Virtually all Americans have ancestors who immigrated to this country, and the US Census Bureau has gathered information from 1790 to the present about them. It has measured who they were and how they lived. The US Census Bureau does not have a family file for our ancestors, but it does provide numbers that we can use to build background information about our ancestor’s lives.

By the 1790 census, the American population was largely English in origin. There were sizable numbers of Germans and Scots, some Irish and Dutch, and a smattering of French and Swedes. For a breakdown of the ethnic background by state, go to the “Geospatial & Statistical Data Center,” online at http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/histcensus.
The 1880 census is the one that is most readily available to us for use. It has been indexed and placed on the LDS website, www.familysearch.org, a free site. The 1880 census is the first one to list the birthplace of the individual and of his or her parents. While this is only a state name or a country name, it helps us see migration routes.

The 1880 index contains every name found in the census, but sometimes we cannot find out ancestors. It’s like they were hiding. While they probably weren’t doing that. They may have been on the move, and the census enumerator missed them.

The instructions to the enumerators give a possible explanation of why some ancestors may not be found. The enumerator was supposed to write down the name of every person whose “usual place of abode” on the 1st day of June, 1880, was in the family that was being interviewed. By the time the census taker arrived at a home in July or August or September, people may have forgotten who was living at the house on the census date. If the ancestor was a sailor, he was supposed to be listed at his land home, no matter how long he had been absent. Railroad men, canal men, and express men, were to be listed at the house where they usually returned. However, if the enumerator was confused about the instructions, or if the person who was answering the questions was confused, an ancestor could be omitted from the census.

An excellent booklet, Measuring America: The Decennial Censuses From 1790 to 2000 is available as a PDF file at the US Census Bureau’s website: www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/hiscendata.html. The booklet contains blank questionnaires and instructions to the enumerators, plus individual histories of each census.

© 2006

Connie Lenzen, CG