52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – Week 40: Harvest—Amos Gorrell on the 1870 Ag Schedule

This is my second year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow. I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails Into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.

Amos Gorrell, Jr. (1837-1928) was a farmer. He owned 25 acres of land in 1870 in LaMine Township, Cooper County, Missouri.[1] Eleven of the acres was improved for farming, while fourteen was still wooded. Amos stated the property was worth $350. Today, that amount would be worth $6,708.96.[2] His farm implements were worth $25.

The above information on the farm is from the Agricultural Schedule of the 1870 U.S. Federal Census. Below are two images of the schedule as the census covers across two pages. The census lists the livestock and crops that he raised the previous year.

Amos’ livestock included two horses, two milch (milk) cows, five other cattle, and twenty-five swine, all valued at $200. He received cash of $150 from slaughtered or sold animals.

The crops he raised were 200 bushels of Indian corn, 45 bushels of Irish potatoes, and 50 pounds of butter.

He also received $70 from forest products, probably from the sale of wood from his forest.

All in all, the value of his farm production was $600.

His farm was rather small. The neighbors around him had larger farms. Daniel Clark, who was listed after him had 516 acres of land valued at $12,000. Nathan Keirn, who was listed immediately above him had 120 acres valued at $2000, though his total production was less than Amos’ at $300. As you can see in the image below, Amos earned more than some of the other farmers who had larger farms.

Now, it is interesting that in the population schedule, Amos does not appear to own the property.[3] No amount is listed for land or personal value. Perhaps he was renting the land from one of his neighbors such as Danl Clark. 

The next task would be to search land indexes to see if and when Amos purchased land. Also, I should check the 1880 agricultural schedule to compare for any changes.

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[1] 1870 U.S. Ag census, Cooper Co, Missouri, digital image, Missouri State Archives, https://www.sos.mo.gov/CMSImages/Archives/Census/Ag_1870/Ag_1870_Cooper.pdf, La Mine, p. 1, no. 2, Amos Gorrell.

[2] CPI Inflation Calculator, calculated based on 2018 dollars, http://www.in2013dollars.com/1870-dollars-in-2018?amount=350.

[3] 1870 U.S. census, Cooper Co, Missouri, pop. sched., p 441a, fam 3, Amos Gorrell, digital image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com), citing NARA M593, roll 77.

Copyright © 2019 by Lisa S. Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.