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CONNIE LENZEN, CG |
Ancestors on the Move in the CensusBy Connie LenzenAn article published in the 20 June 2005 issue of the Vancouver Columbian. |
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
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
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