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Shaking Your Family Tree

August 12, 1999
	Tallying Up for the Censuses by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, C.G.
Federal decennial population census schedules are among the first sources utilized by genealogists. They are available on microfilm, easy to access at many archives and libraries, plus they encompass a large time frame, 1790-1920. However, as widely used these records are, many unknown facts and peculiarities about them exist. There are also various non-population census schedules that family historians might use -- if they knew about them and how to locate them. The Census Book: A Genealogist's Guide to Federal Census Facts, Schedules and Indexes, by William Dollarhide, is a comprehensive review of the censuses. It provides fascinating details about these records and identifies every known index ever published. The book also includes 29 census extractions from 1790-1930, with a CD-ROM version of the book included. The 1930 census will not be released to the public until 2002. Its Soundex (index) includes only 10 Southern states, plus seven counties in Kentucky and seven in West Virginia. The book provides historical background on these records as well as tips on how to best use them. For example, genealogists should record two dates when copying information from the censuses -- the official census day and the actual enumeration date. No matter how many months it took for an enumerator to reach your ancestor's house, he was supposed to gather the information as if time had stopped on the census day. However, we will never know for sure if the census takers followed all of the instructions or not. Facts and peculiarities include: -- Compensation paid to assistant marshals who took the 1790 census was set by law to be $1 for every 300 persons in the cities and towns containing more than 5,000 people, and $1 for every 50 persons in areas determined to be sparsely populated or difficult to reach, subject a ruling by the federal judge in his district. Each assistant marshal was given a sample copy of the 1790 census form, and he was expected to make all his own copies, ruling the lines of the forms himself. He was also required to pay for his pens, ink, paper, and all other expenses incurred in taking the census. -- The first nine censuses (1790-1870) were conducted by assistant federal marshals of the U.S. federal court system. -- The first "counting machine'' for tabulating the census returns was used in 1850. -- The 1880-1920 Soundexes were created because when the Social Security old-age pension system was established in 1935 an immediate concern was how to prove an age for a person applying, since few people had birth certificates at that time. To counter this problem a special branch of the Census Office was created, called the Age Search group. It took a person's application and attempted to find that person in a census record where a name and age would be given. It was soon determined that indexes would be needed to speed up the work. The Census Office hired the Rand Corporation to design an indexing system based on phonetic sounds for a surname, which became known as "Soundex.'' The Census Book is available ($29.45 postpaid) from Heritage Quest, P.O. Box 329, Bountiful, UT 84011-0329; (800) 760-2455; http://www.HeritageQuest.com. This is a must-have book for anyone doing post-1790 research of American families. (c) 1999, Los Angeles Times Syndicate Myra Vanderpool Gormley and Julie Case are co-editors of Missing Links, a free weekly genealogy e-zine. To subscribe, send your request to: Missing Links Newsletter Return to Myra Vanderpool Gormley Main Page Return to Columns Main Page
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