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1840 Census

McNAY, Robert

Probable location:  Elkhart County, Indiana,
and soon thereafter, LaPorte [LaPorte County], Indiana

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Source:  NARA 1840 Census, Elkhart, Indiana, Roll 19, page 79, image 43;
Family History Library Film 0007724
What we know:  Robert was born in Union Township, Logan County, Ohio, in 1830.
Thus, he MIGHT have been born in time for the 1830 Census, but no Logan County McNay family has a son counted in the "under 5" age group.
Indeed, no Ohio NcNay family has a son in that critical cohort for 1830, so it seems Robert was born after the 1830 enumeration.

See the 1830 Census for David McKay, who we believe was Robert's father.
We suspect that Father David died during the 1830s, because he does not appear anywhere in the 1840 Census.
Thus, by 1840 Robert was likely an orphan, then about 10 years old, and probably living with an uncle[?], John McNay, in Elkhart County, Indiana, at the time of the 1840 Census.
See the 1840 Census Table below, where we believe Robert was counted with John McNay.  John was the only Indiana McNay listed in 1840.
Robert first appears independently as a named adult in the 1850 Census in La Porte County, Indiana, an apprentice (or recent apprentice) tailor.  He is then living in the household of an older, associate tailor, George W. Tower.  (See the second Census Table below.)  Although Robert is not yet with the Towers on 1840's enumeration date, he may well have arrived to begin his apprenticeship shortly thereafter, perhaps at age 11 or 12.

Wikipedia note (2010):  "Apprentices usually began at 10 to 15 years of age, and would live in the master craftsman's household.  Most apprentices aspired to becoming master craftsmen themselves on completion of their contract (usually a term of seven years), but some would spend time as a journeyman, and a significant proportion would never acquire their own workshop."



To give an idea of Robert's probable movements between 1830 and 1850, those two "anchor-point" counties are colored in  blue  on the following map:
      •   1830 — Logan County in Ohio , and
      •   1850 — La Porte County in Indiana .

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Notes on other Ohio McNay families in 1840:

A Thomas McNay family appears in Wayne County with a son in the appropriate age cohort, but this isn't "in the general direction" Robert seems to have migrated.

A William McNay family appears in Clinton County, also with a son in Robert's expected age group.  This cluster of McNays may be related, but again are not "in the general direction" we expect.

Census Table:

1840 — Elkhart County, Indiana — see image below
John McNay
(Robert's uncle?) 		 
1 1 1
Robert? 		- - - 1
John 		- - - - - -
2 1 1 - - 1 - - - - - - -

Census Table:

1840 — LaPorte [LaPorte County] Indiana
George W. Tower
(Robert's apprentice master soon after 1840?) 		 
- - - - 2 - - - - - - - -
1 - - - 1 - - - - - - - -
Elkhart County, Indiana, Census Image: