Census records have been collected for hundreds of years. As family historians, we can use this government information to trace names in our family tree. However, accessing this information can be very challenging and leads to many dead ends. Naturally, families can move many times between censuses and it can be very difficult to pick up the trail at the next census. Adding to the confusion is the chance that the names are misspelled on the census forms and the birthdates are not always clear.
Since each government census is a very big project on its own, the family genealogist has a lot of data to review and may spend hours looking up one individual in their family tree. Early census returns were only designed to provide the official enumeration of the population – they didn't even include family names. The good news for amateur historians is that some of these censuses are available through the internet. In the United States censuses were taken every 10 years from 1790 onwards. In the United Kingdom they were first taken in 1841 and every 10 years since (with a few exceptions). In Canada, the first national census was taken in 1871. However, each government has its own rules about when these records will be made public. In the United States, the information collected is not made public for 72 years. In Canada it's not public for 92 years. The good news is that these censuses provide a wealth of important information for the family tree researcher.
Generally, the early information that was collected for each household included:
- names of family members
- their ages as at the census date
- their state or country of birth
- their parent's birthplaces
- year of immigration
- street address or lot address
- marriage status and years of marriage
- occupation(s)
- religion(s)
- value of their home and personal belongings
- the crops that they grew
Although some of the information is only available online for a fee it can be well worth the investment. It may also be more practical for historians to check out a local research library that might have official government microfilm copies of the original census records that you can access for free. Check out other links on this website to find helpful tools that will aid in your research for names in your family tree.
Using government census data can add valuable information to your family tree research. Seasoned family historians and amateurs alike can take advantage of these tools to trace the genealogy of our families and provide records of names, migration, land ownership and lineages. All of this information improves your understanding of your family's genealogy. Check out the links on this page to help you take advantage of the censuses to identify and display your family's trees and heritage for future generations.
