In 1874 the State of Michigan took a census of its inhabitants.
Unfortunately, most of the returns have not survived. Some
fragments have been filmed by the Family History Library in
Salt Lake City and are available for researchers.
In Houghton County the returns are filmed for the townships
of L'Anse, Schoolcraft, Webster, Portage, Quincy, Adams,
Baraga, Calumet, Franklin, Hancock and Huron
(FHL microfilm #915277).
The census included the "lists of names and occupations
of all males over the age of 21, " with some statistics of
population, agriculture and manufacturing. The returns for
Calumet Township are dated 30 June 1874 as "enumerated
and collected May 1874."
According to the statistics, the Township included the
following: 1,709 males from ages 21 to 45, 130 from ages 45
to 75, and one male between 75 and 90. Of those men 757
were single, 1029 were married, and 54 were widowers or
divorced. There were also 421 males ages 10 to 21. Other
statistics include numbers for women and children without
names.
The chart below is a summary of those males with "apparent"
Polish surnames living in Calumet Township at the time of the
census. Where possible, the Polish surnames have been verified
by comparison with birth and marriage records before or during
1874. Some of the men also appear in the 1880 U.S. census, and
some of the men known to be in Calumet Township at the time
do not appear on the 1874 census returns.
Since the enumerator, John Duncan, clearly did not read or
write Polish, a suggested Polish surname is offered where the
spelling in the census is incorrect. Some of the men listed in
the census do not appear in any of the marriage or birth records
for Houghton County nor in the 1880 U.S. Census, giving
some credence to the theory that Calumet was an "interior
Ellis Island" for some of the German Polish immigrants
at that time.
Surnames in the census include:
Noviac, Nowaski, Dubela, Rembersky, Adamski, Marinski, Osinski,
Zenta, Rosemark, Matkoski, Ronskoski, Osinski, Sowitsky, Madsinski,
Wiscoski, Konoskie, Josiak, Sweidasky, Rosemark, Shotkarsky, Krieger,
Godzinski, Haramza, Gorski, Wojkiewicz, Rataczak, Nowak, Rozmiarek,
Ernad
