Case Studies in Census Conflicts – Resolving Contradictions Across Decades

Most researchers stop at the population schedule, but census records also include valuable schedules that document farms, businesses, deaths, and community life. This session explores agricultural, mortality, and industry schedules, showing how they can be used to add depth to family history.

The census is one of our basic research tools, but basic doesn’t equal simple. Often a census record can raise as many questions as it answers, and some of those questions may seem unanswerable. Learn how an understanding of who the enumerators were, what their instructions prescribed, and some of the many ways they deviated from the instructions can answer many of the questions raised by census research.

The U.S. federal census wasn’t designed with genealogists in mind; it was created to meet the changing needs of a growing nation. This session takes you beyond the names and numbers, exploring the historical context behind each census from 1790 to 1950. We’ll examine how shifting questions, enumeration methods, and national priorities have shaped the records we rely on today. By understanding the “why” behind the census, you’ll gain tools to interpret your ancestors’ entries with greater accuracy and uncover richer stories hidden in the data.

Background on census creation; constitutionally-mandated headcount; pre-1820 tables and their use; 1830 & 1840, with the slave schedules; 1850-70, including the mortality schedules; 1880, and relationships to heads of household; 1890 and its destruction; 1900-1910, with special questions; 1920-1950 with their special characteristics (1920: date; 1940, informant’s identity, etc.).