| Summary |
Using Wayne County, North Carolina, as a case study, this thesis demonstrates that the South regained its antebellum Civil War status much earlier than is customarily accepted, significantly in those areas which directly impact the family. The thesis focuses on the characteristics of the heads of household, composition, size, structure and wealth of the household, education, and the family farm, from the perspective of the U.S. Census. Data from the U.S. Census were analyzed using the SPSS computerized statistics program developed for the social sciences, and qualifying it through local and state histories. Primary research consisted of random sampling of the 1860, 1870, and 1880 population censuses and following each head of household forward and/or backward in time on the other two censuses and each agricultural schedule, as well as the 1860 slave schedule. The sample includes 5.4% to 16% of Wayne County households enumerated on each of the three censuses. A possible 256 actual variables could exist for each household which persisted through the three censuses. In support of the conclusion that the South largely regained its antebellum status by 1880, many variables show a sharp contrast between 1860 and 1870, with a return to 1860 levels by 1880. Examples include the percentage of female heads of household, the incidence of households that sheltered individuals who were not members of the nuclear family, the percentage of families sending their children to school, land values, and crop production. Some trends developed during this period as well. A greater percentage of Wayne County residents lived in Goldsboro, the only identified urban area. Children remained in the home longer. More farmers relied on the staple crop, cotton. The statistics also illustrate the shift to sharecropping. Tables, located throughout, illustrate, for example, selected characteristics of the head of household, number and age of children, household size; literacy, school attendance; and farm size, farm ownership, crops and livestock. |
