1885 Lincoln County Kansas Census

compiled by Diana and William R. Sowers

Introduction

The Kansas State Board of Agriculture conducted a statewide census during years ending in "5" beginning in 1865. There were also 1855, 1856, 1857, 1858, and 1859 territorial census. The Kansas State Historical Society has the state and territorial censuses, 1855-1925, on microfilm and has made them available through interlibrary loan. There are also microfilm indexes for the 1865 and 1875 censuses also available on interlibrary loan. "Interlibrary loan" means that you can borrow the film from the Kansas State Historical Society through your local library. For more information on borrowing Kansas state and federal censuses take a look at the Society's page on Availability of, & Information Contained in Kansas Censuses.

The 1885 census of Lincoln County

The 1885 Lincoln County census available here was begun on March 1, 1998 and completed on July 14, 1999. This online census does NOT include all the information contained in the 1885 census. It is a summary of information transcribed from the original source. We have attempted to copy the information as written, but if you've ever looked at census material you know... it's easier said than done. When in doubt we have added a "?" after information. This includes instances such as a person named Angeline listed as male on the census. At times we've also been forced to guess at what a name might be and have listed other options at the bottom of the page in question. The complete census on microfilm is available from the Kansas State Historical Society and we encourage you to borrow it and take a look for yourself.

We have arranged the online 1885 Lincoln County census as follows:

Appearing in large bold letters at the top of each page are:

Township
City (or nearest post office)
Page number.

Appearing in columns on each page are:

DW (Dwelling number--- i.e. the first, second, third, etc. dwelling the census taker visited on his

trip through the district.
FM (Family number-- i.e. the first, second, third, etc family the census taker visited on his trip
through the district. Note: Sometimes more than one family lived in the same dwelling.)
Surname
Given Name
Age
Sex
M/W/S (Marital Status.... i.e. married/widowed/single)
Place of Birth
Where from (to Kansas) (In what state or country was the individual living before coming to
Kansas).

We did NOT include the following information available on the census on our online summary:
Color, Occupation or Profession, Value of Real Estate and Value of Personal Estate. We have entered the military service information from the 1885 census online on another page at: http://www.ksgenweb.org/lincoln/military.htm

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As stated above we have transcribed this census as we see it - misspellings, errors and all. The handwriting in places is less than desirable and our interpretation (and typing) may be inaccurate. Get the microfilmed original to recheck what we've done and get the added information we've left out. Good luck and on to the census:

1885 LINCOLN COUNTY CENSUS ONLINE

In 1885 there were over 8,200 people living in Lincoln County, Kansas!

Click on the township name to see the full census information we have online. Surnames found in each township are listed below to help you in your search. Often a surname appears more than once in one township.

Use your search/find keys to find names with the knowledge that names were often misspelled and that census takers were not always very literate folks. For example, the surname, Reed, might appear as Reid, Read, Rede, Ried, etc. This is especially true of German and Czech (i.e. Bohemian) names as well as Scandinavian surnames (Anderson vs Andersen or Meyer, Meier, Myer, etc.).

IMPORTANT NOTICE!!

Lincoln County 1885 Census Index

There is an Online Index to the 1885 census including all the towships listed below as well as references to the men listed in the military census section here. It is arranged alphabetically by surname with corresponding townships. It is located at:
http://www.ksgenweb.org/lincoln/census1885/
(Thank you, Joan Stevenson, for providing this index!!)

TOWNSHIPS

BATTLE CREEK TOWNSHIP

BEAVER TOWNSHIP

CEDRON TOWNSHIP (lacking page 14)

COLORADO TOWNSHIP

ELKHORN TOWNSHIP (town of LINCOLN CENTER)

ELKHORN TOWNSHIP (areas outside of Lincoln Centre)

FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP

GOLDEN BELT TOWNSHIP

GRANT TOWNSHIP
(Note..... Grant Township was later divided into two townships Grant and Hanover.)

HANOVER TOWNSHIP -------part of GRANT TOWNSHIP in 1885

HIGHLAND TOWNSHIP

INDIANA TOWNSHIP

LOGAN TOWNSHIP

MADISON TOWNSHIP

MARION TOWNSHIP

ORANGE TOWNSHIP

PLEASANT TOWNSHIP
(Note..... Pleasant Township was later divided into two townships Pleasant and Vesper.)

SALT CREEK TOWNSHIP

SCOTT TOWNSHIP

VALLEY TOWNSHIP

VESPER TOWNSHIP -------part of PLEASANT TOWNSHIP in 1885

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Bill and Diana Sowers, Lincoln County Coordinators
Tracee Hamilton, Lincoln County Coordinator
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Copyright 1997, 1998 by Bill and Diana Sowers