Essential Skills for New Genealogists 3 of 12: U.S. Census Records from 1790-1950 and Beyond

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.

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.

Census records often contradict one another. Ages change, names vary, and places of birth are inconsistent. This session demonstrates how to analyze and reconcile those conflicts through timelines, correlation with other records, and case studies that show how to draw conclusions from imperfect evidence.

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.

An overview of home resources and outreach to family members whose memories and insights can help start the process off right—how things on a bookshelf or a storage box can be of especial use, and a source of clues…if not outright answers.

General Discussion of access to vital records; breakdown and analysis of the types of information on what’s included in each of these records; locating the records, and gaining access; privacy restrictions; some early lessons in evidence analysis.

Accessing newspapers both in local repositories and via online resources; beginning information on periodicals and specialized publications; ethnic newspapers for research in the 19th Century; newspaper research for context of time and place.

City directories, telephone books; trade directories and yearbooks (schools and community organizations); the resources’ use in placing a research target in their own time and place.

Typical church records in the Christian context and their use. Evaluation of baptismal/dedication records and their use as substitutes when vital records are absent; marriage records with additional clues included; burial records and their utility; cemeteries, public and private; discussion of Jewish congregational records.