Making Sense of the Census

1. Making Sense of the Census Michael J Denis, PO Box 125, Parksville, KY 40464

2. Constitutional Requirement • The Constitution requires a federal census for apportioning the House of Representatives and direct taxes. • The first federal census was taken in 1790 and has been repeated every ten years. • President Washington assigned the task of taking the 1790 census to the seventeen United States Marshalls.

3. Increasing Complexity (1) • As time progressed, more and more questions were asked on the census forms. • The early censuses showed the name of the head of house; other family members and slaves were only tallied by sex and age categories. • Starting in 1850 each member of a household was named, along with that person's state or nation of birth.

4. Increasing Complexity (2) • Starting in 1880 the birthplace of the father and mother of each individual was also listed. • By 1900 questions about immigration to the United States and citizenship were added to the list.

5. Multiple Copies (1) • Three copies of most federal censuses were created. • The local census taker first created a draft copy as he walked from house to house to question the residents. • He later copied by hand a second draft for the state, and a third copy for the federal government.

6. Multiple Copies (2) • Copying errors often resulted in slight differences between the various copies. • Only a few of the local or state copies have survived. • Occasionally, large cities were enumerated twice in the same year when an under-count was suspected the first time.

7. Non-population Schedules (1) • At the same time as the federal population schedules were made, in some census years, additional census schedules were created. • In 1820, 1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880 the manufacturers or industries were listed on a separate schedule. • In 1840 and 1890 military pensioners, Union veterans, or their widows were listed. • In 1850 and 1860 slave owners were listed together with the sex and age category of their slaves.

8. Non-population Schedules (2) • For 1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880 a list of people who died in the 12 months prior to the census was made and called mortality schedules. • Agricultural schedules for those same years listed information about farms. • In 1900 a special American Indian schedules were filed at the end of a county's population schedules. • Also look for 1880 "defective, dependent, and delinquent classes" and social statistics federal census schedules.

9. The Census, Year By Year What information was included in each Census, 1790-1940

10. 1790 • Name of family head • Free white males of 16 years and up • Free white males under 16 • Free white females • Other persons • Slaves

11. 1800 and 1810 • Name of family head; • FWM under 10, 16-25, 26-44, 45+ • FWF under 10, 16-25, 26-44, 45+ • Other free persons • Slaves

12. 1820 • Name of family head; • FWM under 10, 16-25, 26-44, 45+ • FWF under 10, 16-25, 26-44, 45+ • Other free persons • Slaves • Foreigners not naturalized; • Industry (agriculture, commerce, and manufactures).

13. 1830 (1) • Name of family head; • FWM under 5, 5-10, 10-15, 15-20, 20-30, 30-40, 40-50, 50-60, 60-70, 70-80, 80-90, 90-100, 100+ • FWF under 5, 5-10, 10-15, 15-20, 20-30, 30-40, 40-50, 50-60, 60-70, 70-80, 80-90, 90-100, 100+ • Slaves male under 10, 10-24, 24-36, 36-55, 55-100, 100+ • Slaves female under 10, 10-24, 24-36, 36-55, 55-100, 100+

14. 1830 (2) • Free colored males under 10, 10-24, 24-36, 36-55, 55-100, 100+ • Free colored females under 10, 10-24, 24-36, 36-55, 55-100, 100+ • Whites deaf and dumb under 14, 14-25, 25+, blind • Slaves and Colored Persons deaf and dumb under 14, 14-25, 25+, blind

15. 1840 (1) • Name of family head; • FWM under 5, 5-10, 10-15, 15-20, 20-30, 30-40, 40-50, 50-60, 60-70, 70-80, 80-90, 90-100, 100+ • FWF under 5, 5-10, 10-15, 15-20, 20-30, 30-40, 40-50, 50-60, 60-70, 70-80, 80-90, 90-100, 100+ • Slaves male under 10, 10-24, 24-36, 36-55, 55-100, 100+ • Slaves female under 10, 10-24, 24-36, 36-55, 55-100, 100+

16. 1840 (2) • Free colored males under 10, 10-24, 24-36, 36-55, 55-100, 100+ • Free colored females under 10, 10-24, 24-36, 36-55, 55-100, 100+ • Employed in one of 7 categories • Rev or military pensioners, and age • Whites deaf and dumb under 14, 14-25, 25+, blind • Slaves and Colored Persons deaf and dumb under 14, 14-25, 25+, blind

17. 1850 • Every Name; age; sex; race; occupation of males 15+; value of real estate; birthplace; whether married within the year; school attendance; illiterate over 20; whether deaf, dumb, blind, insane, idiotic, pauper or convict. • Supplemental schedule for persons who died during the year.

