Ward 2, City of Charleston

Ward 2 is being read now. 3 of its 54 sheets are transcribed (in progress, begun 3 September 2026); sheets 4 to 54 are not yet done, and this page grows as they are. Source: Eighth Census of the United States, 1860. Schedule 1 — Free Inhabitants. City of Charleston, Ward 2, Charleston District, South Carolina, NARA microfilm M653, reel 1216, on archive.org.

What this is, and is not

Free inhabitants only. This is Schedule 1. In 1860 the enslaved were counted on a separate schedule by owner, with age, sex and color but no names, and are not on these sheets. A page that reads like a full count of a Charleston street is not one; it is the free households on it.

As written. Names, ages, occupations and birthplaces are the enumerator's, spelt as he spelt them, with a question mark where the hand could not be read with confidence. A ditto mark in the name column means the surname above; that surname is supplied and marked. The color column is blank for white, as the form intended, and B or M as he wrote it.

Household, not family. The census groups people by dwelling and by "family in the order of visitation" — everyone under one roof who ate together, including boarders, servants and pupils. It does not state relationships. A wife, a child, a lodger with the same surname look alike here.

No addresses. The 1860 census gives no street. The enumerator walked the ward in order, so neighbours on the sheet were neighbours on the ground, but the street itself must come from elsewhere — the directory of 1852 and Ford's register of 1861 are the places to look.

Read by eye. Every line was read from the microfilm image by a person, not a machine, and each row links to its frame so the reading can be checked. A second reading of a sample is how the accuracy of this transcription is measured; the figure is on the how it was read page.

Not the only index, and not the largest. The 1860 census is indexed by name for the whole country and has been for years — free, with a login, at FamilySearch, and by subscription at Ancestry. Those indexes are complete where this one is not: every ward of Charleston, every county, every state. If you are looking for a person, look there too, and probably first.

What this transcription does that they do not is say how accurate it is. The figure is measured on a sample read a second time, and it is published beside the work. A reading that could not be made with confidence carries a question mark rather than a tidy answer, and the enumerator's ditto marks are kept as he wrote them. That is the reason to have it, and the only one claimed.

The sheets, household by household

Sheet 1 frame 67 on the microfilm

Dwelling 1, family 1 Nickerson — 3 people, sheet 1 lines 1–3

Dwelling 2, family 2 Purcell — 5 people, sheet 1 lines 4–8

Dwelling 3, family 3 Egan — 2 people, sheet 1 lines 9–10

Dwelling 4, family 4 Boyle — 14 people, sheet 1 lines 11–24

Dwelling 5, family 5 Morlet — 2 people, sheet 1 lines 25–26

Dwelling 6, family 6 Stacy — 5 people, sheet 1 lines 27–31

Dwelling 7, family 7 Jr. — 7 people, sheet 1 lines 32–38

Dwelling 8, family 8 Reynolds — 9 people, sheet 1 lines 39–7

Sheet 2 frame 68 on the microfilm

Dwelling 9, family 9 Porter — 4 people, sheet 2 lines 8–11

Dwelling 10, family 10 Nolan — 4 people, sheet 2 lines 12–15

Dwelling 11, family 11 Davis — 4 people, sheet 2 lines 16–19

Dwelling 12, family 12 Taparik — 7 people, sheet 2 lines 20–26

Dwelling 13, family 13 Prior — 6 people, sheet 2 lines 27–32

Dwelling 14, family 14 Stoll — 3 people, sheet 2 lines 33–35

Dwelling 15, family 15 Colburn — 3 people, sheet 2 lines 36–38

Dwelling 16, family 16 Rouse — 3 people, sheet 2 lines 39–1

Sheet 3 frame 69 on the microfilm

Dwelling 17, family 17 Mordecai — 7 people, sheet 3 lines 2–8

Dwelling 18, family 18 Tobias — 4 people, sheet 3 lines 9–12

Dwelling 19, family 19 Ashley — 2 people, sheet 3 lines 13–14

Dwelling 20, family 20 Donald — 1 person, sheet 3 line 15

Dwelling 21, family 21 Caswell — 1 person, sheet 3 line 16

Dwelling 22, family 22 Bull — 5 people, sheet 3 lines 17–21

Dwelling 23, family 23 Bull — 1 person, sheet 3 line 22

Dwelling 24, family 23 Gould — 3 people, sheet 3 lines 23–25

Dwelling 25, family 25 Gould — 1 person, sheet 3 line 26

Dwelling 26, family 26 Goulding — 4 people, sheet 3 lines 27–30

Dwelling 27, family 27 Ferguson — 4 people, sheet 3 lines 31–34

Dwelling 28, family 28 Austin — 4 people, sheet 3 lines 35–38

Dwelling 29, family 29 Hughes — 1 person, sheet 3 line 39

Dwelling 30, family 30 Drennan — 1 person, sheet 3 line 40