A Complete Descriptive and Statistical Gazetteer
of the United States of America

Containing a particular description of the states, territories, counties, districts, parishes, cities, towns, and villages mountains, rivers, lakes, canals, and railroads; with an abstract of the census and statistics for 1840, exhibiting a complete view of the agricultural, commercial, manufacturing, and literary condition and resources of the country.  Before going to the Table of Contents for this book, please read this page, if you don't you will not understand part of the explanation of the States, Counties and Towns. BTW not sure if the people who prepared this book knew their alphabet, so when looking for counties, they are not always in alphabetical order! They also used Ia for Indiana and Io or Iowa for Iowa.

The present is eminently a proper time in which to prepare a Gazetteer of the United States. The progress of the country in population, in agriculture, in commerce, in manufactures, and in education, has recently been ascertained with great labor and expense by the census, and it is important that this, and other continually accumulating information, should be widely diffused. All former gazetteers are rendered obsolete by the census, which has but recently become available, and by the rapid changes which the country is undergoing, particularly in its newer portions.

Explanation of the Abbreviations Made Use of in This Work.

In the preparation of this work, in order to a great condensation of its matter, many ellipses and abbreviations have been necessary. It is presumed that every reader would prefer an accumulation of facts, to smoothness, and even regularity of periods. A little attention will render them familiar and m most instances their import will suggest itself, without explanation.  Please read the abbreviations it will help you to understand the book

Table of Contents

Where no date is attached to the population, it is understood to be that of 1840.

Example

Auburn, p-v., capital of Cayuga co., N. Y., 154 w. Albany, 333 W. There are 59 stores, cap. $341,447; 1 woolen fac, 1 cotton fac, 1 tannery, 1 distillery, 1 brewery, 4 flouring m., 2 saw m., 3 furnaces, 4 printing offices. Cap. in manufac. $643,550. 1 college, 48 students, 2 acad. 250 students, 9 sch. 740 scholars. Pop. 5,626:

Which should be read.

Auburn, post village, capital of Cayuga county, New York, 154 miles west of Albany, 333 miles from Washington City. There are 59 stores, with a capital invested of $341,447; 1 woolen factory, 1 cotton factory, 1 tannery, 1 distillery, 1 brewery, 4 flouring mills, 2 saw mills, 3 furnaces, 4 printing offices. Capital invested in manufactures, 8043,550. 1 college, with 48 students, 2 academies, with 250 students, 9 common schools, with 740 scholars. Population, 5,626.

In the Northern states, every county is divided into townships, generally from 4 to 6 miles square, though their dimensions vary. In New England, the principal village takes the name of the township in which it is situated; but in some parts of the township, a village occasionally has a different name from that of the township. In New York, the villages have frequently an incorporation distinct from that of the township in which they are situated, and the village is often more prominent than the township; and in some instances, persons who know well the location of a prominent village, might not be able to name the township in which it is situated. The same is to a degree true in the states of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana. In the states south of Pennsylvania and of the Ohio River, and in Illinois, there is no such subdivision as townships; as an incorporated district, and a collection of houses, whether few or many, is called a town. In the following work, t. denotes a township, and v. a village, or collection of houses, whether few or many, whether with or without an incorporation. In South Carolina, districts answer to counties in other states, and in Louisiana, parishes. In Delaware, hundreds answer to towns. In those states where the division of townships does not obtain, the census was taken only by counties, and the statistics, therefore, will be found under the heads of the counties.

Source: A Complete Descriptive And Statistical Gazetteer Of The United States Of America, By Daniel Haskel, A. M and J. Calvin Smith, Published By Sherman & Smith, 1843

This book is a joint project between members of AHGP, Paula Franklin, Judy White, Sheryl McClure and Susan Dorris our finder!

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