Sunday, May 6, 2007

Census Records

Census Facts:

  1. Censuses were collected as far back as 1790
  2. Censuses are filed by geographical location
  3. 1930 is the most recent available for research
  4. Census records for 1920, 1910, 1900 and 1880 list more detailed information about families than earlier census records. For these years, relationships between family members are stated.
  5. The census records for 1870, 1860 and 1850 list the names of everyone in the household and other valuable information, but relationships among the people in a family are not stated.
  6. Census records of 1840 and before list only the name of the head of the household with tally marks by age, race and sex of the other people in the household.


Census records are prone to a variety of errors

  • The census enumerator did not tell us from whom he obtained the information he recorded
  • Imagine what answers your neighbors would give about your present family to a census enumerator
  • The enumerator may have written it incorrectly
  • The copyist may have made errors

Research helps:

  1. Remember county and state boundaries changed over time and since that is how census records are filed, you must be aware of these changing political boundaries.
  2. When you begin census research, look carefully at other families in the census records after you discover your family. Families with the same surname as the one you are researching will be of particular interest, but look also for similarity of unusual first names and coincidental places of birth. Families seldom moved alone from one area to another; they moved in groups related by blood, marriage, religion, ethnic origins, and social cliques.
  3. The best method for using census records is to start with the most recent available to you and work backward in time, relying on clues found in the census to guide you.
  4. More information: http://genealogy.about.com/library/authors/ucwitcher1a.htm
  5. Even more information: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~haas/learningcenter/censusrecords.html
  6. Worksheets: http://www.lib.byu.edu/fslab/bookmark/usgeneral.htm#census
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