Total returns of the 1840 census for Rhode Island. Copy submitted from clerk's office, District Court, Providence, to Federal Government. April 20, 1841. John T. Pitman, clerk. Included with copy of report to Stephen Cahoone, General Treasurer, concerning numbers of public school children. From sub committee: Thos M. Burgess, Thos. W. Dorr, Moses B. Ives

Published by April 22, Providence, 1841

About this Item

Folio bifolium (approx. 17¼" x 10½"), 3 pages, in ink, with a docket on the verso of the integral leaf; previous folds, neat, professional repair at splits; all else very good. Document concerning the financing of public schools in Providence. The fomenter of the Dorr Rebellion, Thomas W. Dorr, was part of a subcommittee on schools in Providence that sent this report to Stephen Cahoone, General Treasurer, based on the act of 1828 to establish public schools and to pay monies to the towns in proportion to their respective population of certain ages (i.e. school children). The subcommittee produced numbers of white and colored males and females of certain age brackets in the state and in the city of Providence (all under the age of 24). For example, they reported 132 colored females in the city under the age of ten. "The City of Providence will therefore be entitled to" 7698th part of 38053 of the amount (to be) distributed. The first school committee chosen under the reorganization of 1838 included Thomas W. Dorr and he was president of the school committee in 1841 to 1842. The first page tallies Free White Persons (male and female separately) and Free Colored Persons (male and female separately) for the then 31 towns in Rhode Island under fifteen years of age. The 1840 census must not have been completely enumerated when these figures were totaled since they are short of the actual census currently available. Curiously, Edwin Snow reported in 1867 that: "I have been unable to obtain the number of the colored population, by the census of 1840, except by counties and for a few towns, which are given in the table.".

Seller Inventory # 57700

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Total returns of the 1840 census for Rhode Island. Copy submitted from clerk's office, District Court, Providence, to Federal Government. April 20, 1841. John T. Pitman, clerk. Included with copy of report to Stephen Cahoone, General Treasurer, concerning numbers of public school children. From sub committee: Thos M. Burgess, Thos. W. Dorr, Moses B. Ives
• Publisher: April 22, Providence
• Publication Date: 1841
• Seller catalogs:
  • Americana
  • Education
  • Manuscripts