I don't think I had ever looked at the instructions at the top and bottom of these older censuses! I did know about using the dates of the census taking to help determine birth detail. Great video.....lots of info! Thanks Connie.
I appreciate the 1880 question about the person being maimed, crippled or bedridden. My great great grand father, Richard Henry Walker, led a rough and wild life according to family lore. Sure enough this box is checked for him, indicating it caught up with him. He passed in 1885.
Another thing I like about the 1880 census is the accompanying farm census. I just happened upon the farm census in an Ancestry search and now I always look for it. The farm census goes around the Township and tally’s the productivity, size, and composition of each farm. You can learn how many acres the farmer owns, how many are being farmed, how many are used for pasture or wood lot (remember that everyone heated and cooked with wood back then), how many are fallow. Then they list the value of farm buildings and tools, the number of oxen, “milch” cows, steers, bulls, horses, mules, pigs, sheep, and poultry they have. Then we learn farm production. How much milk and butter were sold? How many bushels of wheat, oats, corn, and such were sold the previous year? From this data, you can practically reproduce the daily life on that farm. By comparing this farm to nearby farms, you can even get an idea of the wealth of this farmer in relation to his neighbors. I have this kind of detail on my ancestor’s farms going back to 1850. I was able to use the farm census to “find” my family when they disappeared from the 1850 census. When I could not find them, I looked at the farm census. There they were, but someone had erred badly in deciphering the family name. They were right where I expected them, between the same two farms as the previous census, but simply misnamed. Then, when I went back to the regular census, I found them with a name starting with B, not D! But no two families would have the same first names and ages as Bartholomew and Ellen and their seven children! This is the first family I have found this trouble with, and I bet that both parents being illiterate is what makes it so hard to keep track of them. Imagine the different ways different census workers might hear an Irish name and write it with no adult there to correct their hearing or spelling! In 1860, I faced a bigger problem. I found the four boys alright, living on a neighboring farm. Bartholomew and Ellen are nowhere to be found! I searched every household in the the township for the girls, and never found them, either. I do have a birth record for a new baby for a Bartholomew and Ellen in the nearby big city a few years later. There is also a death certificate for someone with the same name and age as the oldest daughter with the same parents’ names all the way back in Massachusetts years later, as well. But the boys stayed on the land the parents had homesteaded once they were old enough. I just don’t know if I should trust these other odd records for the parents.
Thank you for another great video. I've never even noticed the rules at the top of the census pages, though I've seen them at the bottom. Thanks for pointing them out, especially in regards to figuring out birthdays. I, too, wonder what happened to that young lady's husband. How sad to be a widow so very young. There was a major yellow fever outbreak in Arkansas in 1878, in some areas at epidemic level. It came again in 1879, in spite of the state trying to police the travelers. Maybe that's what happened to her husband. If he died in 1879, maybe her husband would be in a mortality schedule for the 1880 census. Keep up the great work and have a blessed week!
Census clues have been amazing for me, in addition to marriage and death records... they all fit together in solving mysteries. I finally found the link to two people who survived Auschwitz, of which the man was my great-grandmothers, younger brother! And this happened just two days ago! Quite the story, as my G-Grandmothers Daughter married the man who sponsored the grandson of her brother to come to the USA in 1939 at age 14, thus saving his live most likely from the gas chambers. I had an idea that he was more than just a "friend of the family", But census, and a marriage record brought it all home. Sadly he passed two years ago at age 96. But I will be speaking to his wife tomorrow.
With the family on the bottom, Always look on the next page of the census because a family member might be on the next page. And same for the top. I had this happen to me. I enjoyed this video. I went to play, but the link opened to another family. Thanks for all the tips in the video!
This is a good example of the entries having a dewelling number (1) and family number (2) - but no street or house number. Are there any clues that might show the physical location where the house #1 would be in this ED? And the direction(s) of travel while enumerating? (For the 1880 census, I don't know if there was a prescribed pattern for the enumerators to travel as in some of the later census). Finding a map of this ED is possible but it can be hard to determine the path taken. Thanks for a great video!
