This post is part of a series of articles I am creating as I study different record types in preparation for the ICAPGen Level 2 & 3 accreditation testing. Being very familiar with important record types for your region is the key to success for these tests. Even if you aren’t working toward accreditation, it is valuable to know what types of records are important sources for the region where you are conducting research. Whether or not you are seeking accreditation, you can access lists of important record types for many regions of the world on the ICAPGen website. Learning more about these records will help you become a better researcher.
Census records are one of the most widely-used and valuable records used in genealogical research by hobbyists and professionals alike. The fact that they have been digitized and indexed on all the major genealogy websites make them easily accessible. The information contained in the records helps assemble families and tell their stories. However, without an in-depth study of each census record, you may be missing valuable information that will further your genealogical research. In this post, I will discuss the information contained in census records and some methodology that will help you make the most of these essential records.
Census Basics
Beginning in 1790, the United States government began taking a census every ten years. The original purpose of these censuses was not to record genealogically significant information. Rather, census records were created to obtain demographic information that would aid the government in decisions regarding the apportionment of representatives to congress and the distribution of federal resources.1 Census records are available to be searched for censuses over 72 years old. Currently, the 1940 census is the most recent census that is available. Beginning in 2022, the 1950 census will become available.
Census lists are called “schedules.” The most commonly used schedules in genealogical research are called “population schedules.” The purpose of these schedules was to list members of every household in the country. From 1790 to 1840, only the heads of household were listed by name. Other household members were represented by tick marks that showed the age range and gender of every household member. From 1850 forward, every member of every household was supposed to be listed.
Other census schedules are called “non-population schedules.” These include Agricultural, Defective, Manufacturing, Mortality, and Social Statistics Schedules.2 I will discuss non-population schedules and give some examples of how they can benefit your genealogical research in my next post.
The Value of Census Records
The most obvious reason genealogists value census records is that they allow us to identify our ancestors and their family members and trace their location over time. However, if you quickly gather names, calculate birthdates, and note locations of family members and then leave the record, you could be missing valuable information that could further your genealogical research. Be sure to always look at an original image, study the headings, and carefully analyze what is recorded in every column for every family member. Here are some clues that can be found on census records that might lead to additional records for your ancestor:3
- Age and birthplace can lead to birth or baptism records. Birthplaces began being reported in 1880.
- A reporting of real estate owned can lead to land records and wills. Censuses from 1900-1930 provide information about property ownership.
- Persons with a large amount of property were more well-to-do and more likely to be written about in local histories.
- The 1900-1930 censuses provide information about an immigrant’s arrival and naturalization status. These facts can help you discover immigration and naturalization records.
- 1900-1910 censuses state whether a person was a Civil War veteran or a widow of a veteran. The 1930 census states which war American veterans served in. These clues can help you locate your ancestor’s military records.
- Censuses from 1880 forward provide information about an individual’s occupation. Occupations can help distinguish between people of the same name and could possibly lead to records for that industry. One example would be railroad records for a railroad employee.
- In 1900 and 1910, one question asked how many children a mother has borne and how many of those children are still living. This clue can help identify missing family members and lead to a search of birth, baptism, and death records for previously unknown children.
- Marital status was reported beginning in 1880. The 1900 and 1910 censuses are particularly valuable for marriage information. They both tell the number of years a couple has been married and whether a person was in their first marriage (“M1”) or in a second or subsequent marriage (“M2”). These clues can lead to a search for marriage records and help you know whether the wife in the home was the mother of the children in the home based on the ages of the children and the number of years the couple had been married.
Some Census Limitations
As good as censuses are for helping with our genealogy research, there are a few limitations to keep in mind. First, the informant, or person providing the information to the enumerator, was not recorded until 1940, when the informant was designated with an “x” by is or her name. Enumerators would typically talk with whoever was home – the head of household, a spouse or child, or perhaps even a neighbor if the family wasn’t home at the time the enumerator visited. Unknown informants, combined with the possibility of inaccurate memories, lack of information, illiteracy, and other factors often resulted in erroneous information. Be sure to analyze and correlate information obtained from censuses with other sources to determine the most likely story for your ancestor.
