Census Records
Census Records can be a wonderful source of information for the Genealogist. For decades now, researchers have used these records in one format or another to learn the specifics of their ancestors.
From Microfilm to Online Access, these records provide a view into the past, that while interesting should never be considered 100% accurate. In the balance of this article, I hope to show you both the benefits of the census and the incompleteness they often provide.
One of the key families in my research is the Keith Family. This was my father’s Mother’s side. I was always told that they hailed only from Clearfield County and that they had lived their for generations with both my father and my grandmother being born in the same house. As it turned out only part of this was true. The family was in Clearfield County at the time of my grandmother’s birth and my father was also born in the same house, but the family started out in Indiana County, moved to Cambria County, and eventually ended up in Clearfield County. I found all this out through using census and other records.
This piece of 1900 census is from Read Township, Cambria County, Pennsylvania. It shows my Great Grandfather William D. Keith, his wife Amanda and 9 children. It also shows them married for 20 years and that she had only had 9 children and all 9 were living.
It lists the various birthdates and ages of everyone along with their states of birth and parent’s births.
Is it the least bit accurate?
There are discrepancies between this record and other sources that I have in my possession.
First, there were three children not listed in this census who all died young. So Amanda should have listed 12 children with 9 of them surviving. Several of the birth years in this census are listed incorrectly and James’ middle name started with a Q, not an I. also, Howard W. was in reality, William Howard and Philip D. was Dean Phillip. Charley was legally named Charles.
Also, the family was in Cambria County, not Clearfield as had been told to me by relatives for years.
Now we move forward 10 years to the 1910 Census, Beccaria Township, Clearfield County Pennsylvania.
This one looks a little strange because I have merged pieces of the census that were on two separate pages.
Please note that the census list them as married 27 years (3 years missed in 10) and that she has 13 out of 13 children living when it should be 13 out of 16. This is also the first census where my grandmother Josephine makes an appearance.
So, what do you do when you find inaccurate documents that conflict with other documents. You file them, record the variations in your genealogy notes and move on! Nothing in the world of genealogy is set in stone, even those things set in stone.(Gravestones) Why? Because almost every document you will deal with in genealogy from Census, to Birth Certificates, to Bibles is something that someone else placed in that record. It’s a transcription!
Census takers were often low paid, barely literate people, who needed the extra money the census paid. They went from area to area writing down information and often doing it wrong. I have seen cases where the same person was recorded in two different places and cases where the same family was recorded in two different counties because their farm straddled the county line. My great great grandfather is recorded in two different counties because on one date he was helping a son in law at his business and on the second date he was back home on the farm. Same person, two variations of the name and two different ages.
Plus, there was no requirement for the census takers to get information first hand. They could ask the neighbors so they didn’t have to wait until someone was home to get the information. Plus, in some of the large families, kids were simply forgotten. I have one census where two kids were missing and they weren’t accounted for anywhere.
Now, many of you will ask, where can I view the census. Ancestry.com, is NOT your only resource. You can view Heritage Quest census records either at your local library or if they have remote access, at your home. And they are free! They are not as complete as Ancestry, but they will give you everything but 1830-1850. Personally, I also purchased a disk from Heritage Quest for a census location I knew I had a lot of families in. I view those records on my home computer and print them as needed. Or if you happen to live near one of the Genealogical libraries that have copies of the census, you can go there. Plus the various branches of the National Archives. Once you’ve spent the thousands of hours banging through Microfilm you will KNOW you are a Genealogist!
If your local library doesn’t offer Heritage Quest database, encourage them to subscribe to the service. I also suggest you find a book on Handwriting as some of the older records were written old style and can be very hard to read. Everton Publishers printed a book many years ago called, “The Handwriting of American Records For a Period of 300 years”. I just contacted them to see if it is still in print and their email bounced and the telephone numbers are all disconnected. Someone please update me on what is going on at Everton!
The last census to be released was the 1930 and there have been street rumors that the 1940 will not be released in wide distribution. I hope this is only a rumor. I suspect Ancestry.com has something to do with this miscarriage if it happens. They are an entity that as far as I am concerned, has ruined Genealogy as a hobby in many ways, by trapping far too many records and resources behind their “pay to view” shield. You as the Genealogist, need to become an activist in keeping these many sets of records available to the public and not behind the control of one huge corporate over priced entity. Let your State and Federal legislators know that Ancestry.com should be investigated and limited in what they can control. Also let them know you want the 1940 census to be distributed widely, not just in limited fashion.