European-origin and Mexican-origin Populations in Texas, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910 (ICPSR 35032)

Version Date: Jun 20, 2016

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Principal Investigator(s):
Myron P. Gutmann, University of Texas

Series:

https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR35032.v1

Version V1

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Summary

This dataset was produced in the 1990s by Myron Gutmann and others at the University of Texas to assess demographic change in European- and Mexican-origin populations in Texas from the mid-nineteenth to early-twentieth centuries. Most of the data come from manuscript records for six rural Texas counties - Angelina, DeWitt, Gillespie, Jack, Red River, and Webb - for the U.S. Censuses of 1850-1880 and 1900-1910, and tax records where available. Together, the populations of these counties reflect the cultural, ethnic, economic, and ecological diversity of rural Texas. Red River and Angelina Counties, in Eastern Texas, had largely native-born white and black populations and cotton economies. DeWitt County in Southeast Texas had the most diverse population, including European and Mexican immigrants as well as native-born white and black Americans, and its economy was divided between cotton and cattle. The population of Webb County, on the Mexican border, was almost entirely of Mexican origin, and economic activities included transportation services as well as cattle ranching. Gillespie County in Central Texas had a mostly European immigrant population and an economy devoted to cropping and livestock. Jack County in North-Central Texas was sparsely populated, mainly by native-born white cattle ranchers. These counties were selected to over-represent the European and Mexican immigrant populations. Slave schedules were not included, so there are no African Americans in the samples for 1850 or 1860. In some years and counties, the Census records were sub-sampled, using a letter-based sample with the family as the primary sampling unit (families were chosen if the surname of the head began with one of the sample letters for the county). In other counties and years, complete populations were transcribed from the Census microfilms. For details and sample sizes by county, see the County table in the Original P.I. Documentation section of the ICPSR Codebook, or see Gutmann, Myron P. and Kenneth H. Fliess, How to Study Southern Demography in the Nineteenth Century: Early Lessons of the Texas Demography Project (Austin: Texas Population Research Center Papers, no. 11.11, 1989).

Citation

Gutmann, Myron P. European-origin and Mexican-origin Populations in Texas, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2016-06-20. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR35032.v1

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Subject Terms

Geographic Coverage

Smallest Geographic Unit

county

Distributor(s)

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
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Time Period(s)

1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910

Data Collection Notes

  1. The IDS Metadata file (DS12) is currently unavailable for download. This collection will be updated to include the IDS Metadata file when it is received.

  2. ICPSR is distributing the European-origin and Mexican-origin Texas demography data in two formats: (1) as a standard ICPSR full product suite (including ASCII data files, setup files, and SPSS, SAS, and Stata data files) with datasets in rectangular format; and (2) as Intermediate Data Structure (IDS) formatted files.

    IDS files are comma delimited with column headings in the first row; text strings are surrounded by double quotes ("), and some strings include commas (,) and other non-alphanumeric characters. The IDS package consists of five data files (or "tables" in IDS database terminology), including:

    1. An INDIVIDUAL table (35032-0007-Data-indiv.txt) which consists of attributes belonging to a person.
    2. An INDIVIDUAL to INDIVIDUAL table (35032-0008-Data-indiv-indiv.txt) which characterizes relationships between persons.
    3. A CONTEXT table (35032-0009-Data-context.txt) which contains contextual information, such as city and state.
    4. An INDIVIDUAL to CONTEXT table (35032-0010-Data-indiv-context.txt) which associates an individual with a context at a moment in time or during a period of time.
    5. A CONTEXT to CONTEXT table (35032-0011-Data-context-context.txt) which defines the relations between different layers in a hierarchy of contexts.

    The IDS files are included to facilitate analyses of the longitudinal data contained within this collection. Filesets 12 through 14 are IDS metadata, entity mapping, and relationship mapping files. For a detailed overview of the IDS table composition, please see the ICPSR Intermediate Data Structure (IDS) Manual.

  3. The ICPSR Codebook features variable descriptions and frequencies for Parts 1 through 6 (1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, and 1910 Census Data). Parts 7 through 14 are Intermediate Data Structure (IDS) formatted tables and associated documentation, and are not represented in the Variable Description and Frequencies section of the ICPSR Codebook.

  4. The ICPSR Codebook features supplemental descriptions for common census disability variables present in the data. Variable descriptions are drawn from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) Web site. IPUMS, a project of the Minnesota Population Center at the University of Minnesota, aims to preserve census microdata for social and economic research. Descriptions have been included as variable notes to help clarify antiquated census terms from the study time period.
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Study Purpose

The data were collected to assess demographic change in European- and Mexican-origin populations in Texas from the mid-nineteenth to early-twentieth centuries.

Study Design

The data come from manuscript U.S. Census records for six rural Texas counties - Angelina, DeWitt, Gillespie, Jack, Red River, and Webb - for the U.S. Censuses of 1850-1880 and 1900-1910, and tax records where available. Together, the populations of these counties reflect the cultural, ethnic, economic, and ecological diversity of rural Texas. Red River and Angelina Counties, in Eastern Texas, had largely native-born white and black populations and cotton economies. DeWitt County in Southeast Texas had the most diverse population, including European and Mexican immigrants as well as native-born white and black Americans, and its economy was divided between cotton and cattle. The population of Webb County, on the Mexican border, was almost entirely of Mexican origin, and economic activities included transportation services as well as cattle ranching. Gillespie County in Central Texas had a mostly European immigrant population and an economy devoted to cropping and livestock. Jack County in North-Central Texas was sparsely populated, mainly by native-born white cattle ranchers. These counties were selected to over-represent the European and Mexican immigrant populations. Slave schedules were not included, so there are no African Americans in the samples for 1850 or 1860. Project staff linked individuals across censuses, linked family members within censuses, and imputed such characteristics as relationship to head and national origin (determined on the basis of birthplace, parental birthplace, and surname) when not explicitly listed in the census. Individuals have also been linked to tax assessment records where possible. Project staff created unique individual identification codes within counties; codes may be replicated between counties.

Sample

In some years and counties, the Census records were sub-sampled, using a letter-based sample with the family as the primary sampling unit (families were chosen if the surname of the head began with one of the sample letters for the county). In other counties and years, complete populations were transcribed from the Census microfilms. For details and sample sizes by county, see the county table in the Original P.I. Documentation section of the ICPSR Codebook, or see Gutmann, Myron P. and Kenneth H. Fliess, How to Study Southern Demography in the Nineteenth Century: Early Lessons of the Texas Demography Project (Austin: Texas Population Research Center Papers, no. 11.11, 1989).

Time Method

Longitudinal

Universe

European- and Mexican-origin families living in six rural counties in Texas.

Unit(s) of Observation

individual

Data Type(s)

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Original Release Date

2016-06-20

Version History

2018-02-15 The citation of this study may have changed due to the new version control system that has been implemented. The previous citation was:
  • Gutmann, Myron P. European-origin and Mexican-origin Populations in Texas, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910. ICPSR35032-v1. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2016-06-20. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR35032.v1

2016-06-20 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:

  • Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.
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Weight

The data are not weighted.

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Notes

  • The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.