The United States Constitution requires that a Census or count of the people be taken every ten years. The first census began on the first Monday of August in 1790. Census records are currently available at ten year intervals from 1790 to 1930, with the exception of the 1890 census whose records were destroyed in a fire. In addition to the U.S. Census as a whole, numerous states also conducted their own census.

 

   These records can be an invaluable source of genealogical information. The information available varies from year to year, however they are a good source in determining the geographical location of your ancestors, as well as who was in their household. Searching through these records can be very time consuming, which can be lessened by using several available indices for most of the census. You should keep in mind that many names can be misspelled, as well as other incorrect information. The entries made were up to the individual record taker and according to some they filled in their own estimated data at times when for whatever reason the could not get information from people. In addition, the handwriting of some individuals is difficult to read.

 

   For various reasons, I have not yet dug into too many census records. However, I plan to change that, so as time goes on I hope to add more records to this section of the site. For now I will add links to various online census and indices that I find available. If you know of a link, please pass it along so we all can share in the find.

 

                                                     Donnie & Audrey Krippendorf

                                                                                     [email protected]

 

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Ancestry.com – I am reluctant to add this link as I try to find information available for free, but Ancestry offers actual  

                           census images for every census available from 1790 to 1930. The Census subscription is separate 

                           from other sections of the site and the price starts at $39.95 quarterly.

 

Census-Online – This site is the best I have found for access to free census information. It is user friendly and breaks

                             available records down to state and then county records, with both map and text links.

 

I’ll add more as I find them, and hopefully some scanned images of my own soon, until then good luck and good hunting.

 

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