ROOTS-L Archives

From: Steven Dhuey <>
Subject: Copies of U.S. census schedules
Date: Sun, 10 Oct 1999 11:03:03 -0500
In-Reply-To: <199910101214.FAA18509@bl-11.rootsweb.com>

> It is possible that the indexer did NOT make a mistake. The mistake may
>lie with the original census taker. Another part of the job of the census
>taker was that after collecting all these names, he was required to make a
>duplicate copy to be sent to the Federal Govt. This is in the days before
>copy machines of course& he had to rewrite the entire list by hand
>--certainly a very tedious job ! Most likely he "missed " that family, the
>second time around. Try to order that same reel through a different agency (
>state archives as opposed to federal archives ) to see if that family turns
>up. Or try to find where the original manuscript is kept.


Unfortunately, this does not apply to the problem in question --
disagreement between Soundex cards and the actual census schedules
(notably, persons and families in the Soundex who do not appear on the
census schedules).

Here's why: Soundex indexes were created of U.S. censuses beginning with
the 1880 census. Unfortunately, the 1880 U.S. census was also the first for
which multiple transcriptions were no longer made. Census enumerators sent
their original copies to the Census Office in Washington, and were not
required to make additional copies of the schedules, as they had previously
done.

So, the census schedule you see on microfilm of any U.S. census from 1880
onward is the only copy there ever was. And those original schedules were
destroyed once they were microfilmed.

-Steve

This thread:

• Copies of U.S. census schedules by Steven Dhuey <>