James Joslin :: 1840 Whitley County Federal Census

In this previous post we learned that James Joslin "of Delaware County, Ohio" purchased 80 acres of land in Whitley County, Indiana from the U.S. Government in September 1837 and that it was patented in August 1838.

We don't have a firm date as to when James and his family arrived in Whitley County but on page 227 of "Counties of Whitley and Noble, Indiana" (edited by Goodspeed & Blanchard, 1882) it shows that James Joslin was among the 12 residents of Troy Township to cast a vote in the first Presidential election held on July 4, 1839. And, in "Recollections of Early Troy by Mrs. Fannie Marrs" published on page 253 in the 1907 "History of Whitley County, Indiana" (edited by Kaler & Maring) she states "My father, Price Goodrich, landed here in June, 1838. James Joslin, John Black and Harlow Barber, with their families, came in 1839."

There are a myriad of spelling variations for the "Joslin" surname. Just change the o to a, the s to c or sc or ss or sh, the e to y or omit it entirely… so I generally use the wildcards "Jos*" or "Jas*" for searches when wildcards are allowed. Some of the spelling variations that have been found are: Jaaslin, Jaclen, Jaclin, Jaclyn, Jaslin , Jocelin Jocelyn, Joscelin, Joscelyn, Joselin, Joshlin, Joshlyn, Joslyn, Josselyn, Josslin, and Josslyn. On one occasion it was spelt Gloslin, but the vast majority of the time my particular family has been found as Joslin.

A search of the ancestry.com online census index for 1840 using the wildcard search of "Jos*" shows two households with the surname of Joslin and one Joselin living in Indiana. There was also one household with the spelling of Jocelin and two with Jocelyn. The only household in Whitley County, Indiana in 1840 was that of James Joslin. (I have viewed every page of the 1840 census for Whitley County to verify that there are no other Joslin families included.)

James Joslin is the fourth name listed on page 455. Price Goodrich, probably a brother of James' wife Abigail, is the sixth name. A portion of the record, cropped from the ancestry.com image is shown below, click on the image for a larger version.


In the Whitley County Marriage books are records for 10 individuals with the "Joslin" surname. Five of them are for known children of Lysander Price Joslin. The remaining five are:

Fanny P. Joslin to Joseph Shoemaker on February 5, 1843 (1st Book pg 68)
Lysander Price Joslin to Lydia Robinson on August 23, 1843 (1st Book pg 76)
Emily Eliza Joslin to John Long on October 12, 1854 (Book 1 pg 187)
Edwin M. Joslin to Sarah Fellows on November 9, 1854 (Book 1 pg 182)
Joseph A. Joslin to Prudentia E Noble on June 2, 1861 (Book 2A pg 55)

Given the fact that James Joslin is the only "Joslin" household in Whitley County in 1840, it has been presumed that the individuals listed in the above marriage records are the children of James and Abigail Joslin. And, yes, I am quite aware that all of the "children" listed in a household are not necessarily the children of the head of household. That fact notwithstanding, and with additional research that has been done on each of them (sources available upon request), the household of James Joslin in the 1840 Whitley County census appears to be:

• 1 male 5-10 [1830-1835...Joseph A. was born September 11, 1832]
• 1 male 10-15 [1825-1830...Edwin Mattoon was born December 17, 1829]
• 1 male 15-20 [1820-1825...Lysander Price was born May 1, 1825]
• 1 male 40-50 [1790-1800...James was born about 1796]
• 1 female under 5 [1835-1840...Emily was born December 12, 1837]
• 1 female 10-15 [1825-1830...Fanny Philanda was born October 1826]
• 1 female 30-40 [1800-1810...Abigail was born about 1805]