PAERIE-L Archives

From: <>
Subject: CENSUS: BEGINNING & EARLY YEARS
Date: Sun, 15 Nov 1998 11:32:27 -0500

The 1790 - 1820 population schedules (census) were nearly all handwritten;
the Government started using printed schedules in 1830.
Article I, section 2, of the U. S. Constitution requires that a decennial
population census, a nationwide enumeration or count of the population be
TAKEN EVERY 10 YEARS (answer to question #8). Congress uses the census
figures to apportion seats in the House of Representatives. The census
also determines each state's number of votes in the electoral college,
which selects the President and Vice President; and affects apportionment
in state and local legislatures.

The population schedules, FIRST PREPARED IN 1790 (answer to question #10),
contain a wealth of information for historians, economists, and other
researchers interested in topics such as Rev. War pensioners, Civil War
veterans, western expansion, regional and local history, immigration, and
naturalization.

To ensure the privacy of individuals, Congress has provided for a 72-year
restriction to access of Federal census schedules. The 1920 census was
released in 1992; the 1930 census will be opened in 2002. To obtain
specific nonrestricted data from post-1920 census, use Bureau of the Census
Form BC-600, "Application for Search of Census Records." Copies of BC-600
are available from the Bureau of the Census, P. O. Box 1545,
Jeffersonville, IN 47131. They usually can not be found at the National
Archives.

The 1790 - 1840 schedules furnish only the names of the free heads of
family, not of other family members. These schedules totaled the number of
other family members, without name, by free or slave status. Also, the sex
and age categories that the schedules first used only for free whites from
1790 through 1810 eventually applied to other persons, and the age
categories increased after 1790.

The 1820 census first asked about naturalization status. The 1840 census
included a special inquiry regarding pensioners for Revolutionary or
military service. This section named persons who were either family heads
or members and specified the pensioner's age, not just a range of ages.

It is important to not overlook the data that might be obtained in the 1840
schedule of pensioners, especially if you are trying to zero in on a date
of birth.

More to come.....

Barb

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