1885 County Census.

JACKSON

Posted By: Anne Hermann (email)
Date: 2/20/2008 at 22:11:14

Jackson Sentinel, June 17, 1885.

1885 County Census Shows Population of 22,073.
The completed 1885 Jackson County census shows a gain of 788 in five towns and townships and a loss of 2,198 in nineteen towns and townships since 1880. By subtracting, it leaves a net loss in the county of 1, 410 on the face of the figures in the table, but the official total in the county for 1880 at 23,771 instead of 24,083 as our figures sum up, and it reduces the loss to 1,118, which is probably nearest correct. However, there is doubt in the correctness of the figures at all and we are inclined to believe that while many of the enumerators have been exceedingly careful others have been careless and inaccurate. On the whole it is fair to presume that the figures are about as reliable as the average census enumeration. There is no question about the rural districts losing its population by the emigration of young blood and small farmers, who seek for cheaper lands in the west. The agriculture schedule shows a decrease in small farms and an increase in farms ranging from two to five hundred acres. The landed possessions in the county of the industrious Germans has increased more rapidly than that of any other nationality. The centre of the population seems to be working towards Maquoketa as the gain is for the most part in Maquoketa City and South Fork Township. This of course has a tendency to virtually settle the county seat question. There is no doubt about the county increasing in wealth if it is so diminishing in population. The changed modes of farming call for less than in former years. A farmer now who seeds his broad acres to grass can graze it with cattle to realize more clear money and handle the hay with improved machinery and do all work on the place with one-third the number of hands it formerly took to follow mixed farming. Our farmers are drifting in to this sort of agriculture very rapidly and it is largely accountable for the decrease of population in the rural districts. In the towns that are losing it is the result of a lack of enterprise and public spirit.