Analysis of a late 19th century mug book entry - Part 2a: Census Records

Part 2a: Census records of the household of Patrick and Nancy (Laughlin) Mahan, Indiana Co, Pennsylvania

For Part 1, see [Part 1].

Census records for the Mahan family in Indiana County begin in 1820, based on the information that the family came to Pennsylvania in 1819.[1] The search for the family is somewhat difficult due to the fact that there are two Patrick Mahan/Mahon individuals in the same township in the 1820, 1830[2], and 1840 censuses.

1820:
Household of "our" Patrick Mahan[3]:

• 1 male aged 26-44 years [b. 1776-1794]
• 3 females aged under 10 years [b. 1810-1820]
• 1 female aged 16-25 years [b. 1795-1804]
• 1 foreigner not naturalized   [this is mistranscribed on Ancestry.com to be 1 person engaged in agriculture]

1830:
Household of "our" Patrick Mahan[4]:

• 1 male aged under 5 years [b. 1825-1830]
• 1 male aged 30 to 40 years [b. 1790-1800]
• 2 females aged under 5 years [b. 1825-1830]
• 2 females aged 5 to 10 years [b. 1820-1825]
• 2 females aged 10 to 15 years [b. 1815-1820]
• 1 female aged 30 to 40 years [b. 1790-1800]
  
  [This census has been mistranscribed and misses the females aged 10-15 category.]

1840:
Household of "our" Patrick Mahan[5]:

• 1 male aged 10 to 15 years [b. 1825-1830]
• 1 male aged 50 to 60 years [b. 1780-1790]
• 2 females aged under 5 years [b. 1835-1840]
• 2 females aged 10 to 15 years [b. 1825-1830]
• 2 females aged 15 to 20 years [b. 1820-1825]
• 1 female aged 20 to 30 years [b. 1810-1820]
• 1 female aged 40 to 50 years [b. 1790-1800]
• 1 person engaged in agriculture

1850 US Census
Household of Nancy Mahan[6]:

• Nancy Mahan, 54,f, farmer, b Ireland 
• Jane -------, 23, f, b PA 
• William -----, 21, m, farmer, b PA 
• Angeline ----, 15, f, b PA, attended school 
• Isabella -----, 14, f, b PA, attended school

The agricultural schedule of Nancy Mahan from 1850 has been transcribed here.

1860 US Census
Household of Nancy Mahan[7]:

• Nancy Mahan, 63, f, $100 personal estate, b Ireland 
• John McFeeters, 9, m, b PA, attended school

1870 US Census

Household of Nancy Mahan[8]:

• Mahan, Nancy, 73, f, w, keeping house, $1000 real estate, $150 personal estate, b Ireland, both parents foreign birth
• McFeeters, John M, 19, m, w, farmer, $200 personal estate, b PA

1880 US Census:

Nancy Mahan is living with her daughter Angeline Fleming and her son-in-law, John S. Fleming, as well as with a niece that is hereto unidentified as a Mahan relative.[9]

[1] Census searches on Ancestry.com give no indication of a Patrick Mahan/Mahon household in 1810.

[2] In 1830 the "other" Patrick Mahan is actually enumerated as Peter Mahan, also in Washington Township, Indiana Co, Pennsylvania.

[3] 1820 US Census, household of Patrick Mahan, 7 August 1820, Washington Township, Indiana Co, Pennsylvania, page 21, "M" surname section - line 17, digital image, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 17 July 2012, citing NARA microfilm publication M33, roll 105.

[4] 1830 US Census, household of Patrick Mahan, 1 June 1830, Washington Township, Indiana Co, Pennsylvania, page 240, line 7, digital image, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 6 June 2010, citing NARA microfilm publication M19, roll 152, imaged from Family History Library Film 0020626.

[5] 1840 US Census, household of Patrick Mahon, 1 June 1840, Washington Township, Indiana Co, Pennsylvania, page 113, line 7, digital image, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 11 March 2010, citing NARA microfilm publication M704, roll 463, imaged from Family History Library Film 0020546. One of his next-door neighbors is Thomas Gibson, who would administer the estate of Patrick Mahan in the 1840s and 1850s; two household away is the man believed to be his son-in-law Moses Miller.

[6] 1850 US Census, household of Nancy Mahan, 5 August 1850, White Township, Indiana Co, Pennsylvania, page 27 (53 stamped), lines 10-14, dwelling number 366, family number 369, digital image, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 6 June 2012, citing NARA microfilm publication M432, roll 785.

[7] 1860 US Census, household of Nancy Mahan, 12 June 1860, Indiana Post Office, White Township, Indiana Co, Pennsylvania, page 412, lines 23 and 24, dwelling number 263, family number 268, digital image, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 5 May 2004, citing NARA microfilm publication M653, roll 1117.

[8] 1870 US Census, household of Nancy Mahan, 11 August 1870, White Township, Indiana Co, Pennsylvania, page 6 (418), lines 6-7, dwelling number 38, family number 42, digital image, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 2004, citing NARA microfilm publication M593, roll 1351.

[9] 1880 US Census, household of John S Fleming, 7 June 1880, Creekside, Washington Township, Indiana Co, Pennsylvania, ED 141, page 6B (264), lines 19-26, dwelling no. 62, family no. 63, digital image, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 27 March 2010, citing NARA microfilm publication T9, roll 1135, imaged from Family History Library Film 1255135.