Disabilities One thing about the 19th century censuses that I have always been curious about are the questions about various disabilities. From 1830 through 1880 and again in 1910 the census these questions appeared. Some Possible Answers It’s important to remember that often people answered the census based on what they wanted others to know.
How Much Are You Worth? The 1850, 1860, and 1870 U.S. census returns all asked how much each person’s real estate was worth. Believe it or not, this is a valuable question for many reasons. The 1860 and 1870 census also asked the value of a person’s personal property. This can be almost as useful!
Nativity The last question that was asked on every U.S. census from 1850-1950 was where a person was born. I, like many of you, lament the enumerator not asking the name of the county as well as the state. After all, how hard would it have been? Other Countries Sometimes when a person was foreign
They Pay You For That? One of the last questions that has been standard over every census since 1850 is occupation. Starting in 1910 the census enumerator would also ask what industry the person was in, providing a lot more detail. There are a few things to consider when evaluating this answer. The first is
Civil Condition Please? Believe it or not, that was the question asked on the 1880 census to determine whether a person was married, widowed, or divorced. Since 1880 this personal status has been required. As family historians there are several things we can learn from an ancestor’s marital status. Follow the Clues The main thing
All Present? It’s easy to imagine our ancestors in situations that are unrealistic for them. Many have seen the picture of the census taker visiting a family with mom, dad, and all the kids gathered around. Unfortunately, this was rarely the case. More realistic is that dad was gone in the early morning, the kids
Are We Related? In 1880 Congress gave Family Historians a gift. They put a column on the census form that asked each person’s relationship to the head of the household. Early On In the censuses before this one, 1850, 1860, 1870, we often assumed that the people in that home were a man, his wife,
Your Ancestor’s Name … Maybe! The first major column in the census, and arguably the one our eyes are first drawn to, are the names. Ideally these names would be the proper names of our ancestors, would be spelled correctly, and would be legible. Unfortunately that is often not the case. 19th Century Literacy Literacy
Your Number Please! Another helpful item in the heading is the page number. Not necessarily the one that was stamped but the one that was written when the page was originally copied. Sometimes it is called a sheet number. In an effort to make things easier for us, the people who organize and provide these
Not so fast! Before we get to the body of the census, the left columns need a little more attention. Things that have been in these columns consistently since 1850 are the dwelling and family numbers. These numbers can help you determine your ancestor’s living conditions. If the dwelling number remains the same – or
