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"Along Those Lines"
2/21/2003 - Archive
Federal vs. State Censuses -- Including 1885
In last week's "Along Those Lines . . ." column, I discussed the 1885
federal census, which was taken in five locations. In that column, I reported
that on 3 March 1879, Congress passed an act which provided that any state or
territory could conduct an inter-decennial census which would be partially funded
by the federal government. Only the states of Colorado, Florida, and Nebraska,
and the Dakota and the New Mexico Territories availed themselves of the opportunity.
I received a number of e-mails from readers asking me why I didn't include a
discussion of the 1885 census in states in which they had conducted or were
currently working on their research. The e-mail messages cited the states of
Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin.
I'm exceptionally pleased that so many people are looking beyond the decennial
censuses and accessing the state census records. There is a difference, however,
in the census records created in the federal enumerations and those created
in the states.
The reason that I didn't cite the 1885 censuses in places other than those of
Colorado, Florida, and Nebraska, and the Dakota and the New Mexico Territories
is because only these five areas availed themselves of Congress' offer to help
fund a census in 1885. As a result, these five areas used the federally-designed
and -provided schedules I listed in last week's column. At the conclusion of
the enumeration process, copies of the schedules were sent to the Secretary
of the Interior in Washington, DC, and the information obtained from these five
areas was tabulated and used by the federal government for various purposes.
The census documents that have survived ultimately came to be housed at the
National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), and have been microfilmed.
(Please see last week's column for details.)
Why Didn't All States Accept the Federal Government's Offer?
There is a great deal of speculation about why Congress decided to offer partial
funding for a census of 1885. Reviewing the Congressional records of the time,
some historians have reported that there was dissatisfaction on the part of
some areas with how the 1880 decennial census was performed. It is important
to remember that the 1880 census was the first conducted by the newly-funded,
permanent Census Office. Until this time, Congress had funded a decennial census
to be taken by assistant federal marshals. Copies were made of the population
and other schedule documents, they were sent to Washington, and statistics were
developed. Following this process, the 'census office' was discontinued, only
to be reorganized prior to the next decennial census. For the 1880 census, the
assistant federal marshals were no longer used as enumerators. Instead, the
Census Office had the authority and funding to hire enumerators, and the core
census department became a permanent organization within the government.
Since the organization, the personnel, and all the processes were new in 1880,
there were some areas that expressed dissatisfaction with the outcome of the
enumeration. Some states believed that the enumeration was incomplete, and that
some areas had been missed. Despite the determination of Enumeration Districts
to help insure thorough coverage, there were still reports of missed areas.
While the Census Office actually undertook a re-tabulation of some counties,
some objections persisted. Ultimately, legislation was introduced in Congress
calling for the federal government to conduct another full-scale enumeration.
Congress believed that the expense would be excessive, and a compromise was
reached in which those states and territories wishing to have another census
performed would share the expense with the federal government, and would use
the federally-supplied forms. These included the population schedule, agricultural,
manufacturing, and mortality schedules.
Some states may already have planned to conduct their own interdecennial census,
determined that they preferred not to use the federal forms, or decided not
to conduct another census. After all, it was only a few more years until the
1890 federal census would be conducted.
State Censuses Can be Different
There were state censuses taken prior to 1885, of course. One thing you will
discover when you begin researching state censuses is that the states asked
additional or different questions than those posed by the federal census. After
all, the states were gathering information for their own governments' use. As
an example, a question in the 1865 Rhode Island census asked for the county
of birth for those persons born within that state. Post-Civil War state censuses
often asked questions about veterans, their health status, and even the regiment
in which they served. You may find that the enumerator has made additional notes.
This is seldom found on the federal census images we see that come from NARA.
If the enumerator made such notations on the original copy of the population
schedule, for example, the notes certainly were not transcribed onto the copy
sent to Washington.
State Censuses Can be Invaluable
With the loss of the 1890 federal census, many of us are faced with a twenty-year
gap in finding a so-called 'official record' locating our ancestral family members.
This can be devastating to our research because so much could happen in that
period. Ancestry.com has done an exemplary job in helping bridge the gap left
by the fire and water damage, which destroyed the 1890 census. Census substitutes
are those alternative records, which can help us locate people between the 1880
and 1900 federal censuses. Ancestry.com's databases include a massive collection
of city directories, indices of births, marriages and deaths, obituary indices,
the historical newspaper images collection, biographical indices, county histories,
religious records, voter rolls, military records indices, wills and probate
indices, and other records. In addition, a number of indexed state census records
(such as the 1885 Iowa State Census) have become a part of the subscription
databases.
Working through the wide variety of records that are available in these databases
can extend your research tremendously. If you haven't taken time to read through
the index of all the Ancestry.com databases recently, you don't know what you've
missed!
Summary
Both federal AND state census records are important to our research. If you
have not investigated whether there were state censuses conducted in the places
and at the times when your ancestors lived there, you may well be missing resources
that can help establish their presence or prove they had migrated elsewhere.
There is a difference between what can be found on federal vs. state census
records. And while there is a great deal published about what data fields are
on the federal forms, there may be additional questions on a state's form. This
can be a whole new area of exploration and discovery for you.
No, I didn't include the state censuses of 1885 for the states of Iowa, Kansas,
Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. But yes indeed,
they are important - just as are those of other state censuses of other years.
Happy Census Hunting!
George
George G. Morgan would like to hear from you
but, due to the volume of e-mail received, he is unable to answer every message. Please note that he cannot assist you with your individual
research.
Visit George's website
for information about speaking engagements.
Copyright 2003, MyFamily.com Inc. All rights reserved.
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