CENSUS-CHAT-L Archives

From: Bob George <>
Subject: [CENSUS-CHAT-L] Thoughts on the census
Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 09:22:06 -0700

First, the only census I do lookups for is the 1910 Idaho census whose
all name index is on CD335. It is alphabetical without household numbers
so no family relations cannot be confirmed, only inferred. I will not
respond to requests of more than a single nuclear family due to
copyright considerations, so please do not ask for all of a surname. In
rare cases, where there are many examples of a surname with the same
first name, I will suggest you spend the $20.00 for the CD. This is
because that is the only way to determine which family you are looking
for.

Second. a couple of years ago I started maintaining a page of on line
census links I called <The census on line>. (Naturally). Several similar
pages with the same name have sprung into existence, which is fine as
there is room for several of us. I did this because at that time a
considerable number of transcribed census documents were on individual
pages and not on the USGENWEB system. Many of these transcribed
documents have been lost due to the death of the page owner, or the
closing down of the web page. Today, the majority of the transcribed
documents have been donated to the USGENWEB pages and there is less
chance of their being lost. I still maintain my pages because they are
not all there and the multi-layers of menus on the USGENWEB is very slow
at times from where I live. I hope that anyone still hoarding a census
transcription on a private page will donate a copy to the USGENWEB
archives to prevent their loss.

I get offers from people to transcribe censuses. I refer them to the
USGENWEB census project and hope they follow through. At times I am sent
a transcription someone made on their own. I also forward these, but
wish they had transcribed them as part of the USGENWEB project because
it would save someone else from redoing them in the future and increase
the level of confidence in the transcription.

I personally give the following levels of confidence to the online
documents:

If transcribed as part of the census project, I rate it high. It has
been proofread and is from an original source.

If not part of the project, I rate it as useful but with less
confidence.

If the transcriber indicates they have made certain additions or
corrections, I rate the confidence as low.

A lot of people have spent a lot of time transcribing only part of the
information on a census. This is a shame. Some of the transcribed
documents are little more than a surname list.

There is one misconception I see on the web about the census. It is true
that the 1790 census is the first Federal census since there was no
Federal government prior to the constitution. It is not true that the
1790 census is the first United States Census. Starting with 1775, the
Continental Congress ordered each state to conduct a series of census
for the purpose of determining the direct tax to finance the national
government and the military. These documents were delivered to the
Secretary of State of the Continental Congress and pretty much lost when
the British burned Washington in 1814. They survive as various state tax
lists, many of which are on line. By definition, the true meaning of
census is tax list, so what you want to actually call them (census or
tax list) is less important than the fact they exist. Some give far more
information than the Federal Census prior to 1850.

One last comment. I was amused as always when less than a dozen posts of
what some considered off topic comments were answered by several dozen
complaints. The complaints about off topic posts cause far more extra
traffic than any post ever will. If you use your delete key and remain
silent, the problem goes away. If you complain, the problem expands
geometrically. If anyone posts a comment about what I just said, it will
prove my point.
--
Robert L. George, Surprise, Arizona
The Census on Line and Taulbee Pages
http://www.doitnow.com/~moravia/index.html
Researching George, Brown, Brady, Bailey, Taulbee, Birchfield, Dunn

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