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05/26/2004: "1860 Census: Hoeck (Haag) Family"

I believe I've found the Haag family in the 1860 Census, in Nankin Township (now the City of Westland), Michigan, under the name "Hoeck". The names and ages of the parents and the two oldest children match exactly, and "Hoeck" is phoenetically similar to "Haag" (they also translate to the same Soundex code). Here's what I found:

Joseph Hoeck 40 Farmer Bavaria (German)
Mary Hoeck 44 Bavaria
John Hoeck 13 Bavaria
Barbara Hoeck 11 Bavaria
Sally Hoeck 9 Bavaria
Catharine Hoeck 5 Michigan
Elisabeth Hoeck 2 Michigan

The Haag family came to America around 1853, and the birth dates and places of Sally (1850, Bavaria) and Catharine (1854, Michigan) would provide even more evidence of a match. As to why the younger children don't show up in subsequent census records, Sally would have been 19 by 1870 and possibly married, and for the others, the sad fact is that back then the mortality rate for children was pretty bad.

A possible source of confusion is that Sally is not listed in the passenger manifest I found previously for the ship "Charles and Edward", dated 5 June 1852. However, there is a three-month old child named Rosalia Haag; is "Sally" a nickname for "Rosalia"? The usual census taker rounding errors could account for the slight age difference.