Frances and John Shiflett's farm, 1880

As we were hiking on their old land two weeks back, we started to wonder: "What exactly did they grow up here in this rough terrain?" Luckily, thanks to the 1880 census agricultural schedule, we now know the answer to that question! This form includes a great deal of very interesting information about the land and its products.

The first thing we find on the form is a general description of the land use. Frances and John had 10 acres listed as improved land, that is land that is tilled or pature/grassland in rotation. They had another 1/2 improved acre described as permanent meadow, pasture or orchard. Another 40 acres is listed as unimproved woodland and forest. There are 5 acres of unimproved land described under the category "old fields" or growing wood. If you've been keeping up this adds up to 55 acres which is what is described in the land deeds we've found (It should be noted that the national park documents describe the land as being 110 acres, but it's not known if Frances and John knew they had more than 55 acres or not).

The next section describes the value of various parts of the farm. The farm itself, including the land, fences and buildings, is listed as being worth $150. The value of farming implements and machinery is $5, and the value of the livestock is $160. The Shifletts spent $5 on outside labor in 1879 for 1 week of hired labor. It is unknown what this labor was used for. Overall for 1879 the farm was estimated to have generated $100 worth of products.

The next sections focus on livestock raised on the farm. First we learn that they owned two horses (one for each of them). They also had one milking cow, and 3 other heads of cattle. One calf was "dropped" in 1879, 1 head of cattle was purchased that year, and 3 others were sold living (as opposed to slaughtered). With the milking cow, 30 lbs of butter were produced in 1879 (no values were given for milk and cheese). The farm had no sheep, but did have 12 pigs and 10 barnyard chickens. The chickens produced 30 dozen eggs in 1879.

Finally we learn about what was grown on the land. Most of the land was used to grow various cereals. They had: 1 acre of Indian corn that produced 10 bushels, 2 acres of oats that produced 30 bushels, and 1 acre of rye that produced 15 bushels. Potatoes were grown on 1/4 of an acre and produced 25 bushels. They also had a small 1/2 acres apple orchard with 20 trees, producing 100 bushels of apples in 1879 (a $10 value according to the form).

We may be able to use some of this information to make some better guesses as to the location of the house itself. For instance, it is likely that the orchards and fields were placed on south facing slopes, which are more prevalent on the northwestern corner of the parcel.