Brian Newell, I've had better luck finding the deeds and then neighbors in the time period of the census. I should do a video on matching maps to the census too.
@@GenealogyTV Please do - I have such a difficult time even locating deeds. I've come to the conclusion that my 2nd ggma has to be buried on private land. I know who the land owner was, I have tons of news articles on him, but I can't find the land to try to come forward to contact the current day owners to see if there is a burial spot and if so can I drive the 2 hrs to come down.
I love all the bits and pieces you can find on the census records. The 1900 census was integral in my research because it asks the question how many kids born vs how many kids still alive. That told me that my 3x ggrandmother had 3 additional kids I didn’t know about. And thanks to the 1890 census not being available I would have never known. Would you be able to walk through how the dwellings and family counts down the census side works? How do they relate to an actual address? Is there a way to confirm addresses with the census?
This was the case for me, too! I knew that my great-grandmother had a twin that didn't survive childhood, but the 1900 census showed that there had been two other children born to my 2nd great-grandmother. Had it not been for that census question, they would have been forever lost to our family. As it is, thought I still haven't been able to find any information about them, I at least I know that they existed. That missing 1890 census could have answered so many questions for many of us! Good luck finding information on those three other children, if you haven't already found it. Have a blessed day!
One more clue would be the lack of a check mark at #13 "Married during census year" for Elizabeth Roland which could give an end limit to the date of her marriage.
You didn't mention that the grand-daughter and grandson had the SAME last name (Davis) as the head of house, which means that they were from an older SON (or two) that is not shown in this census. They may have been deceased (Civil War?) or divorced (not likely given the time period). However, from the perspective of found "CLUES" there is a greater probability that the grandchildren are from one son, yet the possibility of two cannot be dismissed. Further support documentation would be needed for this, but it gives a direction for future research.
Is there someone that can help with finding more people from mexico. I'm trying to find death registrations and trying to match the right people in my tree.
Quick story . . . . I did a family tree for my daughter in law. Got a message back that the info was inaccurate for a family enumerated as having 3 black children. Researched this claim and found that the page of their family ran to next page of a different family because the census pages were out of order on the microfilm. Compared the family numbers at the tops and bottoms of the pages to get the correct sequence. The page numbers were crossed out and written over possibly because the filmer dropped them and rearranged them in the wrong order.
FYI it is possible to extract all the census answers into an Excel spreadsheet using Power Automate Desktop. I did this for the 4-7 census districts for 1850-1950 I am interested in (about 34,000 records.) Excel lets me filter, search and format data. My process lets you see all the unique answers give for a census question. The 1880 census has a SICK question. Some of the weird SICK answers include Amputated Throat, Brokon Arse, Weak Mind Caused By Fits. Contact me if my process interests you.
@@GenealogyTV You don't have to be a geek to use stuff developed by a geek. I have scraped numerous sites, including Ancestry DNA detail matches and Thrulines. Microsoft has free tools that make it easier to develop stuff. Having these free tools in your genealogy toolkit given you more options.
Thanks for the tip on narrowing down the time of birth. However, and I am puzzled that you did not mention this, this assumes the informant actually gave the correct ages for the people (which we know with censuses can frequently be inaccurate).
I find the census to be interesting because it wasn't until 2020 when I did one, and I am 40. I don't remember ever doing one and I don't remember my parents ever talking about it.
Hey... I wrote a program to search the online census records without having to manually scroll through them and read them seeking a person or family name. I want to write you to ask your opinion... but you have no email address or contact-us form on your webpage.... How do I reach you? This works with any census record, as long as it has been 'indexed". I did this because I kept finding records that were "indexed" but did not appear in the familysearch surname searches of census records. Apparently not all indexed records are searchable on familysearch.
I guess I'm daft, because I do not understand this sentence at the top of the page "Members of Families who have died SINCE June 1, 1880, will be included." Does it mean family members who died after June 1 or before Jun 1? How is "since" used in this sentence?
June 1st was the cut off. So anything that happened after June 1st did not count. So, as Suzanne said, if they were living on June 1st they were included. Also, if a child was born after June 1st (between June 1st and the actual enumeration date a few days later) they were not included. So a brand new infant was not counted.
