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1870 Federal Census
of Orange County, Indiana

This is an index of the names contained on microfilm number 593, roll 348, volume 29 (1-388 A) for the 6th Federal Census records of Orange County. The names contained in this index represents the heads of households and those living in homes where they were not in the immediate family (father, mother and children). No page references are made at this time.

1870 represents an important time for our county. Many of the young men had returned from the Civil War, away from their homes for the first time, and discovered that there was a large nation with land for any hard working, adventurous person. This began the second great migration of our county's sons and daughters, westward, pulled by the lure of inexpensive, good quality land. The 1850s saw many families leaving for the newly opened lands of Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska. The late 1860s saw the opening of lands in Texas, Oklahoma and lands further to the west, California, Oregon and Washington.

Land in Orange County, by the 1870s, was almost entirely in private hands, and acquired by extremely hard work or through inheritance. Family ties often determined a young family's destiny. After the independence of their war experience, many were determined not to follow the same path and position as their parents and left our county. This record documents those that stayed and were recorded as residents of this county.