The Census

Cliffside in 1910

In the four weeks from mid-April to mid-May of 1910, Mary Olivine Melton walked up and down the hilly streets of Cliffside, and drove—or was driven—along the country roads beyond the town. She visited every home and carefully recorded the details of every citizen therein. She was an “enumerator” of the census—or census taker.

Several years ago, Cliffside native Judson “Bud” Crow and his wife Geraldine took on the formidable task of transcribing Mary Melton’s handwritten 1910 census book, and analyzing the data for the Cliffside precinct, High Shoals township, Rutherford County.

The group is gathered at the side door of the old mill. — These workers at Cliffside Mill seem to be peering intently across the decades, silently urging us never to forget their roles in that time and place.

The project was completed in 1991 and resulted in their book “First Families of Cliffside: 1910 Cliffside, N. C. Federal Census.” (See related articles from the Daily Courier here and here.) Many of you bought the book; many libraries have it in their reference collection.

With the Crows’ permission, we’re presenting selected portions of that data, along with their analysis. We’re also including, from other sources, information about the Cliffside area in 1910.

The names of 2,118 Cliffsiders in the 1910 census are in this section, listed in various ways: by head-of-household, grouped by street; in an index (alphabetically by name); and by street, grouped by household. Every name in the index is a link to the household record of the individual. On the household record, some names have links to a more extensive article about him or her. We hope you find lots of your ancestors.