As noted earlier (see here), in 1879 the U.S. Congress passed an “act to provide for taking the tenth and subsequent censuses,” which included a provision encouraging state governments to conduct their own censuses midway between the federal censuses, that is, in 1885, 1895, 1905, and so on. Nebraska took up the federal government’s offer to reimburse half the cost of conducting this census only once, in 1885 (for more on the 1885 Nebraska census, see here).
Although the population data collected in that census is important enough on its own, what is of greatest interest to us now is the information gathered in the 1885 agricultural schedule, which was patterned after the 1880 U.S. census agricultural schedule that we examined in the last few posts. To be specific, a comparison of the agricultural schedules of the 1880 and 1885 censuses will give us a good picture of how Peter D, Sarah, and the family fared during the first five years of their new life in Nebraska.
As mentioned, the 1885 agricultural schedule followed the 1880 pattern, as one can see in the image below. Both recorded the information for ten farms on each page, and both began in the first section by indicating whether the person listed owned or rented his farm, the farm acreage (tilled fields, permanent meadows, woodland, other unimproved land), the farm value (land, farm implements, livestock), cost of fences built or repaired, hired laborers, estimated value of all farm productions (sold and consumed), grass lands, and the number of horses and mules owned. (For a scan of the full schedule page, see here.)
With this overview as background, we are ready to compare the 1880 and 1885 schedules. We begin with the first part of section 1.
The first thing to notice is that this group of ten actually numbers only nine, which is unique among the 1885 Farmers Valley precinct schedules. Another anomaly is that the first columns, which are supposed to indicate whether the farmer owned, rented for cash, or rented on shares, are all blank; again, this sheet is the only one in Farmers Valley to lack this information. One wonders what this reveals about the care with which this schedule page was completed.
Peter D Buller (this time with his name spelled correctly; compare the 1880 census) is in the eighth slot. Curiously, only one of the names who was listed with him on the 1880 sheet (see the table here) appears on the 1885 sheet: Henry Pankratz (no. 7). However, five others listed on the same sheet as Peter D in 1880 appear on sheets before and after his 1885 page: Philip Fuhrer, Gerhard (George) Dick Jr., Gerhard (George) Dick Sr., Henry Griess, and John Laurie Sr. Presumably the 1880 and 1885 census takers took different routes through the countryside, which led to the shuffling of names. Thus, one might reasonably suggest that two-thirds of Peter D and Sarah’s immediate neighbors in 1880 were still there five years later.
A second noteworthy item is the significant increase in size of the Buller farm. In 1880 the schedule reported that Peter D had 70 acres tilled and 10 acres other unimproved, for a total of 80 acres. In the 1885 schedule shown above, Peter D is reported as having 115 acres tilled, 40 acres in permanent meadows, permanent pastures, orchards, and vineyards, and 5 acres other unimproved, for a total of 160 acres, double the amount of land owned just five years earlier.
Of course, this is no surprise, since we learned earlier that Peter D filed a homestead claim for the 80 acres immediately south of his original farm on 9 August 1880 (see here). Although Peter D’s homestead claim was not finalized until 3 September 1892, the land was considered his for the purposes of the 1885 agricultural schedule.
Not only had the size of the Buller farm increased significantly; its value had grown substantially. The extract below provides the details.
As in the 1880 schedule, the three columns list the value of (1) the farm, including land, fences, and buildings; (2) farming implements and machinery; and (3) livestock. Peter D’s 160 acres of land was worth $3,200 (compared to $500 for 80 acres in 1880); his implements and machinery were worth $400 (compared to $160 in 1880); and his livestock was worth $105 (compared with $175 in 1880). All told, the value of the Buller farm was $3,705 in 1885, over four times the 1880 value of $835. Obviously, the growth in value was due to a sharp increase in land values, from $6.25 an acre ($500 ÷ 80 acres) to $20 an acre ($3,200 ÷ 160 acres) in five years.
A few final items close out the top portion of the schedule. (1) According to the 1880 schedule, Peter D had paid one laborer $8 during the prior year; the 1885 schedule reports that he paid eight laborers a total of $60 ($1,978 in 2025 dollars) during the prior year. (2) The value of all the farm products in 1880 was $453; in 1885 the value increased by roughly 44 percent, to $652. (3) Finally, in 1880 the Bullers owned two horses; in 1885 they owned four.
This top portion of the 1885 agricultural schedule sketches a remarkably clear picture of our family’s early life in the United States. Within five years, Peter D and Sarah had gained possession of 160 acres of land whose value had more than tripled during that time, all the while producing farm goods worth nearly half again as much as when they first arrived. Their overall situation was decidedly positive, but what other details about their lives lie waiting to be uncovered? The next post in this series will examine the rest of the agricultural schedule to discover how it might fill out the sketch of the Buller family farm in 1885.
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