How I research U.S. Census enumerations

It can be sometimes easy or sometimes frustrating to find a person in the U.S. Censuses. But it's a valuable tool to understand more about an ancestor, if their enumeration is found in one or more censuses.

Background

Three types of censuses are available for researchng .

• The First Census of the United States population was taken after the American Revolution in 1790, under Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson. Twenty-two federal censuses have occurred through 2010. The detail of each census has been made available 72 years after the census.

• The First Census of Agriculture was taken in 1840 as part of the Sixth Census of the United States population. The census remained a part of the decennial census through 1950, with separate mid-decade Censuses of Agriculture taken in 1925, 1935 and 1945. The Census of Agriculture is a census conducted every five years by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) that provides the only source of uniform, comprehensive agricultural data for every county in the United States.

• Most member states of the USA conduct State Censuses on a regular basis. The exceptions are Idaho, Kentucky, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and West Virginia. The variety of data collected varied with the state and the year. 

 

Availability 

Copies of many state censuses are on microfilm at the Family History Library of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The Family History Library's most complete collections of state censuses are for Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. The Family History Library has provided most censuses as a set of digital images with a searchable database.

Search the Indexes

The following links are to a search page to the digital indexes managed by the Family History Library. The general search page can also post census appearances, and a general search could be more useful if you hope to find several census appearances for one family group.

United States Census Indices

• 1780.
• 1790, United States (collection 1803959). 
• 1800.
• 1810.
• 1820, United States (collection 1803955).
• 1830, United States (collection 1803958).
• 1840, United States (collection1786457).
• 1850, United States (collection 1401638). 
• 1860, United States (collection 1473181).
• 1870, United States (collection 1438024)
• 1880, United States (collection 1417683)
• 1890, United States (collection 1610551).
• 1900, United States (collection 1325221).
• 1910, United States (collection 1727033).
• 1920, United States (collection 1488411).
• 1930, United States (collection 1810731).
• 1940, United States (collection 2000219).
• 1950 —not available until 2022
• 1960 —not available until 2032
• 1970 —not available until 2042 
• 1980 —not available until 2052

California Census Indices

• 1852, California (collection 1771089).

Colorado Census Indices

• 1875, Colorado.
• 1885, Colorado.

Florida Census Indices

• 1875, Florida.
• 1885, Florida.
• 1935, Florida (collection 1457856).
• 1945, Florida (collection 1457855).

Illinois Census Indices

• 1855, Illinois (collection 1803969). 
• 1865, Illinois (collection 1803971).

Iowa Census Indices

• 1875, Iowa.
• 1885, Iowa (collection 1803643).
• 1895, Iowa (collection 1803957).
• 1905, Iowa (collection 1803957).
• 1915, Iowa (collection 1803957).
• 1925, Iowa (collection 1803957).

Kansas Census Indices

• 1865, Kansas (collection 1824715). 
• 1875, Kansas (collection 1825178).
• 1885, Kansas —presently available only as images.
• 1895, Kansas (collection 1825193).
• 1905, Kansas —not presently available except microfilm available in Kansas libraries.
• 1915, Kansas (collection 2640442).
• 1925, Kansas —not presently available except microfilm available in Kansas libraries.

Massachusetts Census Indices 

• 1855, Massachusetts (collection 1459985). 

Minnesota Census Indices

• 1857, Minnesota (collection 1503055). 
• 1865, Minnesota (collection 1503054).
• 1875, Minnesota (collection 1503053).
• 1885, Minnesota (collection 1503044).
• 1895, Minnesota (collection 1503031).
• 1905, Minnesota (collection 1503056).

Nebraska Census Indices

•  1885, Nebraska (collection 1810728).

New Jersey Census Indices

• 1855, New Jersey (collection 2469955). 
• 1885, New Jersey (collection 1803972).
• 1895, New Jersey (collection 2659407).
• 1905, New Jersey (collection 1928107).
• 1915, New Jersey (collection 2061544).

New York Census Indices

• 1855, New York (collection 1937366). 
• 1865, New York (collection 1491284).
• 1892, New York (collection 1529100).
• 1905, New York (collection 1463113).
• 1915, New York (collection 1937454).
• 1925, New York (collection 1937489).

North Dakota Census Indices

• 1915, North Dakota (collection 2346284).
• 1925, North Dakota (collection 2351024).

Rhode Island Census Indices

•  1885, Rhode Island.

