SOUTHERNS IN THE 1820 FEDERAL CENSUS:
STOKES AND ROCKINGHAM COUNTIES, N.C.
| Stokes County | White
Males | | | | | | White
Females | | | | |
| Name | 0-9 | 10-15 | 16-17 | 18-25 | 26-44 | Over 44 | 0-9 | 10-15 | 16-25 | 26-44 | Over 44 |
| Ford | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | - | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | - | 1 | |
| William J. | 2 | - | - | 1 | - | - | 1 | - | 1 | - | - | |
| William (II) | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | |
| Reuben | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | |
| Joshua | 4 | - | - | - | 1 | - | 2 | - | - | 2 | - | |
| Stephen | 1 | - | - | - | 1 | - | 4 | 1 | - | 1 | - | |
| Daniel | 1 | - | - | - | 1 | - | 2 | - | 2 | - | - | |
| Rockingham County | White
Males | | | | | | White
Females | | | | |
| Name | 0-9 | 10-15 | 16-17 | 18-25 | 26-44 | Over 44 | 0-9 | 10-15 | 16-25 | 26-44 | Over 44 |
| Reuben | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | |
| Buckner | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | 1 | 3 | 2 | - | 1 | - | |
Descriptions:
Stokes County
| White
Males | | | | | | White
Females | | | | |
| Name | 0-9 | 10-15 | 16-17 | 18-25 | 26-44 | Over 44 | 0-9 | 10-15 | 16-25 | 26-44 | Over 44 |
| Ford | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | - | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | - | 1 | |
Ford now 55. An 1817 marriage bond for Ford Southern and Nancy Glenn could mean that Catherine has died and Ford
has a second (or third) wife. It is possible that Ford and Nancy are the parents of all these children if Nancy, now over 45,
brought some children from a previous marriage. Or, the younger children could belong to the young woman and one of the
younger men. This is Ford's last N.C. census; he sold his 199 acres on Blackey's Branch three years later and disappeared.
He was still alive in 1839, the year he signed an affidavit for Rachel Vernon Ward's application for a survivor's pension; that
document sets his birth date at 1765. It is not clear where he was living between 1823-1839; he may have been in the
household of an unidentified son-in-law.
| White
Males | | | | | | White
Females | | | | |
| Name | 0-9 | 10-15 | 16-17 | 18-25 | 26-44 | Over 44 | 0-9 | 10-15 | 16-25 | 26-44 | Over 44 |
| William J. | 2 | - | - | 1 | - | - | 1 | - | 1 | - | - | |
(William III). The census taker's scribbled "J." is perhaps a middle initial, but more likely stands for Junior to distinguish him
from the older William (II) the veteran below who was living in the same general neighborhood. This must be Ford's son
who married Frances (Fanny) Banks in 1815, now on the 25 acres his father gave him this year on Blackeys Branch. William
and Fanny both under 26 (b. ca. 1795, married at about age 20 in 1815 -- though the widow Frances's 1850 census -- if really
this Frances -- indicates she was born in 1791); two sons and a daughter 0-5; John H., an infant this year (born June 28, 1820),
could be one of the boys counted here.
| White
Males | | | | | | White
Females | | | | |
| Name | 0-9 | 10-15 | 16-17 | 18-25 | 26-44 | Over 44 | 0-9 | 10-15 | 16-25 | 26-44 | Over 44 |
| William (II) | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | |
William the veteran on Snow Creek, now in his early 60s, with a woman also over 45. No children in this census;
daughters have left or died. Apparently no slave in this census (Need to recheck).
| White
Males | | | | | | White
Females | | | | |
| Name | 0-9 | 10-15 | 16-17 | 18-25 | 26-44 | Over 44 | 0-9 | 10-15 | 16-25 | 26-44 | Over 44 |
| Reuben | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | |
The aging Reuben (I), son of William (I), now mid-60s-70 (born by 1757), apparently with wife (never identified) and six
younger women; none of Reubin's daughters are yet positively identified with the possible exception of
Anny (not counted here), for whom Reuben was bondsman in her 1807 marriage to John Brown.
| White
Males | | | | | | White
Females | | | | |
| Name | 0-9 | 10-15 | 16-17 | 18-25 | 26-44 | Over 44 | 0-9 | 10-15 | 16-25 | 26-44 | Over 44 |
| Joshua | 4 | - | - | - | 1 | - | 2 | - | - | 2 | - | |
Reuben's son Joshua, now around 40-46, married to Mary Carter since 1809, with their first six children, all under 10,
with another 26-45 woman in the household. (Need to recheck deeds to determine where he was living at this point;
Reuben sold him 100 Hewins Creek acres in 1804 but Joshua sold a big part, if not all, of his farm on "Uins Creek" in
1818 to James Larimore; in the 1830s he bought land on Snow Creek). The first four sons were John C. (born 1810 but
still in the under 10 column here); Landon H. (b. 1812); Reuben V. (b. 1814); and William C. (b. 1819); not sure who the
daughters are here.
| White
Males | | | | | | White
Females | | | | |
| Name | 0-9 | 10-15 | 16-17 | 18-25 | 26-44 | Over 44 | 0-9 | 10-15 | 16-25 | 26-44 | Over 44 |
| Stephen | 1 | - | - | - | 1 | - | 4 | 1 | - | 1 | - | |
| Daniel | 1 | - | - | - | 1 | - | 2 | - | 2 | - | - | |
Stephen, Reuben's known son to whom Reuben sold 150 acres in 1810, now in his 30s and in his second census,
with wife Rachel his first girl now over 10 and 4 more daughters -- perhaps Mary, Martha, Sarah, and Eliza --and a son,
possibly William, in the brew. The younger Daniel is probably Reuben's son; Reuben sold him 100 acres in 1816.
Though the deed doesn't name the relationship, Reuben had a pattern of selling, not giving, land to each of his sons.
Daniel married Patsy Mitchell in 1815.
Rockingham County
| White
Males | | | | | | White
Females | | | | |
| Name | 0-9 | 10-15 | 16-17 | 18-25 | 26-44 | Over 44 | 0-9 | 10-15 | 16-25 | 26-44 | Over 44 |
| Reuben | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | |
This appears to be Reuben Jr., son of old Reuben, probably in his 30s, recently married and no children yet.
His wife was named Dosia.
| White
Males | | | | | | White
Females | | | | |
| Name | 0-9 | 10-15 | 16-17 | 18-25 | 26-44 | Over 44 | 0-9 | 10-15 | 16-25 | 26-44 | Over 44 |
| Buckner | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | 1 | 3 | 2 | - | 1 | - | |
This Buckner Southern is apparently the Buckner who appears as the
son of William Southern of Mecklenburg County, VA in the 1795
Mecklenburg tax list. The relationship of William of Mecklenburg to
the N.C. Southerns is not yet known. Buckner's brothers included
Robert, who settled in Claiborne County, TN, and William Jr. and
Jesse, who settled in Lee County, VA. This is also probably
the Buckner "Southerd"
of Rockingham County who appears in an 1807 marriage bond
with Sally King. There were several Southard families in Rockingham
County, some of them neighbors to Southerns who moved to
southwestern Rockingham, and the similarity of the surnames
caused confusion in census and other public records.