Utilizing the U.S. Federal Census Makes Sense
First established in 1790 to determine the representation of each state in the House of Representatives, the federal census is taken every ten years, with the amount of information collected increasing or changing every decade.
From 1790 to 1850, only the name of the head of household was recorded. The rest of the household were recorded by tick marks, first by sex, then by ethnicity. The ages of the household were recorded in five year increments, starting at birth until age 20, then in ten year increments up to age 100. The census would also record to city and state, as well the ward or township.
The census began recording the names of every member of the household in 1850. They recorded the age, sex, and ethnicity, as well as occupation of every male 15 years of age and older, place of birth, value of land owned, and if the household member attended school within the previous year. It also recorded if the person had been married within the previous year, was over 20 and couldn't read or write, and if he was "deaf and dumb, blind, insane, idiotic, pauper, or convict."
In 1860, the census added the value of personal real estate and included occupation of females 15 years of age and older. In 1870, a space was added to record if either of the person's parents were of foreign birth, the month of birth if the person was born during the previous year, and if males were 21 or older and able or unable to vote. Marital status was added in 1880, as well as a tick mark for if the person had been married within the previous year. 1880 was also the first time the census recorded each person's relation to the head of the house, their birthplace, and each parent's birthplace.
The best addition to the 1900 and 1910 census was the recording of how many years the person had been married, and it recorded how many children a female had given birth to and how many of those children were living at the time of the census. Street name and house number were added in 1900, and occupation specialization was added in 1910. So what about 1890? In 1921, a fire destroyed most of the 1890 census. Some records exist, but they are few.
In 1920, the information about birthed children was taken away, and in 1930 the census added veteran status and a person’s age at the time of their first marriage. The census is released to the public after 72 years, so the 1940 census was released in 2012 and 1950 will be released in 2022.
Census information can be trusted most of the time, but the enumerator sometimes puts down incorrect (more misheard) information. It is best to check every source against other sources, and always look at the actual record, as the transcriptions are sometimes wrong.
Visit your local branch of the Springfield-Greene County Library to use our Ancestry.com library edition or check out some books to help you find out more about your ancestors through census records.
Find this article at http://thelibrary.org/blogs/article.cfm?aid=3436&lid=0