Census Records Are Good Source Of Information
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By The Tree Shaker-
When I first started researching my family tree, there was not yet a lot of information you could find on the internet. This is not the case now. There are loads of information via the internet, but it’s fun to check out places in person. If you are close enough to the place where your ancestors lived, make some trips to courthouses, cemeteries, libraries and historical societies in that area, and do a little searching in the old books. See what information you can find there. When you find an ancestor’s grave, snap a photo of the gravestone to use as a source of information.
The next place to look is the census records, but do this after you have searched birth, marriage and death records. These records, from 1790 to 1940, can be found online. A census is taken every 10 years, but early census records may be limited. Later ones have more information because, it appears, every time a census was taken more questions were asked. Also, take into consideration that the people who went door to door to collect information from families wrote down the names and information as they heard it, which may not be the accurate spelling.
All you need to get started searching census records is the name of the relative you are searching for, and the state they resided in at the time a census was taken. Census records, however, are restricted and not available for research for 72 years from the time they are taken. Also, the 1890 census located at the national archives may be limited due to some of them being destroyed in a fire.
In your searches from 1850 to 1940, you might find names of people living in household, their ages at the time, state and/or country of birth, possibly parents’ birthplaces, address, marital status and occupation. In some of the older records, census takers listed home and property values, and in the earlier census records they listed crops and livestock and their value.
A lot of times you will find a person living in the household with a last name different from that of the head of the household. Take note, and try to research this person to find out what the connection might be. In some cases it could have been a slave living within the household; sometimes a parent of either the husband or wife; or sometimes a family, due to financial hard times, sent their children to stay with other relatives.
Happy Searching!
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When I first started researching my family tree, there was not yet a lot of information you could find on the internet. This is not the case now. There are loads of information via the internet, but it’s fun to check out places in person. If you are close enough to the place where your ancestors lived, make some trips to courthouses, cemeteries, libraries and historical societies in that area, and do a little searching in the old books. See what information you can find there. When you find an ancestor’s grave, snap a photo of the gravestone to use as a source of information.
The next place to look is the census records, but do this after you have searched birth, marriage and death records. These records, from 1790 to 1940, can be found online. A census is taken every 10 years, but early census records may be limited. Later ones have more information because, it appears, every time a census was taken more questions were asked. Also, take into consideration that the people who went door to door to collect information from families wrote down the names and information as they heard it, which may not be the accurate spelling.
All you need to get started searching census records is the name of the relative you are searching for, and the state they resided in at the time a census was taken. Census records, however, are restricted and not available for research for 72 years from the time they are taken. Also, the 1890 census located at the national archives may be limited due to some of them being destroyed in a fire.
In your searches from 1850 to 1940, you might find names of people living in household, their ages at the time, state and/or country of birth, possibly parents’ birthplaces, address, marital status and occupation. In some of the older records, census takers listed home and property values, and in the earlier census records they listed crops and livestock and their value.
A lot of times you will find a person living in the household with a last name different from that of the head of the household. Take note, and try to research this person to find out what the connection might be. In some cases it could have been a slave living within the household; sometimes a parent of either the husband or wife; or sometimes a family, due to financial hard times, sent their children to stay with other relatives.
Happy Searching!
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