Census data information.

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Census data is an important part of family history research. It never seems to give all of the information that we are looking for but it can be a major clue to help us along. My experience with census data is primarily with the US Federal census data on microfilm. Reading this data is somewhat of an art since much of the data is very difficult to read, due to poor handwriting, poor photographic quality and mediocre microfilm readers. The data contained in the links are my interpretation of what I saw on the microfilm. Sometimes the data was easy to determine and other times it was next to impossible to figure out what I was reading. In the end, I have tried to give the microfilm reel numbers and the dwelling/family numbers so that anyone can go into the microfilm and see the data for themselves so they can decide whether what I wrote is valid or not.

This is an ongoing project. As I find different family names to be of importance, I search for instances of that family name in the microfilm. Most of the data that I currently have comes from the Franklin, Orleans and Addison counties of Vermont (because that is where my family has it origins). However, I am starting to get data from all over New England and New York state and have added that data (as I find it) to the pages linked below.

The US census data is available up to 1930 (except for the 1890 census, which was destroyed in a fire before it was reproduced). The 1930 microfilm has been released recently. Some of the data has been added to the tables. However, there are no indicies available to help search through the census data so it will be quite a while before more data will be added here.

I am interested in getting access to Canadian census information, especially for the counties of Quebec province that border on Vermont. Some information is listed below. As I get access to more microfilm reels, I will add data here.

If, at any time, you, the reader, find an error in this data, I would appreciate knowing about it so I can update my data.

One note about the data entries in the census data: you will notice that many entries contain question marks -- usually from one to five question marks. The more question marks that appear in the data, the less likely it is that the particular data item (usually a name) is correct. So, a single question mark means that a letter or two may be incorrect. Five question marks say that the whole name is probably wrong (it was my best guess based on the hand-writing and reproductive quality that existed).

A year or more ago, I came across a web page for Heritage Quest. This company sells the census data both on microfilm and on CD (where each page of the census has been digitized and the CDs contain the images equivalent to a reel of microfilm). Although the data isn't always as clear as that found on the microfilm, I have found that much of the data is just as easy to understand on the CDs as it was on the microfilm. Plus, the viewing program allows us to zoom in on an image -- a benefit that none of the microfilm viewers that I have used can match. In my opinion, those people who do not have ready access to the census data on microfilm will find that the CDs are well worth purchasing.

The same is not true for their index CDs, though. I have a number of the 1870 index CDs (for all of the New England states, New York and some of the mid-western states) and a few of the 1910 index CDs and, given the amount of errors that I have found when I have used them, these CDs are not worth paying full-price for. However, they are better than nothing and are worth picking up if you can find them on sale. The same is true for the AIS census indices CDs from Ancestry.com. Although they claim to be the "standard" for census indicies, the indicies are rife with errors. A real handwriting expert is needed to create good census indicies and neither the Heritage Quest indicies or the Ancestry.com indicies look like they used enough experts to avoid some of the errors that exist.