "Widow"