Additional info on the 1845 Census of Oakland Co. Michigan

The 1845 census of Oakland County, Michigan, on which two Brewers, a Peter Brewer and a Philip Brewer were enumerated, was brought up in the post of August 25, 2013, Census Records from the William B. Bogardus Collection.

The attached file included a description of each household for which I was unable to provide a code for the numbers. Richard Brewer, Administrator of the Brewer DNA Project, sent an e-mail with some additional info regarding the census, and the key to the numbers. The following is simply copied and pasted from Richard's email. First, regarding access to the census itself:

"The original Manuscript of the State Census of Oakland Co., MI for 1845 can not be found. There are three typed copies -- one at the Library of Michigan, Lansing; One at Oakland County Pioneer and Historical Society, Pontiac; and a third at the Public Library, Pontiac, MI."

And second, regarding the numbers:

The census copy I have from the Oakland County Genealogical Society, reproduced and bound, was a transcription of the typed carbon copy held by the Public Library, Pontiac, MI. They explain in a Users Guide the following notation:
head of family/  white males/    white females/  total whites/  total inhabitants/  males > 21
Peter Brewer  1-4-0-1-0 --6       2-1-1-0-0 -- 4       10                    10               Peter Brewer
Phillip Brewer  0-1-1-0-0--2       2-0-1-0-0 -- 3         5                     5                Phillip Brewer
KEY: example for males
 /under 10 / 10 & under 21/  21 & under 45 / 45 & under 75/ over 75/ / Total
Peter
        1                  4                      0                       1                     0            6
Phillip
        0                  1                      1                       0                     0            2
The index card used code:  Phillip Brewer  .11.. = 2 where . = 0 so this was 01100 = 2


And finally some insight on Peter Brewer, who I am unfamiliar with:


"There is a Peter Brewer age 69 in Addison Co. Federal Census of 1860. He was an early settler in Addison Co. in 1834 with 30 acres in Section #36. Addison Twp was part of Oakland Twp until it was organized in 1837 in the home of Addison Chamberlain, for whom the Twp was named.  Peter Brewer had sons Addison, Peter, John, Abraham, and Mark. Mark was elected to Congress in 1876.

This Peter Brewer is not the brother of Phillip and is not a son of John & Mary Hays  Brewer. I dont think this Peter Brewer was related to our family, but I don't know where he came from. He was from NY before arriving in MI in 1834."


Thanks Richard for the additional info. If anyone has an identification for this Peter Brewer, please feel free to pass it on.

BGB 311