Bradford County PA
Chemung County NY
Tioga County PA
Tri-Counties Genealogy & History
by Joyce M. Tice
1855 New York State Census Records for

Town of Horseheads, Chemung County NY
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Joyce's Search Tip - January 2008 -
Do You Know that you can search just the Census Records on the site by using the three county level Census  buttons in the Partitioned search engine at the bottom of the Current What's New Page

You can further limit your search by choosing the find all words option and entering a year or township name along with your surname. Remember that alternate spellings of surnames WILL affect your search results.

Census records are very often difficult to read because of handwriting, microfilm quality, and spelling issues. Our early census takers were not as well educated as we'd like them to have been, and even the people bearing the names often could not spell them with the same consistency we are accustomed to in our own time. The census taker wrote what he believed he heard as well as he could. Our volunteers have transcribed them for you to the very best or our abilities given the difficulties mentioned. Please be tolerant of what you would consider "mistakes." If you can recognize the names you are looking for, then it is a success. If not, then you may want to find a place where you can view the originals so that you can judge for yourselves. Excessive attention to outmoded spelling issues is the sign of a beginner in family research and will limit your research effectiveness.

Transcribed 2008 by Sherry LAMPMAN Nichols
Published October 2008 by Joyce M. Tice

Note from Sherry - The 1855 census for Horseheads was collected by DeWitt Curtis from June 1 thru June 19, 1855.  A group of people years ago looked at the original records and copied them to paper form for the library and indexed them.  I first typed the records from these paper records. Just like the original records some of the handwriting was hard to read or the person copying them had trouble reading the census. I then ordered the microfilm of the 1855 census for Chemung Co from the LDS church. This film is now on permanent loan at the LDS Church on Broad St in Horseheads. I spent many hours looking at the film and trying to be as correct as possible with the names.  I spent hours looking at the 1850 and 1860 census records trying to figure out names that were in question. I had other genealogists look at the records to help me figure out names. If you don’t agree with what I have typed I suggest you look at the film at the LDS church. There is a copy of the records at the clerk’s office in Elmira but the records in the census books there are copies that are faded and hard to read. For any names that I wasn’t sure of I put question marks after them. In a few cases I added names from other sources and put parenthesis around them. The census taker stopped putting visitation numbers in the columns after # 378 and either left it blank or put a 1 in the space. There was a page and half of records missing from the library’s records that I found and added from the microfilm. This took me about 1 ½ yrs to type up, much longer then I thought it would. I hope it will help everyone that looks at it. I did my best with what I had.

Page 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50
Inmates of County Poor House are on page 37
Be sure to scroll to the right to see the entire page.
Dwelling # in order of visitation of what material built value family # in order of visitation Name of every person who lived in this abode 1st day of June age sex color relationship to head of family county born or what state married widowed years in residence profession voter native born voter naturalized alien persons of color not taxed persons over 21 who can't read or write owners of land
16 wood frame 800 17 Thorn Elbert 35 M     Orange 1   1 carriage maker 1         1
        Thorn Mrs. 26 F   wife Suffolk 1   1              
        Thorn Rebecca 30 F   sister Orange     1              
        Thorn Susan 26 F   sister Orange     1              
        Thorn Sarah 23 F   sister Orange     1              
        Thorn infant 1m F   daughter Chemung                    
        Wicks William 20 M   laborer Suffolk     1 carriage maker            
        Roy Michael 20 M   laborer Chemung     15 carriage maker            
        Randolph G. 19 M   laborer Chemung     10 blacksmith            
        Skinner George 20 M   laborer Chemung     20 blacksmith 1          
17 wood frame 800 18 Smith Reuben 40 M     Orange     4 blacksmith 1         1
        Smith Jane 40 F   wife Orange 1   4              
        Smith Agnes 15 F   daughter Orange 1   4              
        Smith Isabella 13 F   daughter Orange     4              
        Smith Harriet 10 F   daughter Orange     4              
        Smith Sidney 4 M   son Chemung     4              
        Howard Erastus 23 M   boarder Chemung     2 blacksmith 1          
        Ferris Joseph 22 M   boarder New Jersey     1m blacksmith 1          
18 wood frame 600 19 Jones I.W. 41 M     Tompkins 1   8 physician 1         1
        Jones Polly 37 F   wife Cortland 1   8              
        Jones Wm.S. 9 M   son Chemung     8              
        Jones Thomas 6 M   son Chemung     6              
        Jones Julia 4 F   daughter Chemung     4              
        Jones Hannah 2 F   daughter Chemung     2              
19 wood frame 350 20 Strait John 36 M     Chemung 1   34 boatman 1         1
        Strait Mary 28 F   wife Rensalaer     7              
        Strait John 3 M   son Chemung 1   3              
20 wood frame 600 21 Shappee Knapp 25 M     Chemung 1   18 ship carpenter 1          
        Shappee Mary 26 F   wife Tompkins     8              
        Shappee Layfayette 6 M   blank Chemung     6              
        Shappee Frances 2 F   blank Chemung     2              
      22 Callighan Widow 48 F   blank Ireland     18       1      
        Callighan Sara 18 F   blank Chemung     18              
        Callighan Ella 16     blank Chemung     16              
        Callighan Eliza 12 F   blank Chemung     12          
21 wood frame 350 23 Williams Daniel 31 M     Albany 1   2 ship carpenter 1          
        Williams Matilda 24 F   wife Penn 1   2              
        Williams Edward 2 M   blank Steuben     2              
        Williams Esther 5 F   blank Chemung     2              
        Patchin Isaac 18 M   boarder Conn   W 1   1          
22 plank 200 24 Westlake Daniel 24 M     Orange 1   2 ship carpenter 1         1
      Westlake Margaret 25 F   wife Orange 1   2              
        Westlake Mary E. 3 F   daughter Orange     1              
        Westlake John W. 1 M   son Chemung     3m              
23 wood frame 500 25 Shappee Layfayette 30 M     Seneca 1   3m ship carpenter 1         1
        Shappee Hannah 25 F   wife Seneca 1   3m              
        Shappee Mary 3 F   daughter Seneca     8              

Last Updated on 10/6/2008
By Joyce M. Tice