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US Census Records
To help you find more information about your ancestors, you should research all Federal
and State Census records. These census records can be found on microfilm at all LDS FHC
Libraries (Latter-day Saints Family History Center Libraries), at the National Archives,
from many large state libraries, and at some local libraries. Call your library for more
information. If a regional National Archives office exists near you, check it for what
census records they have on microfilm.
You can also order Census records from the LDS FHC for about $3.50/$3.75 a microfilm which
comes from the main library in Salt Lake City. (Call 800-346-6044 for a location of a
local library near you, or check your yellow pages under Churches). You can also use the
AGLL system with your library to order Census records.
AGLL - American Genealogical Lending Library - Go to the web site at http://www.heritagequest.com
About Census Records
The first Federal Census was mandated by our Constitution and done in 1790. A federal
census was then required every ten years after. Each state does its own census at various
times for taxation purposes. You will have to check the state of interest for years
available.
The 1930 Federal Census became available on April 1, 2002. Because of privacy laws, census
records are only released every 72 years. The census records for 1940-1990 are still
confidential, but you can obtain information for a deceased relative with proof of death,
or living relative if you have written permission. You will have to know where your
relative was living to have them found in the census though. For a search of confidential
censuses, you can write for form BC-600, Application for Search of Census Records, to the
following address, or e-mail your request for Form BC-600 to:
mary.lee.eldridge@ccmail.census.gov . The cost for the search is $40 a person, and an
extra $10 for the entire line of census information on ONE person only.
Dept. of Commerce
Bureau of the Census
PO Box 1545
Jeffersonville IN 47131
For more information on ordering confidential census information, see http://www.census.gov/genealogy/www/agesearch.html
The Federal Census:
1790 census asked for name of head of family, free white males, free white females, salves
and other persons in the household. This census was destroyed by the British during the
1812 War. It was reconstructed from tax lists.
1800 census asked for name of head of family, age, sex, race, and slaves.
1810 census asked for name of head of family, age, sex, race, and slaves.
1820 census asked for name of head of family, age, sex, race, foreigners not naturalized
in the household, slaves, industry working in.
1830 census asked for name of head of family, age, sex, race, deaf, dumb, blind, slaves
and foreigners not naturalized in household.
1840 census was the first to ask about pensioners for Revolutionary or military service.
It asked name of head of household, age, sex, race, deaf, dumb, blind, insane, idiotic and
whether public charge. Number of persons in each family employed.
The 1850 census is the first to include entire households rather than just the head of the
house. Each person's name, age, occupation of those over 15, place of birth, and value of
the estate, whether married within the year, schooling, literacy, pauper or convict. Slave
schedules give no names, just age and sex, black or mulatto. This census is computerized
at the LDS FHC library.
1860 census gave each free person's name, age, sex, place of birth, value of each free
person's personal estate, occupation, whether married within the year, school attendance,
literacy, whether deaf and dumb, blind, insane, idiotic, pauper or convict. Number of
slaves.
The 1870 Federal Census was done on 1 June. It asks for the name of each person in the
house, age at last birthday, sex, race, place of birth, state or territory in US or
country if foreign born, parents birth place, any male citizen age 21 and older whose
right to vote was denied, could read, disabled, occupation. It asked for a value of the
real estate and personal property.
This was the first census to include Blacks, and any adult male not in it probably did not
survive the Civil War. Indians were also included. The 1870 census also included parents
place of birth.
The 1880 census was done on 1 June. The census gave the name of each person in the
household and relationship, race, sex, age, month and year born, martial status,
occupation, place of birth, parents' birthplace, address, read/write if over 10, disabled.
Individuals who were born or died after 1 June 1880 were not included.
Special Indian schedule: it is indexed alphabetically by family name (but only for those
families who had children 10yrs or younger) It is soundexed.
Most of the 1890 census was destroyed by a fire in 1921. Less than 1% survived. There are
some records for Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North
Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota, and Texas. Check at the LDS for what counties in these
states the records are for.
Mortality Schedules are found in the census of 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1885.
They have information about persons who died in the 12 months immediately preceding the
enumeration. There are schedules for deaths from 1 June - 31, May 1849-1850, 1859-1860,
1869-1870, 1884-1885. They asked for name, sex, age, color, widowed, place of birth, month
of death, cause of death, occupation.
The 1900 Federal Census was done on 1 June. It provides the names of each person in the
household and their relationship, race, sex, month and year of birth, age at last
birthday, marital status, years married, number of children born and living, if foreign
born, place of birth of each person and parents, year of immigration and number of years
in US, citizenship status, occupation, read/write, language, home rented/owned, address,
home/farm. It is soundexed.
Some Indian records are found at the end of the census.
The 1910 Federal Census was taken on April 15th. It identifies each person's name and
relationship to the head of the house, sex, race, age at last birthday, marital status;
mother's number of children and number living, birthplace, parents' birthplace, if foreign
born, year of immigration and citizenship, language, occupation, employed, able to read
and write, home rented/owned/mortgaged, house or farm, veteran of Union or Confederate
army/navy, blind, deaf and dumb, Indian tribe.
