1820 United States Census Question - General

Question

I am trying to decipher the 1820 census located for Michael Baker (4th one down) at www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHLT-2SC. 

1) What is the meaning of the horizonal fancy "S" character? How is it different from a 0? 

2) Can someone take a look and confirm the numbers I have are accurate? From left to right I'm seeing:

3

2

0

0

1

0

1

1

0

1

0

-

3

0

-

1

1

0

-

2

1

-

0

-

0

-

0

-

0

-

0

Thank you!

Comments

I read it as

Free white:

Males < 10       3

Males 10-15      2

Males 26-44      1

Females <10     1

Females 10-15  1

Females 26-44   1

Enslaved:

Males <14          1

Males 14-25        1

Females <14       2

Females   14-25  1

I think the various marks are just idiosyncracies of the enumerator

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Is the number way to the right the total? That would be helpful to know what number everything should add up to!

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Yes, the number at the far right is the total number of individuals enumerated.  9 free white, 5 enslaved.  The 3 in the "engaged in agriculture" column is a subtotal of free whites.

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Great, thank you!

Answer 1

If you go to the following link...

https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/1820_United_States_census

... the answer might be what's outlined under the "Census questions" category.

~Brian Kerr

Answer 2

1790 - 1840 used a "fence post tally". The census had anywhere from 7 to 32 questions, but the census taker used only the ones he needed.  the symbol could have meant "Not asked or Not stated"