Are there any "real" hidden clues in the state census records? How do I find a great grandfather in 1895 when I don't even know exactly what his name was? I, like everyone else, am frustrated about the 1890 census; my frustration particularly with the Tennessee portion of said records. How can I find out if great granddad was listed in the 1895 state census? They didn't list other people's names, did they?
I would back up a generation to your grandparents and search every record you can possibly find to see what that child’s name was. Look at church records, city directories, Bible records, state archives, local archives, land records, wills and probate records, cemeteries, etc.
I come up with 55 clues ( including each persons state/parental states. like, the grandchildren are living with them - We can see who the likely female parent is "Roland", but where is her husband?
My Dad's Dad remarried after my grandmother died. Several sites have WRONGLY made the assumption that Dad's step-mom was his biological mom. He was son of Head of household but not son of Head's wife. Be careful of some of the "translations" of what's on the census.
How can I find my biological father side someone Help me and say that my biological father is my grandfather 😢how can I check to make sure this is true my biological mother was 16 when she had me I know on my heritage I have someone on there that is 340cm or 350 first cousin her Uncle look just like me his name is Andre skinner they say that all his kids are counted for he was 13 in 1971 they said that his father had 7 boys they didn't give me no names and they said his father is a Collins that's all so how can I find out more information this is crazy not cool 😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢
I suggest two things. Either get some private coaching here Legacy Tree Genealogist - Coaching - Hiring an Expert www.legacytree.com/genealogytv or take one of Diahan's Southards DNA classes so you can understand how the DNA stuff works Your DNA Guide (Diahan Southard) www.yourdnaguide.com/ref/6/. Both of these I have an affiliate relationship with.
Their record keeping rules were stupid! The census was taken on the first of June. If a child was born between the first and the 7th of June that same year, they Should have been counted- Not omitted. All of those ones omitted, because of this stupid rule we not even listed in a census for another 10 years!! Since 1890 census was destroyed, some of these prople were not enumerated for another twenty years! That's insane. Some died during thst firdt 10 year stretch, some died during the second 10 year period, and thus, either way, were never hear of again. Oh that makes my blood boil!!
Understood. I didn’t make the rules. Also in 1880 when the rules were made they didn’t know the 1890 census would be destroyed in a fire decades later. A good strategy would be to turn to other records besides the census.
Lady you make me angry! You said he was 52 and probably born in 1826; then you say she, his wife, is 53, then your pop up says maybe born in 1827!!?? What the hail? If she's 53, she had to have been born in 1825, not 27!! Fifty three is older than 52!! Get your math straight please.
I don't think I had ever looked at the instructions at the top and bottom of these older censuses! I did know about using the dates of the census taking to help determine birth detail. Great video.....lots of info! Thanks Connie.
Glad it was helpful!
I appreciate the 1880 question about the person being maimed, crippled or bedridden. My great great grand father, Richard Henry Walker, led a rough and wild life according to family lore. Sure enough this box is checked for him, indicating it caught up with him. He passed in 1885.
Well I guess it's not family lore anymore, you have evidence Gerald.
Another thing I like about the 1880 census is the accompanying farm census. I just happened upon the farm census in an Ancestry search and now I always look for it. The farm census goes around the Township and tally’s the productivity, size, and composition of each farm. You can learn how many acres the farmer owns, how many are being farmed, how many are used for pasture or wood lot (remember that everyone heated and cooked with wood back then), how many are fallow. Then they list the value of farm buildings and tools, the number of oxen, “milch” cows, steers, bulls, horses, mules, pigs, sheep, and poultry they have. Then we learn farm production. How much milk and butter were sold? How many bushels of wheat, oats, corn, and such were sold the previous year? From this data, you can practically reproduce the daily life on that farm. By comparing this farm to nearby farms, you can even get an idea of the wealth of this farmer in relation to his neighbors. I have this kind of detail on my ancestor’s farms going back to 1850.
