I’ve transcribed the entire 1860 Federal Census of Gettysburg in the ongoing effort to learn more about the residents of the Borough at the time of the battle.

The transcription process was time-consuming because I frequently found myself asking questions like “What the heck is a ‘mantua maker’?”, “What’s a ‘saddle tree maker’?”, and “What’s the difference between a domestic and a servant?”  So, of course, I got sidetracked while looking for those answers.  But it has all been great fun and a quite a learning experience!

The census was taken over the first 18 days of June, 1860.  Here’s the breakdown on some of the types of data that were recorded:

Total People	2390
Number of dwellings	421
Number of families	474
Avg. size of household	5.68 people

Sex and Race
	Male	Male%	Female	Female%	Total	Total Percent
White	1109	46.40%	1103	46.15%	2202	92.13%
Black	69	2.89%	88	3.68%	157	6.57%
Mulatto	16	0.67%	15	0.63%	31	1.30%
Total	1194	49.96%	1206	50.46%	2390	100

Average Age
Male	23.93
Female	25.84
Total	24.89

Age Distribution
Age	Male	Male%	Female	Female%	Total	Total Percent
0-10	347	14.52%	310	12.97%	657	27.49%
11-20	272	11.38%	255	10.67%	527	22.05%
21-30	197	8.24%	237	9.92%	434	18.16%
31-40	124	5.19%	130	5.44%	254	10.63%
41-50	101	4.23%	118	4.94%	219	9.16%
51-60	90	3.77%	84	3.51%	174	7.28%
61-70	37	1.55%	48	2.01%	85	3.56%
71-80	13	0.54%	12	0.50%	25	1.05%
81-90	3	0.13%	10	0.42%	13	0.54%
91+	0	0.00%	2	0.08%	2	0.08%

Other
	Count	Percent
Married within the year	38	1.59%
Attended school with the year	578	24.18%
Over 20yrs and cannot read or write	53	2.22%
Deaf	1	0.04%
Convict/Prisoner	5	0.21%
Foreign born	171	7.15%

Age Distribution of People Who Were Married Within the Year
Age	Male	Male%	Female	Female%	Total	Percent
17-20	1	2.63%	4	10.53%	5	13.16%
21-30	9	23.68%	13	34.21%	22	57.89%
31-40	5	13.16%	0	0.00%	5	13.16%
41-50	2	5.26%	2	5.26%	4	10.53%
51-60	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%
61-70	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%
71-80	2	5.26%	0	0.00%	2	5.26%
Total	19	50.00%	19	50.00%	38	100.00%

Age Distribution of People Who Attended School Within the Year
Age	Male	Male%	Female	Female%	Total	Percent
4-10	150	25.95%	123	21.28%	273	47.23%
11-20	164	28.37%	131	22.66%	295	51.04%
21-30	7	1.21%	2	0.35%	9	1.56%
31-40	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%
41-50	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%
51-60	0	0.00%	1	0.17%	1	0.17%
Total	321	55.54%	257	44.46%	578	100.00%

Place of Birth
	Count	Percent
Pennsylvania	1965	82.22%
Maryland	188	7.87%
Germany/Bavaria/Prussia, etc.	132	5.52%
Virginia	21	0.88%
Ireland	19	0.79%
New Jersey	12	0.50%
France	10	0.42%
Ohio	10	0.42%
New York	8	0.33%
Delaware	4	0.17%
England	4	0.17%
Indiana	3	0.13%
Connecticut	2	0.08%
Holland	2	0.08%
Illinois	2	0.08%
Canada	1	0.04%
English Channel	1	0.04%
Georgia	1	0.04%
Massachusetts	1	0.04%
Missouri	1	0.04%
New Hampshire	1	0.04%
Scotland	1	0.04%
Switzerland	1	0.04%

As is generally known, coach making was the biggest industry in Gettysburg in 1860.  When you count all of the coach-related trades like wheelwrights and coach lace weavers, it represented a little more than 11% of the work force in the Borough.  Of course, that population is limited to the 672 people (28.12%) whose occupation is specifically listed in the census. For many people (including 16% of males between the age of 18 and 60), no occupation was listed — so some occupations were probably under-represented (e.g., farmers).  Lastly, it is acknowledged that the grouping of occupations into industries is somewhat subjective.

But with those caveats, here are the top 10 industries in Gettysburg in 1860:

Industry	Count	Percent	Includes
Coach Making	75	11.16%	Coach/Wagon Maker, Coach Painter, Coach/Carriage Trimmer, Coach Smith, Coach Lace Weaver, Body Maker, Wheelwright, Carriage Seller
Service	73	10.86%	Domestic, Housekeeper, Help, Waiter, Coach Driver
Clothing	72	10.71%	Tailor(ess), Seamstress, Hatter/Milliner, Shoemaker/Cordwainer, Mantua Maker, Clothier
Construction	62	9.23%	Carpenter, Plasterer, Stone Cutter, Stone Mason, Brick Maker/Layer/Carrier, Mason
Labor	55	8.18%	Day Laborer, Hireling
Equine	48	7.14%	Blacksmith, Harness Maker, Saddle/SaddleTree Maker, Livery Keeper, Hostler
Education	22	3.27%	Teacher, Professor
Merchant	21	3.13%
Furniture	18	2.68%	Cabinet Maker, Chair Maker, Furniture Dealer
Clerk	18	2.68%

As for specific occupations, these are the most common among men, including their average estate (real estate + personal estate):

Occupation	Count	Avg Estate
Day Laborer	53	$319
Coach Maker	33	$644
Blacksmith	30	$752
Shoemaker	29	$622
Carpenter	23	$470
Merchant	21	$10747
Clerk	18	$272
Farmer	17	$5541
Printer	14	$60
Cabinet Maker	13	$790

(For this purpose, each category includes journeymen, apprentices, and masters).

These are the most common occupations among women:

Occupation	Count	Average Estate
Domestic	56	$37
Mantua Maker	10	$317
Tailoress	9	$55
Teacher	9	$200
Milliner	8	$325
Housekeeper	7	0
Help	5	0
Nurse	3	$33
Seamstress	3	$41
Laundress	2	$137

Oh, and the difference between a domestic and a servant?  Domestics were generally white (44 of 50 or 88%) and servants were generally black (5 of 7 or 71%).

I’ll post more analysis with respect to individual residents once I finish cross-checking name spellings against other records.