August 30, 2024
The U.S. censuses are often the first records that a new genealogist finds. Twenty or thirty years later, a seasoned genealogist is still referring to these important documents. Taken every ten years since 1790, the censuses are a snapshot placing our ancestors in a time and place and within a specific household.
Each of the censuses asked similar questions, but each also had several unique questions that can be helpful to genealogists. The censuses from the twentieth century are especially interesting because they included questions concerning naturalization, age, and family size that can lead a researcher to more detailed records.
Citizenship
Many Americans in the early twentieth century were recent immigrants, and the censuses can help a researcher determine if his ancestor was a citizen or not. The censuses from 1900 through 1950 indicate the citizenship of a foreign-born person. The person’s status is indicated by NA for naturalized, PA for first papers filed, and AL for alien.
Earlier twentieth century censuses also indicated the year of arrival of a foreign-born person. 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930 include this information. The 1920 census also indicates the year that a person was naturalized, if applicable.
Age
Starting in 1850, every person in a household is listed by name. The census taker was also instructed to list the person’s age as of the official date of the census. Most census takers were unable to complete their work on the official date and often visited far flung farms and ranches weeks or months after the official census day.
Because of the delay in completing the census, many of the ages of the people listed on them are incorrect. Some people also fudged when telling the census taker their age, making themselves either older or younger. Despite this, the census is still one of the best and only ways to find at least a rough estimate for someone’s age – especially in the period before widespread civil registration.
Number of Children
In earlier times, child mortality was frequent. Birth and death certificates were not kept in some places until well into the twentieth century. This can make it difficult to determine how many children a family had. The 1900 and 1910 censuses can help with this problem.
Both censuses asked a woman how many children she had given birth to. It also asked how many children were still living as of the census date. Although this doesn’t help in figuring out how many children a man may have fathered, it does help determine whether a researcher has accounted for all the children of a woman.
These census tidbits appear on columns to the left of the names of individuals on the censuses and are sometimes overlooked by researchers. Because they contain so much potentially helpful information, it’s well worth going back to censuses that you may have already read to check that you haven’t skipped any information. You may find the key that unlocks a gate through a brick wall.
Happy researching.
Carol Stetser
Researcher
Larimer County Genealogical Society