February 2, 2024
Anyone who has done genealogical research in the United States is familiar with the decennial censuses. They’re one of the most useful and readily available sources for research in the U.S. Beginning in 1790, censuses have been taken every ten years through the most recent one in 2020. Due to privacy concerns, each census is restricted for seventy-two years. The most recent census available is the 1950 one.
Everyone from beginning to advanced genealogists uses the censuses. After all, they’re a snapshot of our ancestral families at a specific time and place. They give us locations, family members’ names and ages and occupations.
However, that’s not all they can give us. Although they’re often overlooked, the columns on the right of the census page can provide additional information about immigration and citizenship. The censuses for 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930 are particularly helpful if you’re trying to figure out when an ancestor may have come to the United States. Anyone who was not born in the U.S. was required to state the year he or she arrived on these censuses. This can be helpful if you’re trying to find passenger lists for an ancestor.
The 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930 censuses are also helpful in determining an ancestor’s citizenship status. All four of them ask about a foreign-born person’s citizenship status. The enumerator was to indicate Al for alien, PA for first papers and Na for naturalized. The 1920 census is especially helpful since it also asked naturalized citizens the year that they were naturalized.
A few other censuses can be helpful in determining citizenship. The 1870 census includes a check mark for “Male citizens of 21 years of age and up.” If you know your ancestor was foreign-born, this check mark indicates he was naturalized by this date. Finally, the 1940 and 1950 censuses both have columns which ask whether someone was naturalized.
If you have ancestors who were enumerated beginning with the 1870 census, be sure to check out the citizenship and immigration information on the various censuses. Although people sometimes lied or misremembered the year they arrived in the U.S., these citizenship columns can be a great starting point for further research. These columns are also a great way to find out whether any of your early 20th century female ancestors lost their citizenship through marriage (see my January 26 blog for more info about this).
Carol Stetser
Researcher
Larimer County Genealogical Society