Additionally, because censuses were generally taken over a period of a few months, some families could have been missed completely and others could have been enumerated twice if they moved out of an area prior to the census enumeration and into a new area after the census had already been taken there or vice versa. It is always wise to search for missing ancestors in additional censuses before drawing conclusions about why they could have been missing from a single enumeration.
Another thing to be aware of is that not all family members were always listed in the same household with their family. Perhaps teenage children were working as hired hands and living with another family. Maybe the husband in a family was living and working away from home for a period of time. Just because family members are missing from a census doesn’t automatically mean they died prior to that census enumeration. Again, use additional records to corroborate clues before making conclusions.
It is important to note that the census enumerators typically made three copies of each census record.4 The copy made as they traveled from house to house was a draft copy and was retained locally. Two additional copies were made and sent to the state and federal governments. Transcription errors could have been made during this process, resulting in erroneous information on some records that we have access to. In some instances, enumerators alphabetized the records when making the extra copies, which makes it easy to find all the people with the same surname that lived in an enumeration district but eliminates clues that can usually be gleaned about a person’s neighbors, discussed in the section on methodology below.
Another limitation of census records is that although the census was taken every 10 years beginning in 1790, some census records have been lost due to fire or other destruction. Most notably, all but a very small portion of the 1890 census was lost.5 Be sure to check census coverage charts for the state your ancestors lived in to make sure the census is extant before drawing conclusions about your ancestor. Links to these charts for each state can be found on the United States Census page in the FamilySearch Research Wiki.
Methodology
The first step when using census records to research your ancestors is to find your ancestor on every census that was taken during his or her lifetime. Look at the original image and note all clues contained in each record. Then, make a plan to follow up with other records that those clues point to.
If your ancestor lived prior to 1850, don’t ignore these censuses! Although they only list the names of the heads of household, much information about the family can be gleaned. Ages of household members can help determine whether all family members have been found, when they might have been born or died, and when they might have moved out of the house and are likely to be listed as heads of their own household.
As you are working to find your ancestor in every census that was created during his or her lifetime, it will be helpful to note the neighbors of your ancestor – those that appear on several lines above and below your ancestor in each record. You might even want to search for anyone of the same surname in your ancestor’s town and add them to the list. Family members often lived near one another and migrated together. These neighbors can be great clues to help identify unknown parents and even lead to unknown maiden names for our female ancestors.
Censuses are a great way to generate a list of possible candidates for unknown ancestors. First, identify all of the persons of a certain name in the region of interest. This narrows down the pool of people you have to work with when trying to identify ancestors. Because census records are indexed, it will be easy make your search narrow, or broaden it in the event the ancestor moved around. Note whether each candidate has family members with familiar names in their household or, on pre-1850 censuses, whether the person whose parent you are seeking would align with one of the tick marks on the census.
Having Trouble Finding Your Ancestor?
Before concluding that your ancestor was not enumerated on a particular census, try these tips:
- Use spelling variations (including phonetic spellings) and wildcards as you search the indexes. Use an asterisk in place of a string of characters to help find more results. A question mark can be used in place of one character. This is a great way to overcome misspellings or name variations.
- Search for all persons of the same gender within the appropriate age range. The name may have been mis-indexed, but you might pick it up easily on a list of names because you know what you are looking for.
- If these tips don’t work and you believe your ancestor must have lived in a certain area in a certain census year, you can conduct a page-by-page search of the enumeration districts in that area. This is time-consuming, but I have found missing ancestors this way on more than one occasion.
Censuses are a wonderful resource! If you haven’t been fully analyzing census records for your ancestor, now is the time to begin! The tools I have described here will help you maximize the benefit of census records and hopefully lead you to additional information and even missing family members.
- “Why We Conduct the Decennial Census, US Census Bureau (https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census/about/why.html#:~:text=A%20census%20aims%20to%20count,and%20race%20of%20each%20person. : accessed 22 April 2021).
- “United States Census,” FamilySearch Research Wiki (https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/United_States_Census : accessed 22 April 2021).
- Val D. Greenwood, The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy, 4th edition (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 2017), 380-386.
- “United States Census Historical Background,” FamilySearch Research Wiki (https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/United_States_Census_Historical_Background : accessed 22 April 2021).
- “United States Census 1890,” FamilySearch Research Wiki (https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/United_States_Census_1890 : accessed 22 April 2021).
