Apr 18, 2025

Daniel D. Tompkins was born on June 21, 1774, in the town of Scarsdale in Westchester County, New York. He came into a world still under British rule, just two years before the colonies would declare their independence. His family roots traced back to England, where the name Tompkins derived from a form of...

Apr 16, 2025

The 1860 U.S. Census might be one of the most emotionally charged documents in early American history. On the surface, it looks similar to 1850—names, ages, occupations, birthplaces, property values. But just beneath that is a country on the brink of war. It was taken in a moment when the United States was technically...

Apr 14, 2025

By the time the 1850 U.S. Census was taken, the United States was no longer a slow-growing collection of coastal settlements. It was a booming, restless, coast-to-coast land of contradictions. The population had reached over 23 million people. The western frontier had stretched all the way to California. Cities were...

Apr 11, 2025

The 1840 U.S. Census might be the most overlooked turning point in early American recordkeeping. On the surface, it still looks like the older ones—just one name listed, a page full of tick marks, and plenty of room for guesswork. But this was a census taken on the edge of transformation. The United States was about...

Apr 10, 2025

By 1830, the United States had reached a new kind of maturity. The Revolution was no longer in living memory for some—though a surprising number of veterans were still alive and tucked into households across the country. Andrew Jackson was president, the Erie Canal had transformed trade in the North, and the South...