Census in 2020 & Genealogy

I filled out our 2020 US Census form last night.

It’s the fifth such form I’ve filled out in my life. Once again, I’m not living in any of the same places I lived last time I wrote in my name and birthdate.

Since I’ve already written my family history, subsequent genealogists will understand why they never find me in the same place every ten years.

But they may be disappointed with the information they don’t find on this year’s form.

As the census form explains, results from the census can be used to:

• Direct billions of dollars in federal funds to local communities for schools, roads, and other public services.
• Help your community prepare to meet transportation and emergency readiness needs.
• Determine the number of seats each state has in the US House of Representatives and your political representation at all levels of government.

So, fill it out when you get it.

Working with Censuses

(I really wanted to use the Latin version, censi, but the plural is censuses).

As a genealogist, I’ve been working with censuses for years.

They’re one of the primary keys to learning and tracing back family members.

In the days before Ancestry.com, investigating census records was a tedious, often futile task.

If you didn’t know where they lived in a given year, you had to guess. That often meant expanding research into auxiliary family members and hoping someone stayed put from zero decade to zero decade.

If, like my current family, they moved often, the task became even more difficult.

These days, you can far more easily and quickly trace individuals with an Ancestry.com membership. My local library provides access for those who can’t afford one.

I’ve written blog posts about creative and biographical research use of Ancestry.com outside of census records here, here, here, and here.

Old Census Records

The fledgling United States government took its first census in 1790.

It was a rudimentary instrument without much detail beyond the simple number of people–both free and slave.

Here’s an example from 1790.

It lists the names of family members and specific types: 1. White males over a certain age and heads of families. 2. White males under sixteen years. 3. White females. 4. All other free people. 5. Slaves

More details

As the nation grew, the census asked more questions, including years of schooling, age, birthplace (very helpful when searching backward in a genealogy hunt), and information about where they lived.

Here’s an example from 1880 Anderson County, Texas:

Among other items, the 1880 census asked for occupation, education, birthplace (including that of parents) and age.

It also sought information on handicaps:

I don’t know what the government did with this information. Certainly, we know schools for the blind opened in the mid-nineteenth century.

The 1870 census, interestingly, did not ask if anyone had fought in the Civil War. It did ask for more details about schooling and whether male citizens over 21 had been denied their right to vote.

Genealogists all miss the 1890 census lost in a 1921 Washington, D.C. Commerce Building fire. Some states and counties had retained copies and pieces can be found.

And we all hate General Sherman for burning the town halls throughout the South during the American Civil War. So many records valuable for genealogists were lost.

The 2020 US Census

My reaction to the 2020 census?

Mixed.

Because I know the information that can be gleaned from the official records, I felt leery about typing it into a computer.

I understand why, once I began I had to finish, but it left me uneasy.

(We received a letter in the mail with a census ID number, asking us to respond by April 1 at my2020census.gov. If people lack computer access, they can request a paper question).

While I know my family facts, we have a non-related college student living with us this year. It wasn’t until I got into the “you cannot stop” census form, that I found I had to provide his birth date and nationality.

I found his birthdate on Facebook, but nationality?

I guessed.

Future genealogists will hate me, but I couldn’t ask him.

They’re going to be disappointed with this form anyway, in terms of mining it for interesting information. I thought it pretty benign.

Except, for the nationality section.

Instead of asking where I or my parents were born, it asked for my nationality.

I left it blank.

It returned me to the spot and would not allow me to go on.

Begrudgingly, I wrote in the three main groups.

Later, I realized that since the paternal side of my family has been in North American since the 17th century, I should have simply written “American.”

I think I’ll type in that answer ten years from now, wherever I’ll be living.

Tweetables

How is the 2020 US census different from past ones? Click to Tweet

Genealogists and past census information. Click to Tweet

What questions does a census ask? Click to Tweet