Feminist (?) Friday: A “Farmerist”

image_pdfimage_print
1850 US Federal Census for Washington Township, Morgan County, Indiana, page 27 Elizabeth Harden is listed first in Dwelling/Family 378.

One never knows what might be found in a census or other old document. This reference to an Elizabeth Harden (no relation to us) is found on page 27 of the Washington Twp., Morgan Co., Indiana 1850 US Federal Census. (Only every 2-page spread is numbered, and this was on left side of ‘page’ 27.)

Elizabeth appears to be the head of household, and was listed as a “Farmerist”- not just a “Farmer” like the men on the page were termed. The value of her real estate was $400, similar to another family on the page but much less than others.

Today the term “Farmerist” is used as a blend of “farmer” and “activist” but it has also been used to describe the large group of farmers in a culture. I have never seen the term before, and definitely not in reference to a woman who might have been farming. It would be interesting to see if this census taker called other women in this situation a “farmerist” as well.

Likely Elizabeth is a widow and owns the land, with children and possibly grandchildren and daughter-in-law living with her. This is all conjecture and research for someone in that line to pursue, of course.

Anyway, a lot of women had to assume “men’s” duties when their husbands died or left them, whether for something temporary like going off to the Gold Rush to make a fortune and return, or whether the men just left and were never seen again. It is interesting to see that the name of the occupation changed here probably because she was a woman- hoping it was not meant in a derogatory way.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

  1. 1850 US Federal Census for Washington Township, Morgan County, Indiana, page 27, Dwelling/Family 378: Elizabeth Harden.

 

Click to enlarge any image. Please contact us if you would like an image in higher resolution.

We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.
 

Original content copyright 2013-2017 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted. 
Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly.
 Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright or use of our blog material.

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Exercise your brain- prove you\'re not a spammer/bot! * Time limit is exhausted. Please reload CAPTCHA.