Understanding the Census

The U.S. Constitution requires that a population census be taken every 10 years beginning in 1790. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Congress uses the census figures to apportion seats in the House of Representatives and to determine each state's number of votes in the Electoral College, which selects the President and Vice President.

Published census data is available from the National Archives and Records Administration from the 1790 census until 1920, with the exception of the 1890 census which was almost completely destroyed in a fire earlier this century. Only selected states and counties from the 1890 census survived. For more information, visit the National Archives and Records Administration Home Page at http://www.nara.gov.

CART version 1.0 only provides templates for the 1850 and 1860 census schedules although plans are underway to provide access to transcribers of additional census years.

Once you have obtained the census schedule, take a moment to become familiar with the census form. A sample page from the 1850 census is shown below. The header at the top of the page provides information about the state, county and district of the census. To learn more about the parts of the census form, pass over areas of the census with your mouse.

When your mouse pointer changes to , click on that section of the census to learn more about that topic.

Another thing to consider is that the written language of 1850 or 1860 was not the same as it is today. Some of the letter combinations were written differently. To learn more about how handwriting has changed, go to the "Deciphering Old Handwriting" World Wide Web site on the Internet. At the time of this writing, this web site can be accessed directly at http://www.firstct.com/fv/oldhand.html.