State Censuses Can Add to Your Research

Although our August monthly meeting, Understanding and Working with the U.S. Federal Census, presented by StLGS librarian, Judy Belford, concentrated on the federal census, taken every ten years, mention was also made of state censuses, and what they can add to our research. Many states conducted population censuses in "off years," that is years in which the federal census was not held. Although taken randomly and in odd years, state censuses can often serve as substitutes for some missing federal records, and, for the most part, they asked different questions than the federal censuses, so you might learn additional information on your ancestors.

Another Resource to Locate Revolutionary War Service Members

This weekend, as we have been honoring our military heroes, both present and past, we thought we might introduce you to a little-known resource you may find useful in tracking down ancestors who served in the American Revolution or a military operation in that time period. If you have worked with early federal censuses, you know that the first fifty years of the census listed only heads of household, and enumerators used tally marks in columns to indicate age and gender of household members. It wasn’t until 1850 that the census began to list names of individual members of each family. However, an exception was made in 1840.