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The Census Takers Experience in the Country

1860s newsprint

Daily Gazette & Comet [Baton Rouge, LA], August 23, 1860

A Virginia census taker writes: “I have opened 200 to 2500 gates, let down 1500 to 1800 pairs of bars, and any number of fences; have got off and on my horse from fifty to eighty times a day, done any amount of talking in the way of explanation, made countless calculations, etc., etc. Thus far I have not had an unpleasant word with a human being, but my patience and temper have been severely tried.”

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