18. 1850 Slave • Name of owner • Number of slaves • Age • Sex • Color • Fugitive • Manumitted • Deaf & Dumb, blind, insane, idiotic

19. 1860 • Every Name; age; sex; race; occupation of males 15+; value of real estate; value of personal estate; birthplace; whether married within the year; school attendance; illiterate over 20; whether deaf, dumb, blind, insane, idiotic, pauper or convict. • Supplemental schedule for persons who died during the year.

20. 1860 Slave • Name of owner • Number of slaves • Age • Sex • Color • Fugitive • Manumitted • Deaf & Dumb, blind, insane, idiotic • Number of slave houses

21. 1870 • Name; age; race; occupation; value of real estate; value of personal estate; birthplace; whether parents were foreign born; month of birth if born within the year; month of marriage if married within the year; school attendance; literacy; whether deaf and dumb, blind, insane, or idiotic; male citizens 21 and over, and number of such persons denied the right to vote for other than rebellion. • Supplemental schedule for persons who died during the year.

22. 1880 • Address; name, relationship to family head; sex; race; age; marital status; month of birth if born within the census year; occupation; months unemployed during the year; sickness or temporary disability; whether blind, deaf and dumb, idiotic, insane, maimed, crippled, bedridden, or otherwise disabled; school attendance; literacy; birthplace of person and parents. • Supplemental schedules for persons who died during the year.

23. 1890 • General schedules––destroyed. • Supplemental schedules for Union veterans of the Civil War and their widows.

24. 1900 • Address; name; relationship to family head; sex; race; age; marital status; number of years married; for women, number of children born and number now living; birthplace of person and parents; if foreign born, year of immigration and whether naturalized; occupation; months not employed; school attendance; literacy; ability to speak English; whether on a farm; home owned or rented and if owned, whether mortgaged.

25. 1910 • Address; name; relationship to family head; sex; race; age; marital status; number of years of present marriage for women, number of children born and number now living; birthplace and mother tongue of person and parents; if foreign born, year of immigration, whether naturalized, and whether able to speak English, or if not, language spoken; occupation, industry, and class of worker; if an employee, whether out of work during year; literacy; school attendance; home owned or rented; if owned, whether mortgaged; whether farm or house; whether a survivor of Union or Confederate Army or Navy; whether blind or deaf and dumb.

26. 1920 • Address; name; relationship to family head; sex; race; age; marital status; if foreign born, year of immigration to the U.S., whether naturalized, and year of naturalization; school attendance; literacy; birthplace of person and parents; mother tongue of foreign born; ability to speak English; occupation, industry, and class of worker; home owned or rented; if owned, whether free or mortgaged.

27. 1930 • Address; name; relationship to family head; home owned or rented; value or monthly rental; radio set; whether on a farm; sex; race; age; marital status; age at first marriage; school attendance; literacy; birthplace of person and parents; if foreign born language spoken in home before coming to U.S., year of immigration, whether naturalized, and ability to speak English; occupation, industry, and class of worker; whether at work previous day (or last regular working day); veteran status; for Indians, whether of full or mixed blood, and tribal affiliation.

28. 1940 • Address; home owned or rented; value or monthly rental; whether on a farm; name; relationship to household head; sex; race; age; marital status; school attendance; educational attainment; birthplace; citizenship of foreign born; location of residence five years ago and whether on a farm; employment status; if at work, whether in private or non-emergency government work, or in public emergency work if in private work, worked in week; if seeking work or on public emergency work, duration of unemployment; occupation, industry, and class of worker; weeks worked last year, income last year.

29. 1940 Census Headings

30. Issues We Find In Dealing With The Census What we want it to be is not always what it is.

31. Understanding Census Info • Over the decades, census enumerators inadvertently created complicated and confusing problems in the census records. Most of these problems are simply due to unintended mistakes. In addition, many original records have unfortunately been subject to decades of unprofessional archival storage and general public misuse. • These problems have put a tremendous burden on those who use computers to index or transcribe census records. The final burden of proof in determining the correctness or incorrectness of a name in a census index or record lies with researchers themselves. In addition, the best research arises from individuals pursuing independent verification and relying on multiple research sources.

