Census question

Question

I am looking closely at the NC Mecklenburg 1790 census.  I see some individuals with these numbers:   1 u u u u  I know what the headings are for but what does u mean?

Can anyone tell me what that means?  Thank you!!

https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/5058/4185996_00025?pid=392217&backurl=https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?_phsrc%3DYnG1180%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource%26usePUBJs%3Dtrue%26indiv%3D1%26qh%3DEjS3vWWGgef/qjxHzxhTJA%253D%253D%26db%3D1790usfedcen%26gss%3Dangs-d%26new%3D1%26gsln%3DWinchester%26gsln_x%3D0%26msrpn__ftp%3DNorth%2520Carolina%26MSAV%3D1%26uidh%3Djz5%26rank%3D1%26pcat%3D35%26fh%3D18%26h%3D392217%26recoff%3D8%26ml_rpos%3D19&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=YnG1180&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true

Comments

Hi Barbara,

Those that are currently paying ancestry.com for membership will be able to take a look at your link.

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Same image at FamilySearch.

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Thanks Herbert!

Answer 1

The little "u" is only used in rows where a column is skipped.  I think it is a place-holder to indicate that there is no data for that column.

Answer 2

I believe the "u" stands for unknown.   It's used mostly in the "Free white females <16" and the All other free persons columns

Comments

That's an interesting idea.  Sounds reasonable, thank you, Bob!

And thank you all for reminding me that FAMILYSSEARCH would have been a better link!!!  Am just getting used to using it regularly.