Title Info: 1885, Whatcom County Census, Whatcom County Territorial Auditor

These records contain an index and images of the Whatcom County census recorded in 1885. Information collected in this census includes the names of each member of the household and the following categories: Age; Males; Females; White; Black; Mulatto; Chinese; Indian half-breeds; Kanakas; Profession, occupation, or trade; Married; Single; Place of birth; Can not Read, age over 15 years; Can not write, age over 15 years; Whether deaf and dumb, blind, insane, or idiotic; Male citizens of U. S. over 21 years of age; Female citizens of U. S. over 21 years of age; Aliens citizens of U. S. over 21 years of age – Males; Aliens citizens of U. S. over 21 years of age – Females.

According to An Act to Establish the Territorial Government of Washington passed in 1853 by the Thirty-Second Congress of the United States, a census must be performed prior to holding an election for non-appointed members of the territorial legislature. Per An Act to Authorize the Assessors of Each County to Take the Census in the Statutes of the Territory of Washington enacted in 1854, each county’s assessor must take a census of their respective county’s inhabitants on or before the first Monday in December each year. The assessor was required to create a complete list of all white male inhabitants, with their ages, occupations, the state or county they are from, whether married or single, and also, whether citizens or aliens. Also, all white female inhabitants with their ages, whether married or single, and the county or state they are from. A separate list of all taxable “half-breed Indians”, “negroes”, “kanakas”, “mulattoes”, and “chinamen” was also required.

Enacted in 1869, An Act Relating to County Assessors required the assessors were to collect that same information with the census completed and returned to the county auditor by the first Monday of May. By 1871, An Act to Amend an Act Relating to County Assessors required the census be taken biennially. The 1871 census was the last annual census with the next census to be recorded in 1873. An additional act relating to censuses was passed in 1877. An Act to Provide for Taking the Census of the Territory of Washington required assessors to take a full complete and correct census of the inhabitants, comprising a full and complete list. The required information to be collected was the same as An Act to Authorize the Assessors of Each County to Take the Census passed in 1854, with the addition of a section to collect a count of all persons “deaf, dumb and blind.” The Code of Washington Concerning All Acts of a General Nature passed in 1881 continued with the practice of biennial census taking with the same data collected as required in previous census statutes.