I was able to use the farm census to “find” my family when they disappeared from the 1850 census. When I could not find them, I looked at the farm census. There they were, but someone had erred badly in deciphering the family name. They were right where I expected them, between the same two farms as the previous census, but simply misnamed. Then, when I went back to the regular census, I found them with a name starting with B, not D! But no two families would have the same first names and ages as Bartholomew and Ellen and their seven children! This is the first family I have found this trouble with, and I bet that both parents being illiterate is what makes it so hard to keep track of them. Imagine the different ways different census workers might hear an Irish name and write it with no adult there to correct their hearing or spelling! In 1860, I faced a bigger problem. I found the four boys alright, living on a neighboring farm. Bartholomew and Ellen are nowhere to be found! I searched every household in the the township for the girls, and never found them, either. I do have a birth record for a new baby for a Bartholomew and Ellen in the nearby big city a few years later. There is also a death certificate for someone with the same name and age as the oldest daughter with the same parents’ names all the way back in Massachusetts years later, as well. But the boys stayed on the land the parents had homesteaded once they were old enough. I just don’t know if I should trust these other odd records for the parents.
Yes I always try to find the ag schedule... sometimes you can find them and sometimes not, but always look for them.
I look through to find replica letter to figure out the letter for a name.
Thanks Connie! Great information.
My pleasure.
Thank you so much Connie! I learned a lot and I will go back to my censuses and read all that information.
You are so welcome!
Thank you for another great video. I've never even noticed the rules at the top of the census pages, though I've seen them at the bottom. Thanks for pointing them out, especially in regards to figuring out birthdays.
I, too, wonder what happened to that young lady's husband. How sad to be a widow so very young. There was a major yellow fever outbreak in Arkansas in 1878, in some areas at epidemic level. It came again in 1879, in spite of the state trying to police the travelers. Maybe that's what happened to her husband. If he died in 1879, maybe her husband would be in a mortality schedule for the 1880 census.
Keep up the great work and have a blessed week!
Great idea Suzanne... the mortality schedule. I need to work the problem. Thanks for your continued support of the channel. Rock on!
@@GenealogyTV Thank you. I hope it helps. You're welcome, Connie. I enjoy your channel very much. 😊
Census clues have been amazing for me, in addition to marriage and death records... they all fit together in solving mysteries. I finally found the link to two people who survived Auschwitz, of which the man was my great-grandmothers, younger brother! And this happened just two days ago! Quite the story, as my G-Grandmothers Daughter married the man who sponsored the grandson of her brother to come to the USA in 1939 at age 14, thus saving his live most likely from the gas chambers. I had an idea that he was more than just a "friend of the family", But census, and a marriage record brought it all home. Sadly he passed two years ago at age 96. But I will be speaking to his wife tomorrow.
Great story!
Awsome Connie 🤗
Thanks Sherry
With the family on the bottom, Always look on the next page of the census because a family member might be on the next page. And same for the top. I had this happen to me. I enjoyed this video. I went to play, but the link opened to another family. Thanks for all the tips in the video!
Thanks Jamie. You can always go back and watch it again.
Well, I'll be a monkeys uncle. I have cousins on that same page!
Wow. Interesting.
This is a good example of the entries having a dewelling number (1) and family number (2) - but no street or house number. Are there any clues that might show the physical location where the house #1 would be in this ED? And the direction(s) of travel while enumerating? (For the 1880 census, I don't know if there was a prescribed pattern for the enumerators to travel as in some of the later census). Finding a map of this ED is possible but it can be hard to determine the path taken. Thanks for a great video!
Brian Newell, I've had better luck finding the deeds and then neighbors in the time period of the census. I should do a video on matching maps to the census too.
@@GenealogyTV Please do - I have such a difficult time even locating deeds. I've come to the conclusion that my 2nd ggma has to be buried on private land. I know who the land owner was, I have tons of news articles on him, but I can't find the land to try to come forward to contact the current day owners to see if there is a burial spot and if so can I drive the 2 hrs to come down.
It never dawned on me to read the instructions
It's amazing what you can figure out when you read the details.
That's why in the military "RTFM" is drilled into everyone.
