Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/307

 CHAPTER XVI GENERAL DEVELOPMENT Analysis op Population, 1820-1830 — Comparative Census Table, 1820-1860 — French AND German Elements — Period op Town Growth. In 1820, when the state was organized, just before its admission to the Union, the. popu- lation of Southeast Missouri was as follows: Cape Girardeau county 5,968 Jefferson county 1,835 Madison county 2,047 New Madrid county 2,296 Ste. Genevieve county 4,962 Washington county 2,769 Wayne county 1,443 Of this population, the greater part were white people, but there were a few free negroes and several hundred slaves. The pop- ulation grew very rapidly for a number of years after the admission of the state into the Union. Southeast Missouri still had all the advantages which had attracted men to it in the earlier days and, added to this now, was the fact that it was part of a regularly organ- ized state which had been admitted into the Union. The people were, as far as possible, under our republican form of government, self-governing, and from every part of the Union there was a movement toward the new state. In 1830 the population of the counties in the southeast was as follows : Cape Girardeau county 7, 445 Jefferson county 2,592 Madison county 2,371 New Madrid county 2,350 Perry county 3,349 St. Francois county 2,366 Scott county 2,136 Washington county 6,784 Wayne county 3,264 Ste. Genevieve county 2,186 Analysis op Population, 1820-1830 It will be observed that in this decade the principal growth of population was in Wash- ington county. This was due, largely, to the development of the mining industry in this county. Some of the counties, notably Ste. Genevieve, decreased in population, but this was owing to a cutting off of some of the territory in order to form new counties and not to an actual loss of population in the county itself. The population of Southeast Missouri in- creased steadily during this period of its his- tory. This is especially true of the counties along the Mississippi river and the settlements in adjoining counties. Those which lay fur- 247