Why would all wives in an 1860 Census be listed as "Spinster"?

Question

I was looking for a distant relative's census information and found her living with her husband in Allegheny County in 1860. I noticed with interest that Mary J (Huey) Burmaster was listed as Spinster to her husband, Joseph Burmaster. I wondered to myself if she hadn't het married him, or something like that, but then I noticed that all the wives on that page were listed as "spinster." 

Has anyone encountered this before? https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/7667/4282818_00132?pid=3067963&backurl=http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv%3D1%26dbid%3D7667%26h%3D3067963%26tid%3D%26pid%3D%26usePUB%3Dtrue%26_phsrc%3DefB8%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=efB8&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true#?imageId=4282818_00132

Comments

How weird. I don't think I've ever seen that before. I have no clue why the census taker would want to put it in that way.

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I can't see it, I don't use Ancestry. I'm using Findmypast and Familysearch mainly.

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Gillian, try this link: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MXGB-LZJ

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i just ran into this on the 1860 Census for Scott County, VA. All the women whose name on this particular page appeared after the head of household were categorized as spinsters, but in my relative's case, I knew she was married.

Here's the information in case you want to see how this looks:

Household ID: 1250
Page: 192
Affiliate Film Number: 1376
Affiliate Publication Number: M653
Affiliate Name: The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
Digital Folder Number: 005171745
Microfilm Number: 805376
Image Number: 00434
Indexing Batch: N01832-4

Citing this Record
"United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MHM3-BMV : 11 November 2020), Greenville Saunders, 1860.

Answer 1

I suspect that the answer is simply that the census taker thought the word spinster meant a married woman (wife). I'm sure people using words incorrectly because they think they know what they mean but really don't isn't new.

Comments

I am pretty sure you are right Deb, instead of spouse he entered spinster in error.

Answer 2

That's very strange. At least the Census taker listed her name, unlike the records I found that listed all the women (even heads of household) as Mrs. or Miss ____. I imagine he was embarrassed to ask for their first names!

Answer 3

How strange. I wonder if the Census taker was recording their condition before their marriage. I.e none of them were widows before their latest marriage. Perhaps looking at other pages in the area would she'd additional light.

Tim

Answer 4

In marriage bans (especially in the old days), "spinster" was the common term for an unmarried woman.  Bachelor was the term for the man.

Now, we tend to use bachelorette instead of spinster.  I don't why it was listed on the 1860 census that way though.

Answer 5

I think we would have to ask the census taker, Bernard Dougherty, on his intended usage. (or at least check with other census takers in that area to see what they used). Maybe Bernard was a young man himself and perhaps misunderstood the accepted definition of the term.

It appears his intended usage was that of "housewife" or "homemaker", since its in the "Occupation" column. And originally, that would have been a valid occupation, but generally reserved for unmarried women still.

I'm unable to find any definition that refers to a married wife not working outside the home. (but my access to any dictionaries in that time period are rather limited :) )

Comments

If it had been a Dutch census, spinster in the occupation column would make sense, since spinster is the Dutch word for a female spinner. I've got lots of spinsters in my tree, who were all married to wevers (weavers).

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It's also an English definition; see definition #3:

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/spinster?s=t

P.S. The 1860 census didn't list family relationships, so it is a presumption that the women are wives; some could have been spinster spinsters!!

 

Answer 6

This is interesting. Because this is an entry in the "Profession, Occupation, or Trade" column (as Dennis notes), it's reasonable to suggest that these women were working as spinsters -- spinners of flax or wool (or maybe cotton, if it was transported from places farther south).

I skimmed all of the census pages from the township, and I found no entries for "Keeping House." Four women were identified as "House Keeper" -- so the two census takers did consider that to be a possible entry, but not one they applied real often. (There were also some identified as "Domestic," but those appear to be servants.)

I wonder if the local history of this place indicates the presence of a textile mill, or some heritage of textile production being a local cottage industry. On other pages of the same census I do see a few people (mostly women) identified as Weavers, plus a number of women engaged in Sewing and a few who are described as Dressmakers. I see those entries as modest support for the notion that there was some organized local activity in textile or clothing production. (Meanwhile, it looks like many of the local men worked as coal miners or in the salt works.)

Comments

Ellen Smith, I did some (very quick) research to ascertain what industries were prevalent in the area in the 1860s and found mostly iron, steel and coal industry. The area provided much of the iron needed during the Civil War, as well as arms and leather. No mention of weaving, although there were mills in the area. Most of the mills were iron and steel mills, I believe.

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Not surprising, Alexandra. Iron, steel, and coal (which are closely connected) are the industries associated with Pittsburgh through most of its history. Thanks for checking!

I was thinking that maybe there was some sort of local enterprise that paid women to produce some sort of textiles or clothing in their homes. I guess this thought was inspired by the claim that one of my 18th-century ancestors had a business in which he acquired deerskins from Native Americans in what is now upstate New York, took them to Massachusetts where they were tanned and made into clothing (the latter work done by local women), which he then sold in New Jersey. An enterprise like that would not have been the main industry of the community where the clothing was made, but if there had been a census, the activity probably would have showed up in the census records in the form of a peculiar occupation for many local women.

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Ellen Smith,  I like this idea. I think I will try to look for more clues. My "search" through a few books about industry really focused on the large industries that you mentioned, and not the smaller "cottage" industries that might have existed. I might do some searching in local newspapers of the times to see if references exist to some kind of cloth industry!

Answer 7

I  saw  the  same  notation  for  a  relative  David Steele and  Mary  Moore  spinster  in  a  marriage  bond. Rockbridge  County  Virginia.

Comments

Seeing this is already bumped:  I, too, have an ancestress who was listed as a "spinster" for occupation.

Answer 8

Years late here, but I discovered the same thing on my ancestor's 1860 census in Clairborne TN. I did some digging and found out that in this case, most likely the women who we know are married and are still listed as spinsters because "spinster" was often used as an "occupation for a woman who spins cloth such as wool or cotton." You can find the article here its an interesting read: https://thewestsofwilkes.blogspot.com/2011/09/spinster-not-what-you-think.html

Answer 9

I just encountered my second one in the 1860 census, Isle of Wight County, Virginia.

1860 Census, Isle of Wight County, Virginia^[2]

• Winefred Gwaltney, spinster (56), born in Virginia
• Anson B Gwaltney (24), born in Virginia
• [Texanna] Gwaltney (16), born in Virginia

first...

1860 Census, Eastern District, Isle of Wight, Virginia; Post Office: Smithfield (Dwelling Number: 418 / Family Number: 418)^[4]

• Thomas Gwaltney (47), born in Virginia
• Virginia Gwaltney, Spinster (36), born in Virginia
• Ann M Gwaltney (18), born in Virginia
• Josiah T Gwaltney (15), born in Virginia
• James M Gwaltney (12), born in Virginia
• Robert A Gwaltney (8), born in Virginia
• Nicholas O Gwaltney (4), born in Virginia