1842 Census
for Sauk County, Wisconsin
Source: "The History of Sauk County Wisconsin..."
Chicago: Western Historical Company
MDCCCLXXX
Transcribed by Diana Morse
FIRST AND LAST CENSUS OF SAUK COUNTY
1842 Census
for Sauk County, Wisconsin
Source: "The History of Sauk County Wisconsin..."
Chicago: Western Historical Company
MDCCCLXXX
Transcribed by Diana Morse
FIRST AND LAST CENSUS OF SAUK COUNTY
(page 442)
In the Spring of 1842, Sheriff A. A. Bird, of Dane County, to which Sauk County then belonged, under official instructions and in accordance with an act entitled "An act to provide for the taking of the census of the inhabitants of the Territory of Weshonsan, approved February 18, 1842: returned the names of the following persons, as "heads of families," then residing in the county. The figures set oppoiste the names indicate the number of persons belonging to each family, though they really included others:
Sauk Prairie:
Prescott Birgham, 4
E. P. Brigham, 4
Josiah E. Abbott, 7
J. Waggoner, 5
Andrew Garrison, 2
Nathan Kellogg, 6
William G. Simons, 5
H. F. Crossman, 6
John La Messcure, 15
W. Langdon, 3
Calvin Frank, 11
John GAllard, 3
A. Morgan, 4
George Dunlap, 3
Jonathan Hatch, 9
Albert Skinner, 7
J. Hayden, 8
Adolph Rendtorff, 6
James S. Alban, 8
Total 116
Baraboo:
M. Crain, 2
Robert V. Allen, 2
Levi Moore, 5
Moses Nulph, 4
John Meads, 1
M. Gillson, 6
Orrin Hudson, 1
Peter Manaar, 3
John Rainey, 2
John de la Rond, 1
Thomas Kelsey, 1
C. Randall, 7
Henry Lewis, 6
Milo Blood, 5
Don Carlos Barry, 6
James Christie, 6
D. Gilson, 7
Edward Kingsley, 5
Mrs. V. B. Hill, 6
Abram Wood, 3
Wallace Rowan, 11
John Draper, 5
Lewis Brunson, 5
William H. Canfield, 3
Simeon Griffith, 5
Richard Clark, 1
Thomas Clark, 3
Solomon Shaffer, 3
Edward Johnson, 5
Daniel Brewster, 3
Eben Peck, 5
William Stephens, 1
S. Know or Traux, 5
Total 134
Helena:
(The name of the census district which is supposed to have included a strip of territory south of the Wisconsin river. It is well known that Charles Halasz, Robert Bryant and others whose names are familiar in the history of this county, lived on the lower end of Sauk Prairie, north of the river, but, as the taing of this census occurred two years before the organization of the county, and while it belonged to Dane County, it may be that Helena census distrcit lay on both sides of the Wisconsin. Such is the opinion of an old settler of Baraboo. - E.D.)
P. M. Nichols, 4
Charles Halasz, 13
Robert Bryant, 10
Biroshc, 8
Alvin Crane, 8
H. B. Staines, 9
E. Brown, 1
Cyrus Leland, 10
John Russell, 2
Henry Teal, 6
M. Blodget, 1
John Hoover, Jr., 3
John Hoover, Sr., 4
Zenas Herrington, 8
Albert Jameson, 5
Albert Myers, 4
John Kellogg, 4
Andrew Hodgett, 1
William Johnson, 9
Samuel Mather, 3
D. R. Baxter, 4
George Cargill, 5
Samuel Woodruff, 9
William Tanner, 4
John Wilson, 7
Frank Pravoncil, 5
Total 146
This census was by no means a correct one. It is the only one in existence, however, taken at that early day. It is known to be incomplete for the reason that the names of several of the first settlers in the county who were heads of families were omitted. The census-taker seems to have contented himself with the names of those at the head of families, and those engaged in business, overlooking many persons then engaged as "hired hands." For instance, it will be observed that there were thirteen persons in the "family" of Charles Halasz. This doubtless included ten or a dozen men then in the employment of Mr. Halasz. The same may also be said in reference to the figures opposite the names of many others.
