What had been a story passed down about the author's great-great aunt, Gertrude Mearl Cabisher Eagle Boring, being a "madame" of a brothel, piqued her interest in finding prostitutes, madams, ladies of the evening, soiled doves, etc. Would they appear in the census? The answer was a resounding, "YES!" Research using the online entries for the 1880 United States Federal Census at Ancestry.com led to the amazing fact that 4,723 individuals were listed. When other words (maybe they could be called "sin-onyms") were also checked such as "whore," "sporting woman," "concubine," and others, an amazing total of 6,210 were listed with this occupation. At first, the number seemed high, but there may be many hundreds, possibly thousands, of women not listed as a prostitute in the census as the occupation may be identified as "boarder" or "seamstress" within a household. Many of these women truly were boarding at a home while others plied the prostitution trade. The first in a series of books regarding Hookers, Crooks, and Kooks, tackles the listings of prostitutes in the 1880 United States Federal Census. The second will cover some of the crooks and kooks found, while the third volume will be a listing of those persons involved in jails and prisons, including the sheriffs, marshals, deputies, and employees, as well as the prisoners themselves.
Jana Sloan Broglin, CG
2007, 5.5" x 8.5", paper, alphabetical, 192 pp.
ISBN: 9780788446047
101-B4604
