ID: David Fairfield (Gen. 6: John-Walter-William-Skipper-William-David) 1800 census

Source: original image from Connecticut, Windham County, Woodstock

Transcription:

David Fairfield, 1 male under 10, 1 male 16-25, 1 female 16-25

Walter Fairfield, 1 male under 10, 2 males 10-15, 1 male 45+, 1 female under 10, 1 female 10-15, 1 female 26-44

photocopy of excerpt from original 1800 census page

Notes: David and Walter Fairfield were sons of William and Eleanor (Cruff) Fairfield. William was a Revolutionary War soldier and died circa 1776, leaving his widow to raise their five children.

By the time of the 1800 census, David, who was born June 19, 1776, was 24 and had been married to Hannah Thurber for several years (Providence RI VR December 7, 1797). The "1 male under 10" is presumably their son Jason, who was born August 30, 1800. The official date of the 1800 census was August 4, 1800, but enumerators had 30 days in which to complete it, allowing for Jason's inclusion. However, that doesn't explain the absence of documented daughter Mary, who was born circa 1799 according to all subsequent (& numerous) accounts. David died January 14, 1815 in Woodstock, CT (tombstone)

Walter was born circa 1767, according to Fairfield historian Wynn Cowan Fairfield, who quotes an unknown source that indicated Walter was "about 16 years old" on April 14, 1783." Thus he was about 33 at the time of the 1800 census. Walter married 1) Abigail (unknown surname) certainly sometime before 1794, when tombstone dates indicate their son Reuben was born (he died March 21, 1803, "in his 10th year" and is buried at Woodstock Hill Cemetery, as per NEHGS cemetery transcriptions). But Walter & Abigail may have married up to a decade earlier, since Walter's 1800 & 1810 census entries include children in the household of ages that would imply a marriage perhaps as early as 1785. Furthermore, the 1800 census lists two unidentified sons and two daughters from his first marriage, and the 1810 adds even more unidentified children -- none of which has yet been identified with any certainty or documentation to this day.

Walter's first wife Abigail died March 16, 1806, in the "37th year of her age" (Woodstock Hill tombstone). Walter then married 2) Sybil (unknown surname) sometime after 1806. Sybil died September 25, 1820, age 54 (Woodstock Hill tombstone). Since Walter continued to appear in the census through 1840, he didn't die until after then, but evidently did so before the 1850 census, from which he is absent.