Have you looked at your family in the census recently?
If you’re a regular genealogist you might think you’ve got all there is from the census records. It’s worth taking a second (or third) look at these valuable documents.
Much of the information recorded on the census is available on the indexed record, the page that displays when you first click on one of your search results on ancestry.com or familysearch.org. On both of these sites you can click to see an image of the census sheet which often contains more information than was on the previous page. You will also find typos, spelling errors, crossed out information, and much more.
Our examples below will follow siblings Martha and George Vanderwater from 1900 to 1940.
In 1900 Martha and George lived with their mother Mary, two other brothers, and two other sisters. Their mother had been married for twenty years, has had a total of 6 children all of them currently living, and she and her parents are from Ireland. Mary immigrated in 1876 and has been in the United States for 24 years. There is no record of their father in the same household except that he was born in New York. Martha and George both attended school that year.
- Nationality
Variations of citizenship and nationality have been asked in almost every census from the beginning until 1950. Finding this information in one census record is useful but the real discoveries come out when you’re able to compare multiple years and multiple generations. People forget, countries and states change, and different questions are asked so check every census record you can find.
In 1910 Mary has married George Carey and taken his last name. This is her second marriage and George's first and they have been married 13 years. Mary has had six children and only four are now living. She immigrated to the United States in 1874. Martha is now divorced with one child living. Her relationship to the head of household is step daughter. She works as a valve maker in a piano factory. George Vanderwater's relationship to the head of household is step son and he is working as a hackman in the livery industry.
- Marriages
In the 1910 census you sometimes see a small number written next to the M in the marital status column. This means this marriage is not the person’s first. Between this information, the age at first marriage in the 1930 census and the number of years married in the 1910 census you might find whole new families. Try searching with the information of the oldest child you can find but leave the last name off.
Martha has married Henry Deboer. His entire family is from Michigan and he is a furniture merchant. Two of Martha's brothers live with the couple; Harry is widowed, Earl is single, and they both work in a piano factory. According to this document both of Martha's parents are from Ireland.
- Occupation
Farming was the most common occupation a hundred years ago so when you come across a teacher, doctor, or jeweler, make note of it. If your ancestor was a traveling salesman, that might explain why you’re having trouble tracking them down from decade to decade!
In 1920 George now has his own family. According to this record his father was from Holland and spoke Dutch and his mother was from Ireland and spoke Irish. His wife was born in New York and both of her parents were from Germany and spoke German. Their five children were all born in New York. George rents and is a woodworker at a piano company.
- Neighbors
It’s easy to spend your time focused only on your direct ancestors but it’s worth taking a look at their neighbors. If multiple generations live in the same area, scan forward and back a few pages on the census to see if any names stand out. The girl down the street might marry your granduncle in a few years or the neighbor might show up in estate papers at some point.
Martha and J. Henry are married and her brother Earl is still living with them. You can see in this record that Earl was in the first World War and he is married though his wife is not present. Martha, Earl and their father are from New York and their mother from the Irish Free State. Henry's parents are recorded as being from Holland. He now manufactures furniture.
- Grandparents, in-laws, and cousins
Multigenerational households can fast track you back a generation or two. If you’ve located your family in the 1920 census, follow each one of the kids forward to 1930 and 1940. Widowed and elderly parents can frequently be found later in the households of one of their children and may be listed as father/mother or father-in-law/mother-in-law.
In 1930 we see George was 18 when he married Anna and Anna was 17. Everyone is listed as having been born in New York including their parents. George is a platter in the automotive industry. If you know what that is, please drop us a line! His 17 year old son George is a clerk in the trucking industry.
- Number of children
Number of children born and number of children alive. Losing a child was not uncommon and in several census they asked how many children a woman had given birth to and how many were still living. See if you can account for both numbers. Are any newborns with the same last name buried in a local graveyard? Was there a tragic swimming accident or did disease take out half the family?
In 1940 it is now just John Henry and Martha Elizabeth. They are both from New York and John Henry is the president of a manufacturing company. He completed the 8th grade, Martha completed the 7th grade. He owns their home and it was valued at $12,500.
- Mistakes
Handwriting, typos, incorrect and incomplete information. Use the census as a starting point but don’t rely only on it. The census takers might have misheard or misspelled a name, the person giving the information might not have known the answers, the transcribers might have transcribed the wrong line. There are so many places for the information you see on your computer screen now to have been incorrectly recorded. Double check everything and try to confirm every piece of information through multiple census records and other sources you find in your genealogy research.
In 1940 we can see Anna was the source of the information to the census taker because of the X by her name. George and Anna have four sons still living at home and George is now a janitor at Maxwell College. Their son Kenneth is a salesman. They lived in the same place in 1935. At first glance it appears as if all four sons are married but closer look shows the M was crossed out and S written in the upper right corner of the box.
As we followed Martha and George from 1900 to 1940 there were a number of examples of things to keep an eye out for; extended family, different names, occupation, marriages, mistakes and conflicting information. It's useful to remember the information provided on the census is not the final answer. Try searching for other documents and sources that back up the information provided in the census. Use every variation of the information as a potential hint. Search for the name variations, check for neighbors in other census years, follow the family. You will soon have those brick walls falling before you.
Further Reading
Alachua County History & Genealogy