It is not indexed and not soundexed for many states. Only 21 have an index.
The following states are Indexed for the 1910 census:
Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana,
Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South
Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.
For all other states, researchers must rely on city directories, enumeration districts or
special street indexes.
The 1920 census was done on January 2, 1920. It was the first census to be done in
January, as requested by the Department of Agriculture because they felt that all farm
harvests would be completed and more information from farmers could be collected.
Information in the census is about the same as the 1910 census.
The census asked:
1) street number
2) house number
3) order of house visitation
4) order of family visitation
5) name of person
6) relationship to head of house
7) home owned or rented
8) owned or mortgaged
9) sex
10) color of race
11) age at last birthday
12) single or married
13) year of immigration to US
14) naturalized or alien
15) year of naturalization
16) attended school since Sept 1, 1919
17) whether able to read
18) whether able to write
19) place of birth
20) mother tongue
21) place of birth of father
22) father's mother tongue
23) place of birth of mother
24) mother's tongue
25) able to speak English
26) trade or profession
27) industry business
28) employer or working on own account
29) number of farm schedule
The 1900 and 1920 Census have a Soundex, as well as the 1880
The following information is based on "Using the Census Soundex," General
Information
Leaflet 55 (Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 1995)
The Soundex System is a Coded Surname Indexing system that allows names that sounded
alike, but were spelled differently, to be indexed together. (like SMITH and SMYTH, have
the same code and are filed together)
A code is assigned to consonants, and vowels were ignored. The first letter of the surname
was retained, followed by three digits.
Basic Soundex Coding Rule....
Every soundex code consists of a letter and three numbers
The letter is always the first letter of the surname. The numbers are assigned to
the remaining letters of the surname according to the soundex guide shown
below. Zeroes are added at the end if necessary to produce a four-character
code. Additional letters are disregarded.
Consonants are given numbers, Vowels and semi-vowels are ignored.
The first letter of the surname is retained.
Double letters, or two letters with the same code are coded once.
Surnames less than four digits are filled out with zeroes.
Surnames longer than four digits are codes only with four.
Code Key Letter and Equivalents
b,p,f,v, = 1
c,s,k,g,j,q,x,z = 2
d,t =3
l =4
m,n = 5
r = 6
Disregard the letters A, E, I, O, U, H, W, and Y.
If the surname has different letters side-by-side that have the same number
in the soundex coding guide, they should be treated as one letter.
If a surname has a prefix, such as Van, Con, De, Di, La, or Le, code both
with and without the prefix because the surname might be listed under either
code. Note, however, that Mc and Mac are not considered prefixes.
The name Smith would be coded as S530
Vasconcelos would be V252
Smart would be S563
Washington is coded W-252 (W, 2 for the S, 5 for the N, 2 for the G, remaining letters
disregarded).
Lee is coded L-000 (L, 000 added).
Pfister is coded as P-236 (P, F ignored, 2 for the S, 3 for the
T, 6 for the R).
For example, Jackson is coded as J-250 (J, 2 for the C, K ignored, S ignored,
5 for the N, 0 added).
To search for a particular surname, you must first work out its code. NARA's Online
Soundex Machine can code surnames automatically.
A free brochure is available from inquire@nara.gov
See these web sites for more information:
http://www.nara.gov
http://www.nara.gov/genealogy/soundex.html
http://resources.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/soundexconverter
http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/Genea/soundex.sh
http://www.rand.org/personal/Genea
The 1930 Federal Census dated April 1, 1930 is now available. It has been microfilmed and
is available from the National Archives. There is a Soundex available but only for 12
States and some counties in Kentucky and West Virginia.
The States are: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky counties of Bell, Floyd,
Harlan, Kenton, Muhlenberg, Perry and Pike, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia counties of Fayette, Harrison, Kanawha,
Logan, McDowell, Mercer, and Raleigh.
For the rest of us, finding our ancestor in the census is a bit more difficult because you
have to know where they lived at the time. The census is organized by enumeration
districts (ED), and determining the ED is different from state to state. There are some
sources available to help you search for the ED number if you know the address your
ancestor was living at. Check the NARA 1930 census web site for this information.
http://1930census.archives.gov
A wonderful source is the Stephan P. Morse web site, not all cities are available on the
site, but it is still one of the best resources to help find an enumeration district. You
can find the site at http://home.pacebell.net/spmorse/census/
Some important questions on the 1930 census are:
1) address 2) name of each person in the family at this address 3) relationship of the
person to the head of the family 4) owned or rented home 5) personal description of the
person
6) education 7) place of birth of each person, if foreign give country 8) native language
9) citizenship, year of immigration, if able to speak English 10) occupation/trade
11) employment, last work day 12) veteran of US military, of what war,
The census is a wonderful source for information about your ancestors. It can help you
learn when your ancestor arrived to the US, if they were naturalized, approximate year of
birth, and most important, the name of the town they came from. Use the census!
Remember to work BACKWARDS when doing your family history research.
Information researched and written by Susanne M. Saether
Email: Susanne Saether@aol.com |
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