Genealogy Hints
Genealogical Society of Marion County, Indianaofficial counting
A census is an official counting of the population living in a given locality on a designated day set at intervals. The census places an ancestor is a specific place at a specific time.
Not listed?
When the head of the household is no longer listed, don't assume he/she is dead. It is possible that the former head of household is now living with one of the children.
Wife not mother?
Don't assume that all children listed in the census belong to the wife listed. This may be a second wife and the children a combination of "his and hers." Men frequently re-married quickly in order to provide for their children after the loss of a wife.
official census day
A person may not have been living on the day the census was actually taken (not the official day). However, all information is supposed to be "as of" the official census day.
check neighbors
When you're working with census records, be sure to look at 10 families before and 10 families after the family you are researching. These folks are most likely the friends (and family) of your ancestor. They lived in community and they often moved as a group.
federal census every 10 years
The U.S. census is taken every 10 years on a designated census day by an "enumerator" in a specific area, E.D. (enumeration district). The first census was done in 1790; there are no censuses before 1790.
copy exactly
When copying census information, copy EVERYTHING EXACTLY AS IT IS WRITTEN! Do not change or update the information even if you think it is incorrect. This is the way it was written. Place any opinions in your notes but don't deliberately mis-transcribe data.
Soundex
Soundex is a system of coding names for the census based on sound rather than alphabetical spelling. A variation called American Soundex was used in the 1930s for a retrospective analysis of the US censuses from 1890 through 1920. To save time, a free Soundex converter is available at rootsweb.com
Special censuses
In addition to the census population count, there are a number of special censuses: Slave, Industry & Manufacturing, Agriculture, Mortality, Social Statistics, Union Veteran and Widow, Defective, Dependent and Delinquent.