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Andrew Sletweg in the 1860 U.S. Census Records

This seems most certainly to be Andreas Schlectweg before his marriage to Mary Jane Dickinson, for the reasons stated below. [Related page: Andrew (Andreas) Schlectweg in the 1870 and 1880 censuses.]

8th Census of the United States

SCHEDULE 1. -- Free Inhabitants in  13th Ward,  Philadelphia,  in the County of  Philadelphia,  State of  Pennsylvania,  enumerated by me, on the  21st  day of  June  1860. Page No. 59

Questions Asked and Answered in this Census

  1. 3. The name of every person whose usual place of abode on the first day of June, 1860, was in this family.
  2. 4. Age.
  3. 5. Sex.
  4. 7. Profession, Occupation, or Trade of each person, male and female, over 15 years of age.
  5. 9. Value of Personal Estate.
  6. 10. Place of Birth, Naming the State, Territory, or Country.
  7. 11. Married within the year.
  8. 12. Attended School within the year.
  9. 13. Persons over 20 y'rs of age who cannot read & write.
Line Name Census Data
16 Andrew Sletweg (4) 23,  (5) male,  (7) Painter,  (9) [Blank],  (10) Saxony,  (11-13) [Blank].
12 Francis B[?]nig (4) 51,  (5) male,  (7) [?]oter,  (9) 400,  (10) Bavaria.
13 Catharine (4) 42,  (5) female,  (7) [Blank],  (10) Pennsylvania.
14 Louisa Bower (4) 11,  (5) female,  (10) [Blank],  (12) [Marked],  (13) [Blank].
15 G[?] Stumph (4) 45,  (5) male,  (7) Musician,  (10) Prussia.
17 Robt. Gardner (4) 40,  (5) male,  (7) Musician,  (10) Pennsylvania.
18 Amil Demler (4) 26,  (5) male,  (7) [Blank],  (10) Bavaria.
19 Catharine Brown (4) 17,  (5) female,  (7) Domestic,  (10) Pennsylvania.

Source: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) microfilm publication M653
Census image at FamilySearch.org (17 November 2016)

Notes: from Family Search's print reading of the image. For line 12: "Francis Brenig". For line 15: "Gutleip Stumph". For line 18: "Arvil Demler". Occupations are not listed. For line 13, the family name "Brenig" has been listed, although the census image itself has only Catharine". The estimated birth year for Andrew Sletweg is "1837".

Plausibilities: Andreas Schlectweg was born 10 May 1836, and therefore his age in June 1860 was 24. The first child of Andreas and Mary Jane was born in 1861-1862, suggesting a marriage date of 1860 or 1861. The name "Schlectweg" could sound either to the informant or census taker like "Sletweg". Andreas' name is stated as "Andrew" in the 1870 census.

Troubles: Andreas was born in Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach (historically Thuringia), and I don't know if that would have been stated as "Saxony" in America or not. But there is reason to believe that it would have been, and that "Saxony" would have been where Andreas himself would have said that he was from.

The Germanic Thuringians appeared about 350 AD. They were conquered by the Franks in the 6th to 8th centuries ... In the 13th century Thuringia fell to the margraves of Meissen, who in the 15th century divided the territory into several duchies; when the margraves became electors of Saxony, the name of Saxony (German, Sachsen) was prefixed to their holdings. (The Village of Gehaus, its History in Brief)

And so, the birthplace of Andreas, namely "Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach", was in those days Saxony, and "Thuringia" was then a title belonging to history, somewhat like the title "West Jersey", which is now southern New Jersey. (If someone asks me "Where do you live?" I don't answer "West Jersey", although that answer is historically correct. Maybe later generations will rename where I live to "West Jersey", but that hasn't been its name for centuries now, and maybe it was like this with the name "Thuringia".)

In the first 1870 Census (2 July) Andreas and Mary Jane are listed as living in Philadelphia's Ward 16, but in the second 1870 Census (18 November) in Ward 17. This suggests that ward numbering in those days was fluid, and so that the 1860 Census stating the location as 13th Ward is maybe not important.

In the second 1870 Census, Andreas and Mary Jane's address is recorded as Howard Street, and in the 1880 Census as 1342 [North] Howard Street. This address was and is in Philadelphia's Kensington District (in what is now postal zip code area 19122, between Germantown Avenue to the east, Frankford Avenue to the west, and Thompson Street to the south).

The earliest listing found in a Philadelphia city directory is from October 1862, stating "Slackway, Andrew, painter, Jefferson & Hope". As it happens, [North] Hope Street and [North] Howard Street are next to each other, running parallel, and both intersect with [North] Jefferson Street, and Jefferson & Hope and 1342 Howard Street are about a block and half apart.

The URL of this Web page: https://www.roangelo.net/schlectweg/sletweg1860.html
Last revised: 20 November 2016 : 2016-11-20 by Robert [Wesley] Angelo

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