Secrets of the Census, Part 2

The first federal census to list all members of a household appeared in 1850, but that's not the only thing that makes this enumeration so important to genealogists. This census also asked for the birthplace of each individual, and even though they didn't always do it, enumerators in this census were to read the information they recorded back to the interviewee so errors could be corrected, adding to its accuracy. This census, and the one following it, also included Slave Schedules for southern states (although New Jersey and the District of Columbia also participated). As we mentioned in our previous post about the early censuses, there were non-population schedules during the mid-nineteenth century, and in 1850, these schedules were created for agriculture, industry and manufacturing, mortality, social statistics, and veterans. Read on for much more on this census.

Secrets of the Census, Part 1

American genealogists take for granted that we have access to our census records. We understand there are privacy limits that keep us from seeing more recent censuses, but we also enjoy almost unlimited access to all of them from the first in 1790 to the most recently released, 1950. Yes, we know that some early censuses are missing, and most of us have heard the sad story about the loss of nearly all of the 1890 census due to the effects of a fire. Those of us who remember the days of cranking microfilm or plowing through Soundex cards are luxuriating in having the census enumerations digitized and forgiving of spelling mistakes in the online indexes. We now can breeze through dozens of pages, building our families with comparative ease. But, in our eagerness to collect census information, do we spend enough time really looking at what is on all those forms? We'll take a closer look at the secrets of the census in the next few weeks, beginning with the earliest and working our way forward in time.

September Genealogy Meetings and Events

  

Happy Labor Day! It's unofficially the end of summer, but we still have plans for weeks of pleasant weather ahead, just right for getting out and attending some genealogy meetings. So, we hope to see you in September for our monthly meeting, our German SIG meeting, and our special workshop on artificial intelligence at the end of the month. Read on for all the details.