Norwoods in the 1790 US Census

 

The 1790 census identifies Norwood families in six of the original thirteen states, namely:

 

State or Province

Males 16 & over

Males under 16

Females

Others

Totals

Slaves

State populations

Massachusetts

24

23

42

5

94

0

378,787

Maryland

29

16

43

0

88

75

319,728

(Maine)

6

11

16

0

33

0

  96,540

North Carolina

12

21

35

2

70

91

393,751

New Hampshire

2

0

2

0

4

0

141,885

New York

4

3

11

0

18

0

340,120

South Carolina

15

16

27

0

58

15

249,073

Totals

92

90

176

7

365

181

1,919,884

 

 

While it is difficult to say exactly what the makeup of these households was because only family heads were identified, and there are some gaps in the record (missing reports and inexplicable absences of a head of household), it is possible to make some educated guesses about U.S. Norwoods at this juncture in our nation’s history, only a year after full ratification of the constitution by the thirteen seaboard states.

 

As might be expected, the greatest concentrations of Norwoods are in the older states of Massachusetts and Maryland, which were each settled by a single Norwood emigrant from England in the mid-17th century.  In 1790, Maine, New Hampshire, and the Carolinas were frontier states (Maine being a province of Massachusetts).  Norwoods in New Hampshire, Maine, and Upstate New York stem from the Massachusetts family, and those in New York City from Bermuda. It is very interesting that no Norwoods remain in Virginia where William Norwood of Leckhampton Court, Gloucestershire, England, settled over a century earlier.

 

Some observations that can be made are that

 

  • males and females occur in roughly equal numbers.
  • males are equally divided among those under sixteen and those sixteen and older.
  • in Maryland, North Carolina, and South Carolina, 19 families owned slaves, and in North Carolina the number of slaves exceeded the number of free people among the Norwood families.
  • settlement in North and South Carolina was well underway but only just beginning in New Hampshire, Maine, and New York.
  • some families had boarders, free servants or apprentices included in their households
  • the Norwoods were not very numerous in a total US population of 3,929,214.