Vibrant Black communities arise
from the ashes of slavery

Study Areas

Enslavement

Anti-Slavery

Free Persons of Color

Underground Railroad

The Violent Decade

US Colored Troops

Year of Jubilee (1863)

20th Century

African Americans in the 1830 Census

Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Page Two

1830 Census Data

Derry Township

Derry Township Totals

Total African American residents: 6 (4 male, 2 female)
Identified African American households:  1
African Americans living with white families:  0
Number of African Americans in independent households: 6

Londonderry Township Totals

Total African American residents: 14 (5 male, 9 female)
Identified African American households:  3
African Americans living with white families:  0
Number of African Americans in independent households:  14

Mifflin Township Totals

Total African American residents: 21 (12 male, 9 female)
Identified African American households:  2
African Americans living with white families:  3, including one person identified as a slave.
Number of African Americans in independent households: at least 12.  The Peter Crabb family could also be an African American family.  An African American family headed by Peter "Grabb" was enumerated in Lykens in 1850, which could be the same family.

Middletown Totals

Total African American residents: 8 (5 male, 3 female)
Identified African American households:  2
African Americans living with white families: 0
Number of African Americans in independent households: 8

Portsmouth Totals

Total African American residents: 25 (14 male, 11 female)
Identified African American households:  1
African Americans living with white families: (see notes)
Number of African Americans in independent households: 5.  We have not been able to establish the ethnic background of many of the heads of households listed for Portsmouth. This town had a large free African American population by 1850, shortly before it was joined with Middletown, and it is likely that several of the families above were free African American families.

Swatara Township Totals

Total African American residents: 57 (27 male, 30 female)
Identified African American households:  10
African Americans living with white families: 4 (1 male, 3 female)
Number of African Americans in independent households: 53.  Twenty of the free and independent African Americans are children under age ten, in seven of the ten African American households.  This seems to show a supportive environment for African Americans to raise families.

Highspire Totals

Total African American residents: 12 (5 male, 7 female)
Identified African American households:  1
African Americans living with white families: not determined
Number of African Americans in independent households: 2

Upper Swatara Township Totals

Total African American residents: 37 (22 male, 15 female)
Identified African American households:  3
African Americans living with white families: 1 male slave, age 10-24 years.
Number of African Americans in independent households: 13.
Number of African Americans in the county alms house: 18 (10 males, 8 females).  The county alms house had 113 total inmates, of which 18, or sixteen percent, were African American.

Source

Population Schedules of the Fifth Census of the United States: 1830.  Pennsylvania, Dauphin County. Microfilm in the Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg, PA.