I love all the bits and pieces you can find on the census records.
The 1900 census was integral in my research because it asks the question how many kids born vs how many kids still alive. That told me that my 3x ggrandmother had 3 additional kids I didn’t know about. And thanks to the 1890 census not being available I would have never known.
Would you be able to walk through how the dwellings and family counts down the census side works? How do they relate to an actual address? Is there a way to confirm addresses with the census?
This was the case for me, too! I knew that my great-grandmother had a twin that didn't survive childhood, but the 1900 census showed that there had been two other children born to my 2nd great-grandmother. Had it not been for that census question, they would have been forever lost to our family. As it is, thought I still haven't been able to find any information about them, I at least I know that they existed. That missing 1890 census could have answered so many questions for many of us! Good luck finding information on those three other children, if you haven't already found it. Have a blessed day!
That's a good question Amanda. The short answer is if there was more than one family living in a dwelling, like a duplex, institutions, etc.
1880 also has a morality schedule census like 1850-1860
Yes!
One more clue would be the lack of a check mark at #13 "Married during census year" for Elizabeth Roland which could give an end limit to the date of her marriage.
So true! Thanks Deb Beb.
You didn't mention that the grand-daughter and grandson had the SAME last name (Davis) as the head of house, which means that they were from an older SON (or two) that is not shown in this census. They may have been deceased (Civil War?) or divorced (not likely given the time period). However, from the perspective of found "CLUES" there is a greater probability that the grandchildren are from one son, yet the possibility of two cannot be dismissed. Further support documentation would be needed for this, but it gives a direction for future research.
All very excellent points! I did not mention the son concept for the grandchildren. Great thinking on your part.
Also is there such a thing as a n 1812 Indian schedule?
Connie how can I get in touch with you? I have a question for you that would be an awesome topic.
My ancestor came to America in 1600s from Ireland or so the story goes. How do I start to research this
Is there someone that can help with finding more people from mexico. I'm trying to find death registrations and trying to match the right people in my tree.
Go here for information and to click on the button that says "Ask the FamilySearch Community" www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Mexico_Genealogy
Quick story . . . . I did a family tree for my daughter in law. Got a message back that the info was inaccurate for a family enumerated as having 3 black children. Researched this claim and found that the page of their family ran to next page of a different family because the census pages were out of order on the microfilm. Compared the family numbers at the tops and bottoms of the pages to get the correct sequence. The page numbers were crossed out and written over possibly because the filmer dropped them and rearranged them in the wrong order.
Wow. Good catch
FYI it is possible to extract all the census answers into an Excel spreadsheet using Power Automate Desktop. I did this for the 4-7 census districts for 1850-1950 I am interested in (about 34,000 records.) Excel lets me filter, search and format data. My process lets you see all the unique answers give for a census question. The 1880 census has a SICK question. Some of the weird SICK answers include Amputated Throat, Brokon Arse, Weak Mind Caused By Fits. Contact me if my process interests you.
Interesting Gary. I've seen others use data mining before. I'll give it some thought.
@@GenealogyTV You don't have to be a geek to use stuff developed by a geek. I have scraped numerous sites, including Ancestry DNA detail matches and Thrulines. Microsoft has free tools that make it easier to develop stuff. Having these free tools in your genealogy toolkit given you more options.
Thanks for the tip on narrowing down the time of birth. However, and I am puzzled that you did not mention this, this assumes the informant actually gave the correct ages for the people (which we know with censuses can frequently be inaccurate).
Correct. Question everything.
I find the census to be interesting because it wasn't until 2020 when I did one, and I am 40. I don't remember ever doing one and I don't remember my parents ever talking about it.
That was fun!
Awesome. I aim to please.
Hey... I wrote a program to search the online census records without having to manually scroll through them and read them seeking a person or family name. I want to write you to ask your opinion... but you have no email address or contact-us form on your webpage.... How do I reach you?
This works with any census record, as long as it has been 'indexed". I did this because I kept finding records that were "indexed" but did not appear in the familysearch surname searches of census records. Apparently not all indexed records are searchable on familysearch.