South Dakota Census Indices

• 1905, South Dakota (collection 1477737)
• 1915, South Dakota (collection 1476041).
• 1925, South Dakota (collection 1476077). 
• 1935, South Dakota (collection 1614831).
• 1945, South Dakota (collection 1747589).

Wisconsin Census Indices

• 1855, Wisconsin (collection 1443825).
• 1865,Wisconsin (collection 2058670).   
• 1875, Wisconsin (collection 1443778).
• 1885, Wisconsin (collection 1443713)
• 1895, Wisconsin (collection 1443712)
• 1905, Wisconsin (collection 1443899).

Browse the Images

The following links are to a contents page to the digital images managed by the Family History Library. The contents page lists the states that contributed to the enumeration of U.S. residents. Select a state to open a contents page that lists the counties or enumeration districts.

• 1780
• 1790 (11 states).
• 1800
• 1810
• 1820
• 1830
• 1840 (28 states, DC, and 2 territories)
• 1850
• 1855
• 1860
• 1865
• 1870
• 1875
• 1880
• 1885
• 1890
• 1895
• 1900
• 1905, Wisconsin
• 1910
• 1915
• 1920
• 1925
• 1930
• 1940
• 1950
• 1960
• 1970 

 

Organizing Your Census Search

If your family data is very up-to-date, you may need to search for only a few isolated census enumerations. But if you want to provide census data for a large number of people in your extended family, you may find this guide useful.

1. Review your existing data on ancestors and place their family names as relevant searches for each census year available. Typically, this results in a "Long Table" that correlates each person's birth and death years with available censuses.
2. Organize the "Long Table" into research groups:
• Into geographic areas, if you want to research all the census information for each locality. This focus produces detail for a One-Place Study (Step 3).
• Into family groups, if you want to research each family as a set for detail in a Family Study (Step 4). 
3.  One-Place Study approach
1. steps to be added.
4. Family Study approach 
1. steps to be added.

Searching Transcribed Data

Census records can have many errors, as three steps created the indexed census information. (First is the person who provides the information during the census. Ages and dates can be incorrectly remembered; spellings may not be accurate. Second is the person who writes down the information during the census. Often the errors made in this step are matters of spelling or legibility. Third is the person who transcribes the information to the index. The transcriber is furthest removed from the accurate information. In recognition of this fact, most transcription efforts include one or more reviews before placing the index online.) In one case, my great grandfather was Johann Mathias Kohn at his birth. He later called himself "John M Kohn" in America. However, his name was entered to the index as "John W Kaserly." The family name has been indexed in other censuses with other spellings too: "Cohen," "Kahn," and several others.

How can you use the search page to find such an erroneous entry? Start with the most specific information, and gradually make the search less specific. Or use different combinations of known information.

• Search for the full, known name.
• This step is most useful for relatively uncommon names that are spelled correctly. 
• For a more common names, make the search more specific by providing a birth location and date. 
• The familysearch.org search engine can return thousands of results, but the website allows only about 5000 results to be displayed.
• The familysearch.org website allows you to select the display of 20, 50, or 75 results on each page.
• You can edit the URL to display as many as 500 entries per page.
  1. Find the portion of the URL that reads "count=20".
  2. Change the number to a value 500 or less.
  3. Press [Enter]. It will take a bit longer for the results to display.
  4. After you've reviewed the results, use the [Next] button at the bottom of the page to go to the next page. Using the Next button instead of the page number buttons will display as many as 5000 results in successive pages.
• Search for the full name in a specific state, county, or city.
• Search for known variants of the full name. Given name: "John M," "John," "Matthew," and "J M" are four possibilities for the enumeration.
  At least in the familysearch.org search engine, "John" and "Johann" are automatically checked while searching for either variant of the name, similarly for variants of other names such as "Matthew" and "Mathias." 
• Search for the family name plus an initial for the given name. Supply the initial as "J*" to post all names starting with J.
  The given name may have been incorrectly entered or illegible.
• Search for the family name as an initial and asterisk. Supply the full first name or its initial.
  The family name may have been entered incorrectly or illegible. For this search, we assume that the first letter was correct and legible.
• Search for the the first names of two persons known (or assumed) to be residing together.
  For example, enter the first name of the husband and the first name of his wife.
  In case the husband or wife has died before the census, try entering the name of child who is younger than about 20 and would likely be at home with the family.