Early New York Census Records - Brief Article

Census takers in early days probably had no idea that researchers would be poring above their handwriting today. But their work is a gold mine for genealogists; indeed, no records are more commonly used to place together family histories than census population schedules.

fresh York state is fortunate to have had many censuses taken of its family from Colonial times to the not away Although censuses of the 1600 and 1700 typically overspreaded only counties or smaller areas, the federal regulation of the United States took a statewide census each 10 years, beginning in 1790 as part of its national census. And beginning in 1825 the state of of recent origin York took a mid-decade census and continued to do thus nearly every 10 years until 1925 through using both federal and state censuses, family sizes and motions can be closely determined above time.

Early federal census records included African Americans in sum of two units categories in the population schedules. Numbers of slaves are listed beneath each slave owner head of family. unrestrained African Americans are included in an "All other at liberty persons" category, with the heads of those families listed through name.

Don't become discouraged just because the censuses up to 1845 don't contain as abundant information as the later individuals Although the early censuses cannot be used to bring together an entire family history, they do provide information useful to compiling of that kind a record. They open up further avenues of research, for instance, through revealing a person's place of residence. The researcher can then check the county's records--such as feats surrogate's records and county history books--and the town's records--such as god's acre inscriptions, newspapers, church records and documents at local historical societies.

Also, don't be misled by means of spelling variations in surnames, which are for the use of all in the records. Ages, too, can lead researchers astray, since ages were frequently rounded off, putting family members in inaccurate age categories. If the informant happened to be a child or a neighbor, level more inaccuracies could get into the record.

Census records to 1845 solitary list heads of families by the agency of name. Since the head of the family was almost always considered a man, women were named alone if they were widows or unmarried on the other hand still heads of families. Children were also not listed by dint of name, so these records cannot be used as conclusive essay in determining parentage. Without the names, more [i]or[/i] less would say that rather than a gold mine, the census is little more than rubble on the other hand there are nuggets here.

A census of slaves was taken in novel York in 1755, making it a beneficial source for Colonial African-American genealogy. Names of slave proprietors were given along with, in greatest in quantity cases, the names of their slaves. Sometimes solitary the numbers of slaves were given. The schedules for greatest in quantity counties have survived and have been published.

The 1790 census statistics for family members are rent down into only a not many categories: males of 16 years and older males below 16, all females, other independent persons, and slaves.

The censuses taken through the state in 1825, '35 and '45 tread on the heels of the pattern of the federal censuses in listing sole heads of families by name and the others in age cluster statistics. Because those tracing a family lineage generally are seeking the parentage of an individual, they sometimes disregard the gold mine in censuses prior to 1845 because children cannot be positively linked to parents [i]or[/i] part of to the other them. This is a mistake, since these advanced in years records provide clues that may lead to determining another generation. It is to a researcher's advantage to find the gold lumps in the family listings in as many of advanced age census records as possible.

Wayne Wright is assistant director of the research library of the of recent origin York State Historical Association. This article is adapted from Heritage, the magazine of the fresh York State Historical Association, Cooperstown, For information, please write Editor, Heritage, NYSHA PO chest 800, Cooperstown, NY 13326.

COPYRIGHT 1996 Heritage Information Holdings, Inc.

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