I guess I'm daft, because I do not understand this sentence at the top of the page "Members of Families who have died SINCE June 1, 1880, will be included." Does it mean family members who died after June 1 or before Jun 1? How is "since" used in this sentence?
"Since", in this instance, means after June 1. If they were still living on June 1, they were included in the census. At least, that is how I took it.
June 1st was the cut off. So anything that happened after June 1st did not count. So, as Suzanne said, if they were living on June 1st they were included. Also, if a child was born after June 1st (between June 1st and the actual enumeration date a few days later) they were not included. So a brand new infant was not counted.
Are there any "real" hidden clues in the state census records? How do I find a great grandfather in 1895 when I don't even know exactly what his name was? I, like everyone else, am frustrated about the 1890 census; my frustration particularly with the Tennessee portion of said records. How can I find out if great granddad was listed in the 1895 state census? They didn't list other people's names, did they?
I would back up a generation to your grandparents and search every record you can possibly find to see what that child’s name was. Look at church records, city directories, Bible records, state archives, local archives, land records, wills and probate records, cemeteries, etc.
my Birthday is June 7th
That's my anniversary!
Could those children possibly be adopted or illegitimate children as well?
Anything is possible. We always want to consider all possibilities. In this case, no. I have genetic connections to them.
I come up with 55 clues ( including each persons state/parental states. like, the grandchildren are living with them - We can see who the likely female parent is "Roland", but where is her husband?
Great job... and great question.
My Dad's Dad remarried after my grandmother died. Several sites have WRONGLY made the assumption that Dad's step-mom was his biological mom. He was son of Head of household but not son of Head's wife. Be careful of some of the "translations" of what's on the census.
Love this class. Wow, who knew.
Thanks Joan.
Oops! You forgot to check the next page to see if the household was continued, since they go to the bottom of this page.
I did, just edited it out of the video. Good catch!
How can I find my biological father side someone Help me and say that my biological father is my grandfather 😢how can I check to make sure this is true my biological mother was 16 when she had me I know on my heritage I have someone on there that is 340cm or 350 first cousin her Uncle look just like me his name is Andre skinner they say that all his kids are counted for he was 13 in 1971 they said that his father had 7 boys they didn't give me no names and they said his father is a Collins that's all so how can I find out more information this is crazy not cool 😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢
I suggest two things. Either get some private coaching here Legacy Tree Genealogist - Coaching - Hiring an Expert www.legacytree.com/genealogytv or take one of Diahan's Southards DNA classes so you can understand how the DNA stuff works Your DNA Guide (Diahan Southard) www.yourdnaguide.com/ref/6/. Both of these I have an affiliate relationship with.
I wish all the census globally could be for free or at least up to 1900.
You can find it on FamilySearch.org for free.
The grandchildren having the last name Davis, so you can assume that they had a son, so where is he?
Excellent thinking! Yes! Where is he? More research to do.
Their record keeping rules were stupid! The census was taken on the first of June. If a child was born between the first and the 7th of June that same year, they Should have been counted- Not omitted. All of those ones omitted, because of this stupid rule we not even listed in a census for another 10 years!! Since 1890 census was destroyed, some of these prople were not enumerated for another twenty years! That's insane. Some died during thst firdt 10 year stretch, some died during the second 10 year period, and thus, either way, were never hear of again. Oh that makes my blood boil!!
Understood. I didn’t make the rules. Also in 1880 when the rules were made they didn’t know the 1890 census would be destroyed in a fire decades later. A good strategy would be to turn to other records besides the census.
@@GenealogyTV Yes, of course.
Lady you make me angry! You said he was 52 and probably born in 1826; then you say she, his wife, is 53, then your pop up says maybe born in 1827!!?? What the hail? If she's 53, she had to have been born in 1825, not 27!! Fifty three is older than 52!! Get your math straight please.
You could be more forgiving to an instructor who is calculating while speaking on camera. Even monkeys fall out of trees.
@@juststunned4210 That's why it's important to write out the script first, and try and memorize most of it.
Even monkey's fall out of trees... funny. Thanks for the support.