Family Notes

1784 Census of Bedford County, Pennsylvania
Milford Township
"Powel Earnsbarger"
7 white persons....."Powel", Maria, Anna, and 4 others (Christopher, Benjamin, Elizabeth, Henry, Michael, or Sally)
2 horses
3 cattle
2 sheep
150 acres
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1790 Federal Census of Pennsylvania
Turkeyfoot Township, Bedford County, Pennsylvania
1 male over 16....."Paul Errenceberger" age 44, Occupation: Cooper
2 males under 16....any two: Henry, Christopher, or Michael
3 females.....Maria plus any two: Anna, Sally, or Elizabeth
NOTE - Daughter Esther was born and died in 1775 and is therefore not listed on the census. Without additional information about the birth dates, it is impossible to specify which males were under 16. Between Henry, Christopher, and Michael only two of them could have been listed as the "two males under 16". This means that one of them must have been older and had to have been married or living separately from the parents. Between the daughters Anna, Sally, or Elizabeth, only two of them (plus their mother) could have been included as part of the "3 females". All three daughters have known wedding dates later than 1790 so it can be assumed that all three daughters should have been still staying at home. It is therefore interesting that either the count is wrong,  one daughter was living separately from the parents, or perhaps one was born after 1790 and therefore wouldn't be included on this census. Based on the marriage dates, only Sally married in 1815, or Elizabeth married in 1812, could be considered to be born later than 1790. The thought by some researchers that there must be another unknown daughter does not help because then the total number of females would have to be 4 instead of 3. Some other researchers seem to have assigned convenient birth years to several of the children but without any reference to the source of the birth year information. [Brian L. Lightfoot]