Genealogy

OVERVIEW OF CENSUSES AND VITAL RECORDS

United States Census

• A federal census of the population has been taken every 10 years from 1790 to present.
• There is a 72 year waiting period before publication. 1930 is most recent.
• The censuses from 1790 to 1840 only provide the name of the head of each household and the number of males and females in age groups without their names.
• The censuses from 1850 to 1920 provide more information and include the name, age, and birthplace of every person in each household.
• Census schedules are organized by county, town and street address. In order to find a person without knowing their street address, you would need to browse through the entire schedule for that locality. Instead, indexes of personal names have been created for most censuses.
• Indexed alphabetically by last name. Provides the county, microfilm number and city.

Author: Darylyne Provost | Revised: 01/25/2008
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