CENSUS RECORDS

Since the release of the U.S. Federal Census of 1930 on 1 April, the interest in researching census records has surged. Libraries across the country with genealogical collections are reporting that researchers have been flocking in to gather as much data as possible. Ancestry.com's efforts to place the digitized images of the 1930 census records online as soon as possible have been rewarded with much heavier than ever usage of the census databases and indexes for all years than ever before.

One question, though, that arises when we look at the census population schedules is, "Why is my ancestor's age not correct?" There can be a lot of reasons for that, but one of them is the date that was used for enumeration. It is that topic that I want to address in "Along Those Lines . . ." this week.

Changing Information From Year to Year
If you are like me, you probably will have found instances where an ancestor's place of birth in a later census (or that of one or more of his or her parents) differs from one census to another. How could that happen? Is it possible that your ancestor got it right one time and not the other? Did he or she get more correct information after the previous census was taken? Did someone else other than your ancestor provide information to the enumerator? Was there a reason to lie? Did the enumerator copy the information down incorrectly when he or she was interviewing the respondent? Or did the enumerator make an error while transcribing his or her working notes or when preparing a copy for the state or Federal government? All of these are possible.

I even have a great-great-grandfather who was listed in the 1870 census as being insane but, by 1880, he apparently had fully recovered! (Yes, there are columns for 'Insane' in both of those censuses, and the fact recorded in the 1870 census may have been correct at that time.)

The point is that you have to look at the possibility of errors in census records, and you should be seeking other evidence to corroborate or refute the data shown on a census schedule.

The Age Doesn't Make Sense!
My Grandmother Morgan purposely falsified her age in a number of censuses. Why? Vanity could be one reason, but it was more likely that she was embarrassed about being older than her husband, my grandfather. That accounts for the several years' discrepancy -- and never the same number of years -- in the 1910, 1920, and 1930 censuses. But what about those discrepancies you find that are only one year off? What might account for those? One answer might be the official census day.

Each census was designated by Congress to be taken with an official "as of" date. The official census day for each of the U.S. Federal censuses is listed below:
1790 ------ 2 August
1800 ------ 4 August
1810 ------ 6 August
1820 ------ 7 August
1830-1900 - 1 June
1910 ------ 15 April
1920 ------ 1 January
1930 ------ 1 April

The enumerator was to ask each question with the date as a qualifier. For example, in the 1880 census, the enumerator should have asked such questions as:

"As of June 1st, who lived in this residence and what were their names?"
"As of June 1st, what was the age of each of these people?"
"What was the occupation of each person as of June 1st of this year?"

Now, if the enumerator did not qualify the questions, the respondent may have provided information as of the current day--the day of the enumerator's actual visit. The respondent may not have known the exact answer too, and may have just decided to base his or her answers to some or all of the questions based on today's date. As an example, for the 1880 census whose official census day was 1 June 1880 and if the enumerator visited the house on 20 June, a person whose birth date was 3 June 1860 may have been recorded correctly as 19 or may have been incorrectly recorded as 20.

Another dilemma comes up when the official census day for one decade was substantially different than the previous decade. As an example, census day in 1900 was 1 June, while census day in 1910 was 15 April. A person born on 15 May 1882 might therefore be correctly recorded in 1900 as 18 and in 1910 as 27. That is assuming the enumerator did the job correctly.

The one-year discrepancy might throw you off a little bit. However, if you don't know your ancestor's date of birth, the census day can work to your advantage. What you might be able to determine is that your ancestor's date of birth was actually between two dates. This is particularly true with the differences between the 1900 and 1910 censuses, the 1910 and 1920 censuses, and the 1920 and 1930 censuses, all of which had specific date differences.

While this may seem like 'the' answer to many of your age dilemmas in census records, please remember that there really are many reasons why the age may be incorrect. The 1900 census is one of the most helpful censuses because it lists day and month of birth, as well as age at last birthday. The 1910 through 1930 censuses are helpful only by providing the age at last birthday. However, don't overlook another key age-related item in the 1930 census: age at first marriage, which can help you pinpoint an approximate time to search for marriage records.

You have to invest a great deal of thought in the analysis of census records, and not just accept the information at face value. For that reason, I suggest that you always record the official census day AND the enumeration date for future reference as you continue to go back and review your ancestors' census records. Then the hunt begins for more records to help corroborate and expand upon the information found in the census.

Happy Hunting!
George