Have you recently had someone knock on your door with a list of questions for you to answer? Have you filled out your census form? It’s the decennial year and it’s time for the U.S. Census. What will the demographics of Pine Island be for 2010? What were the demographics here of a hundred years ago?

At the Museum of the Islands (MOTI) you can get the answers for Precinct 6, Pine Island in 1900, Precinct 16, Pine Island in 1910. These documents, replicated and ready for viewing by museum visitors, are a virtual Who’s Who for the island so many years ago.

In 1900, names like Whitesides, Hampton, Tyson, Darmpier, Skinner, Rhodes, Lenard, Harrison, Smith, Fletcher, Foster, Sikes, Maigs, Kitchel, Schultz, Merkim, Hamilton, and Shanihan are written in ornate script on the old census form. We learn that their parents came from different countries or states, with a smattering from Florida itself. We learn that they were farmers, sailors, a ship’s carpenter, servants, a farm laborer, a cable officer manager, and a postmistress. They can all read, write, and speak English. The average age of the head of household in 1900 was 47 years.

Ada Foster’s parents came from Russia. She was born in the Bahamas. And she became the island’s postmistress! At the time of the census, she was 28 years old and she was widowed, living in a rented house. From the simple bits of information in the census, you can begin to form a picture of the person who answered the census taker’s questions.

You begin to get a sense of history.

By 1910, most parents of Pine Islanders were born in Florida or neighboring states. Names included Stafford, Sweet, McGill, Bailey, Bowman, Gillis, Martin, Howard, Robertson, Willis, Platt, Dampier, Hampton, Benedict, Foster, Osborne, Hope, Roberts, Parker, and Stanton. People worked as farmers predominantly, but some as fishermen.. Statistics on marriages indicate that many of the women married when they were in their mid to late teens, and they married men ten or more years older than they. The average age of the head of household was 50 years, with a range from 35 to 72 years.

Bring your reading glasses, maybe a magnifying glass, and a comfortable pillow for your back….and come to the museum to examine the wonderful collection of old documents available. Find out Who Was Who in those good old days.

MOTI is now open for its summer hours, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. MOTI is located at 5728 Sesame Drive, Pine Island Center.