32. Census Enumerators • Each enumerator and census marshall had a different level of education. • Therefore, spelling names in various languages may have been difficult for them, so they may have made errors when recording names.

33. Cultural Spellings • It was not unusual at all to have had an Englishman enumerating the German names, Italian names, and Slavic names. • You may have a Frenchman enumerating the German names, or a German enumerating the English and French names.

34. Phonics • Spelling by sound is the most common method of recording names. It is a practice that still takes place today. • Take the name "Pearce." Or is it "Pierce," "Peerce," "Peirce," "Perce," "Parce," "Paerce," and/or "Piearce • All of this depends on how the name is said, how the enumerator hears it, and how he or she interprets it on paper. Many enumerators were not well-educated and mixed guesswork with phonetic sounds to record what they heard.

35. Time Periods • The contemporary name "Polk" was spelled "Pollok" or "Pollock" several hundred years ago. The name "Fisher" today was more frequently spelled "Pfisher" or "Pfister" in early colonial America. • Good researchers will always take into consideration the "time period" changes as they do genealogical or historical research. • An excellent rule of thumb is this: "Just because it is spelled one way today and has been for a long time, does not mean that it was or has been spelled this way since the origin of the name."

36. Reducing Letters • The name "Briggs" it is often spelled "Brggs" or "Brgs", totally deleting the "i" and the double letter. Other examples: "Green" as "Gren;" "Hannah" as "Hanna" or "Hana;" "Allen" as "Alen;" "McAllister" as "McAlister;" and "Mitchell" as "Mitcel" or "Mitchal.“ • Abbreviations may be obvious (“Wm” for “William” and “Geo” for “George”, but not always – “Jno” for “John.”

37. Vowel Interchanging • The use of various vowels can place a name in an index many pages apart from other names of the same species. Use these examples: "Myers," "Mires," "Meyers," "Maeyers" and "Miers" are all placed in an index, some close together and some many pages apart. "Alexander" and "Elexander" not only would not be found under the same first letter, but would appear in different sections of an index. So the genealogical researcher should in many respects disregard vowels when making name searches

38. Mis-formed or Look-alike Letters • In one instance, researchers misread the name "Lebello" as "Sebello." The "L" and "S" are quite often written identically, making it difficult for even handwriting experts to tell the difference. • The "I" and "J" can also be difficult to distinguish when just written as initials. In addition, an open-topped "a" can be mistaken for a "u," or a close-topped "u" or open-topped "o" can all be confused with each other

39. Nicknames and Variations • It is quite common to call an individual by a much shorter name than what they were given at birth. • However, never assume that all nicknames are short for a longer given name. • "Bess," "Liz," "Ben," "Freddy" are all very real given names.

40. Voluntary and Involuntary Info (1) • Several types of mistakes that resulted when individuals purposefully or unknowingly gave the census enumerators incorrect information. • For example, some Germanic people remembered the compulsory military service requirements of the old country and did not know the laws in America. They often felt that if they divulged their correct names and ages they would be inducted into U.S. military service. To avoid being located, they would often use their middle name(s), delete their first names or surnames, or use only their christening names.

41. Voluntary and Involuntary Info (2) • Since the enumerators were being paid by the number of names they gathered, they did not always take the data from a member of the household they were enumerating. • Many enumerators traveled long distances on foot, so when they came to an empty dwelling it was common practice to have a neighbor volunteer the information. • This practice compounds the errors made on the original census manuscripts, and perpetuated by indexers or researchers.

42. Changing Names • Since the colonization of America in the early 1600's it has been a common practice for individuals, and especially immigrants to change their names. • However, it was not until the mid-19th century or later that people were required to officially register their changed names in a court of law. • It's not uncommon to find individuals listed under three or four names.

43. The “ſs” and “ss” Confusion • It was the general practice several hundred years ago to write a double "s" ("ss") as " ſs". • Actually, the first “ſ” looks like an “f” but doesn’t have the full cross-bar and is written “ſ.” • In addition, a single "s" could have been written like an "ſ." • This practice continued in some places until the early 20th century.

44. Mistakes by the Indexers • No person, group, or organization could realistically claim perfection in indexing census materials. • Occasionally you will find that an enumerator obviously misspelled a name. In this case, it may be indexed twice. • For example, when "James" is incorrectly spelled "Jaems" it is indexed by most indexers in both ways.