Census of 1790
By Liz D., Karli H., and Catherine M.
What could looking at the census of Ludlow in 1790 tell us
about Ludlow’s history?
How were people categorized?
What does the category “all other free persons" mean?
How did we get our street names?
We analyzed the census of 1790. The census shows the population of Ludlow. While analyzing the census we found many things. We found that there were 560 people total in 1790. We learned that there were categories used to classify people. For example, there were "free white females," "free white males 16 and under," "free white males 16 years old and upward," "slaves,” and "all other free persons." Most of the names were male except for the two white females named in the census. These women were probably widows back then. There were no slaves at this time because Massachusetts had outlawed slavery. Icabod Beckwith was the only person that had two “other free persons” living in his family, along with one male over sixteen, one male under sixteen and two free females. “All other free persons" may have been Native Americans or free African Americans. These 560 people occupied only 86 houses.
The hardest part of looking at the census was making out all the names and reading the small handwriting. In analyzing the population of 1790, we have found that some of the street names in Ludlow today are names of early settlers, like Fuller, Miller, Hubbard, and Chapin. We also know that most people in 1790 were probably farmers. The population of Ludlow continued to grow as more people moved there so they could work in the mills and on the farms.