Deciphering the Census records.

[MissMaggie]

I'm hoping someone will have some wisdom to share on this matter. In the records they list the household by number, i.e. Ward 1: # 1, then 2 and so on. What I cant seem to figure out is if those numbers are actually attached to the house, building or lot in any way in a permanent way or they are just assigned randomly each time the census is taken? I have information on people from an 1860's census but I am trying to locate where exactly those people lived and see if I can even link it to an 1850 or 1870 census easily. Have I even made any sense here?

[boozie]

Re: Deciphering the Census records.

I have never seen a census with the use of any address system, I could be wrong. There really was no method to the maddness, some census workers had a tough time writing or even getting everyone in there district, ward, etc.... I have seen whole households missed in a census year, but they never moved and were there in all other census years. Although you can get a good feel of people that lived close by from the use of the numbers. Counties have property maps in my area from the late 19th century (1880's) that list the owners names, you might check with your local library for those.

[jhuether]

Re: Deciphering the Census records.

It has been my experience that the numbers are just the order that the family was visited. They seem to usually be in decent order (ie. families 4 and 5 are pretty close to each other). By using land and probate records you can cross reference names (or surrounding names) and get a pretty good idea where the family lived. I have had great luck with later census records (early 20th century) by cross-referencing draft rosters, but I don't have any experience with Civil War draft cards/rosters. Hope that is of some help.

Jason

[Zouave Rooster]

Re: Deciphering the Census records.

Not being a census expert, I can share what I have encountered in my limited experience. We have been researching the history of an 1827 built Ohio house that we're hoping to purchase. In looking at some of the historical documentation on the house from 1840-1880, we did happen upon some census records. The census takers for the area actually listed two (2) households for the home in 1860. The house was actually divided and occupied by two independent family units, one family was headed be the village tanner, another by a canal laborer. The supportive documentation listed a total of five bedrooms at the time for a total of nine inhabitants (Not part of the official census records). To make a longer story short, I believe a household was considered a family unit, multiple households could occupy the same residence. I would also believe multigenerationals probably cohabitated as well. How those are listed I would not be sure. You may hit your local library or historical society for supportive information. Many of the early land tract maps of Ohio counties & municipalities list the primary land tract owner in the map.

Regards,
Erick Gustin
51st OVI Co. B
Cleveland Zouave Light Guards

[Cottoncarder]

Re: Deciphering the Census records.

Maggie,

Up until about eight years ago, I spent most of my spare time scouring census records between 1790 and 1900. The numbers were not permanently attached to the house, nor did the records contain the legal description of the land they were on. They were simply a household numbering system devised by the census folks to keep track of which house they had visited. Each time the census was taken (every ten years), a different numbering system was utilized.

My personal favorite census is 1870. Here is where the head of house hold's voting status was recorded after the war. As some know, many who served in the Confederacy or supported it in some way lost their voting rights.

If you are looking for a particular piece of property relative to where it is today, the only way to do it is to track the owner at that time's name in the County Register within the county and state and obtain the legal description. The place to start is the County Registrar's Office.

[Hank Trent]

Re: Deciphering the Census records.

As others have said, I've not found a connection between the numbers and the actual permanent residences.

We looked at the 1860 census for our local area, along with a period map showing the land the people actually owned, and it was an odd sort of zig zag. You could see the census taker going along the road logically for a while, and then he'd do a few names from another road, and then another random name from the area. In this case, he might have been going across lots, or he might have been getting names from neighbors or someone visiting, to save actually stopping at another house, or it's possible he took loose notes and then got them a little scrambled when he copied them down finally.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[MissMaggie]

Re: Deciphering the Census records.

Thanks everyone. I was kind of afraid random was the case. What I was hoping I could do easily was to check the records to see how many servants stayed with the same family for an extended period of time. Victorian novels always make such a big deal about servants and how long they've been with a family. I wanted to see if that ever held true for America. Which, I highly doubt it did. But hey, if anyone is interested I happen to have the name, age, country of birth and occupation of employer for every single servant listed in the 1860 census for Oshkosh wisconsin, parts of green Bay and Chicago Illinois.......

[motozulli]

Re: Deciphering the Census records.

That's a REALLY interesting project, Maggie, I look forward to frequent updates from you on your findings :-)

Alaina

[MissMaggie]

Re: Deciphering the Census records.

Thanks Alaina! I really don't know if interesting is the word. It really just amounts to statistical information since the only thing I know about these women is their name, age, county of origin, and what their employer did for a living. One thing that has struck me as fairly interesting so far is that looking in Oshkosh Wisconsin which was one of the larger cities in the state at the time most of the servants come from the German states (Prussia, Ker Hessen, Baden, ect.) while in Chicago an overwheming number of them come from Ireland. Now this may change as I'm only through part of the first ward of Chicago. I'm up for ideas as to where to do next as long as its not New York!