Lackawanna County Censuses

From Reminiscences of The Early History of Dark Hollow, Slocum Hollow, Harrison, Lackawanna Iron Works, Scrantonia, and Scranton, Pa. By J. C. Platt, 1889. Excerpts from pages 55-58.

The first census of this country was provided for by the Constitution and was taken in 1790. It gives enumerations of no territory less than counties. Luzerne county then included the greater part of Bradford, all of Susquehanna, Wyoming, and Lackawanna counties, the population being 4,904. The nest was in 1800, when Providence – one of the seventeen townships of Luzerne – had a population of 579; in 1810, 589; 1820 (including one colored man), 861; 1830 (including one colored man, no aliens), 976; 1840 (including one colored man, no aliens), 1,169.

During the winter of 1847-8, a census was taken of the territory which afterwards became the borough of Scranton, giving the names of the heads of families and number of each sex, the object being to get a postoffice. Mr. O. P. Clark, postmaster of Hyde Park, certifies that seven-tenths of the mail received at his office came to Harrison – as the place was then called, or the Lackawanna Iron Works. This census shows there were then 205 families, 873 males, and 523 females or 1,396, or 227 more than the whole township contained in 1840. The United State census for 1850 is:
 

Scranton, the same territory	2,230
Providence borough	446
Providence township, including (4) colored	4,467
Total for the township	7,463

In 1854 a census was taken by Mr. E. G. Coursen, assisted by Mr. Charles Fuller, both being in the employ of the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Co. This shows the names of heads of families, occupation, nationality, and is summed up by Mr. Fuller as follows:
 

Males, 2,478		Females, 1768	4,241
353	Irish families		1,795
154	German families		795
81	Welsh families		415
16	English families		85
175	American families		1,151
779			4,241

Single men included 585 – he added "should be 800."
 

	Irish servant girls	49
	German servant girls	10
	American servant girls	2
	Total	61

Of these the hotels employed 23. At the iron ore mines on the mountains there were:
 

2	Welsh families,	4	males,	4	females
2	Irish families,	7	males,	9	females
14	American	47	males,	32	females
		58		45	=  103

The United States census for 1860 was:
 

Providence borough	1,410
Providence township	4,097
Hyde Park township	3,360	8,867
Scranton borough		9,223
Total for the entire township		18,090

1870
 

In 1870, Scranton city (including Providence and Hyde Park boroughs)	35,092
Dunmore borough	4,311
Total for township	39,403

1880
 

In 1880, Scranton city	45,850
Dunmore borough	5,151
Total for township	51,001

The Directory of 1886, states: "The Census and Directory for 1880 gave 4 1/3 individuals to the Directory names." The number of names in this Directory approximates 20,000, which, computing on the basis of 4 1/3 persons to a name, would place the population of Scranton at 86,666.

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