Editor's Note: This article is the second in a two-part series. Read Part 1.

In Part 1 of "Sensible Use of the Census" (Ancestry, May/June 1996), we started you on the path to census research. Now we'll give you some specific hints on extracting census information.

Helpful Publications
The National Archives Trust Fund Board has published catalogs of the federal population censuses. These catalogs explain the Soundex and give the series and roll numbers for each census and Soundex microfilm. There are separate catalogs for 1920, 1910, 1900, and one catalog for 1790-1890. The catalogs are helpful, inexpensive timesavers because you can look up, in advance, the numbers of the rolls you'll need to search. Each catalog sells for just $2, plus shipping and handling. The National Archives Trust Fund Publication Aids for Genealogical Research, 1995-96, lists the order numbers, shipping chargers, and contains information on ordering by mail or phone.

The National Archives has also published a pamphlet, Using Census Records, which explains the Soundex, the types of cards one will encounter in Soundex rolls, and the needed information from the Soundex listing. The pamphlet is available from Publication Services, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C. 20408. Fast Facts About the 1920 Census (general information leaflet 43) is a pamphlet from the National Archives and Records Administration which answers the most often-asked questions about the 1920 census.

Experts will also tell you to document the neighbors of your ancestors—those on the same page and on the pages before and after. Why is this good practice when the surnames aren't the same? Well, if you later find that your John Smith's wife, Mary, was born Mary Jones, and the Jones family lived next door to John and Mary, you may miss a family connection if you don't copy the neighbors now. And when you do realize it later — back to the same film again! For example, take Landon Ballinger, who married Elizabeth New in 1833. I'm not positive about the identity of Elizabeth's father, but a good guess would be James New, enumerated as living on the farm next door in the 1830 Illinois census for Morgan County.

While you're tracking your direct ancestors, track all their siblings as well. And if your ancestor is living in a household with people of another surname, track them too—you may find some relatives.

Elizabeth Ballinger appeared in the 1880 Iowa Soundex, even though she was quite elderly. She was living in a house with a man by the name of Curran, along with Curran's young daughter. In her census entry there is no mention of any relationships, but when Curran is researched, he is listed as Elizabeth's son-in-law.

In addition, if your ancestor migrated from another state or country, note others who are listed as being from the same place. They may be family or friends. If your relative disappears from the area, and you can track the possible friends, you may find your ancestor among them.

Our local society librarian extracted the names of people from Peotone, Will County, Illinois, who were quoted in the local newspaper of the time as saying that they had gone to establish Peotone, Kansas. This Kansas town is no longer in existence, so we took the names of some of the people who had gone to Kansas and looked them up in the Kansas census. Several appeared to be living in the same county as one another, which, upon further research, is where the extinct town was located. Consider also the possibility that an ancestor who stayed in the same location may be enumerated in a different county. As states and counties formed, boundary changes may have resulted in your ancestor living in a different jurisdiction than he or she lived in ten years earlier—even if the ancestor never moved. William Dollarhide's Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Census (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1987) notes these boundary changes.

When you're looking for an ancestor's family and friends, don't overlook the possibility that a relative on adjoining property is jurisdictionally in another county or state. A family living in Crete Township, Will County, Illinois, may have had a relative a stone's throw away in Hanover Township, Lake County, Indiana.

We've discussed population schedules because these are the census records used most frequently. Newcomers to census research should know, however, that there are other types of census schedules—agricultural, industrial, mortality, slave, and veterans' schedules, to name a few. These may prove useful at some time in your research. Further information on these schedules, and on the census in general, is found in Dr. Roseann Hogan's Ancestry Research Cornerstones column, "The Census in Historical Context" (12:4, 12:6, and 13:2).

In addition to the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C. (where the most commonly used sources are kept), and the National Archives in College Park, Maryland (a brand-new facility known as Archives II), there are thirteen Regional Archives (formerly called Field Branches) around the U.S. Each Regional Archives receives records from federal agencies in the states listed, and each Regional Archives has all available federal census films.

Pittsfield Region: Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Microfilm only, relating to genealogy.

Northeast Region: New York, New York. Serves New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

Mid-Atlantic Region: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Serves Delaware, Maryland. Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Southeast Region: East Point, Georgia. Serves Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

Great Lakes Region: Chicago, Illinois. Serves Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

Central Plains Region: Kansas City, Missouri. Serves Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska.

Southwest Region: Forth Worth, Texas. Serves Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.

Rocky Mountain Region: Denver, Colorado. Serves Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.

Pacific Southwest Region: Laguna Niguel, California. Serves Arizona, Southern California, and Clark County, Nevada.

Pacific Sierra Region: San Bruno, California. Serves California except Southern California, Hawaii, Nevada except Clark County, the Pacific Trust Territories, and American Samoa.

Pacific Northwest Region: Seattle, Washington. Serves Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.

Alaska Region: Anchorage, Alaska. Serves Alaska.