Charles Fries 2nd great grandfather, on RootsMagic tree

Charles Fries was born about 1822 and probably came to America from Baden, Germany around 1840. Charles married Emma. On the 1860 census they have 4 children and are living in Kenton, Kentucky. Charles is a teamster, in 1860 this person drove a team of animals: ox, horses, mules.  Charles’s next record is the 1880 census, Emma has died and Charles has married Mary, also a widow with children. The Fries family is living in Cave In Rock at the southern edge of Illinois, across the Ohio River from Kentucky. With Charles’s youngest son, Mary’s son and daughter and their shared 4 daughters, they are a family of nine. They’ve also got a hired man in the home, they all lived on a farm that included 7 acres of potatoes and a 3 acre apple orchard.

The farm is owned with 60 acres tilled land, 20 acres meadow, 15 acres woodland and 10 mown acres. The farm value is $2000 total, with $20 machinery, $400 of livestock, $30 spent on buildings and repairs. $80 is the total amount paid for wages for 25 weeks hired labor. $1135 is the total value of all farm productions which are: 8 tons of hay, 2 mules on hand, 2 working oxen, 2 cows, 1 other cow, 1 cow born, 2 cows sold, 1 cow purchased. And 175 lbs of butter, 100 pigs, 20 chickens with 175 dozen eggs, 20 acres of Indian corn produced 800 bushels, 20 acres of oats produced 150 bushels, 5 acres of wheat produced 160 bushels, 7 acres of Irish potatoes produced 1200 bushels. 3 acres of apple trees had 60 fruit bearing trees and 25 cords of wood were cut.

Sources

• 1860 and 1880 United States census database at FamilySearch.org
• Illinois Non-Population Census Schedules 1850-1880 at FamilySearch.org