1880 Childress Co. TX Census

1880 Childress County Census Info

Childress County was created by Act of the Texas Legislature on April 11, 1876, but with no population and no county government, its administrative law was controlled by other county governments in North and Northwest Texas.
The Congress of the United States had decreed beginning in 1790 that the population of the country would be enumerated every 10 years, and with Childress County being a new political entity, a census was conducted in 1880 although there was no town and evidently no buildings nor established residences.

The Federal Census report for 1880 reveals that there were 25 persons living in Childress County, of whom there was one female, age 25, one 3-year-old boy, and 23 males all of whom were listed in the census as being employed as cattle herders. Likely, these were employees of the Diamond Tail brand and one of their early dug-outs probably became the headquarters of the Shoe Nail Ranch.

The 23 male residents ranged in age from 16 to 69 years and originated not only in Texas but also Mississippi, Tennessee, Illinois, Indiana, New York, New Jersey, Ohio and Virginia. The census indicated that there were eight "households" at the time and these were probably dug-outs or other crude shelters for these early cowboys.
About 45 miles south, in northeastern King County, newlyweds Tom and Ella Bird had set up housekeeping in a buffalo-hide teepee in the Fall of 1877 while he hunted buffalo and hauled the hides to Fort Worth for sale. (Ella Elgar Bird Dumont: An Autobiography of a West Texas Pioneer). When the buffalo were gone, the Bird family was then involved in cattle ranching in Cottle, Motley, Dickens and King Counties, Childress' neighbors to the south and southwest.

A few of the names of the early Childress County residents in 1880 are: J. R. Blan, age 28; James Baker, age 38; Joseph Callie, age 22; O. H. Gintry, age 31; Ben Wolforth, age 16; I. W. Garrison, age 24; C. C. Smith, age 18; John Colthorp, age 30; James Morrison, age 69, and his son James N. Morrison, age 40; Ann Campbell, age 25 and her 3-year old son Earnest Campbell.

In April 1887, the railroad reached Childress County and the boom in population followed immediately. No longer would the County be inhabited only by a few cattle herders; soon the merchants, farmers, and their families would join the cowboys and rapidly increase the number of residents.

Submitted by: Jon Bennett, Fort Worth, Texas

1880 Transcription

County Coordinator Note -- other names listed in 1880 Census as follows; H.S. Barn 24, H.I. Ellis 25, I.T. Barnes 26, McGilton 33, Y.S. Pike 20, George Wouley 28, H. Beverly 25, William Smith 32, P. Wolforth 21, I.M. McKinnsy 24, W.W. Lenard 32, H.M. Hill 28, H.A. Kane 25.