EVALUATING THE 1880 CENSUS 

What Does It Really Say?

We all get excited when we find our ancestors listed on a census page, and sometimes we forget to read the entire page thoroughly to find out what is really says. One of the most common complaints I hear when genealogists talk about U. S. Federal Censuses is the seeming lack of consistency in ages recorded. Shouldn’t everyone be 10 years older than they were in the previous census? Well, if all of the U. S. Censuses had been taken using the same criteria, one might expect that outcome. The fact is, however, that each census had different instructions for enumerators recording its information.

Lets look at the 1880 census form pictured above to examine three categories: how age was determined, who was included, and who was left out.

Age Determination

The 1880 Census column heading for age says, “Age at last birthday prior to June 1, 1880. If under 1 year, give months in fractions, thus: 3/12.” If your ancestor’s date of birth was June 18, 1870, he or she will be recorded as “9” because age is being calculated from the previous year’s birthday (1879), not from the year of the census.  

Who Was Included/Who Was Left Out

At the top of the form you will see notes A,B, and C. For our purposes we will look only at notes A and B, and they say:

“Note A.–The Census Year begins June 1, 1879, and ends May 31, 1880.”

This means that the census enumerator had to think in a fiscal way, and, as a result, so do we. The information on the 1880 census includes half of 1879 and half of 1880—not the entire year of 1880. 

“Note B.–All persons will be included in the Enumeration who were living on the 1st day of June, 1880. No others will. Children BORN SINCE June 1, 1880 will be OMITTED [because they were not alive on June 1, 1880]. Members of families who have DIED SINCE June 1, 1880, will be INCLUDED [because they were alive on June 1, 1880].”

Although ideally the census was taken on the same day throughout the country, (June 1, 1880 in this case), circumstances resulted in thousands of records enumerated after that date. This is why note B is so specific. If an enumerator arrived at the door on July 3, 1880, he had to ask the residents to answer his questions as though it were June 1st.

Keep This In Mind 

Each census asked different questions and used different date ranges to make those questions and responses statistically relevant.

For a history of U. S. Census records go to https://www.census.gov/history/. 

Enumerator instruction booklets in pdf format for various censuses are available at https://www.census.gov/history/www/through_the_decades/census_instructions/.

Look for genealogy tips at https://www.census.gov/history/www/genealogy/.

A good overview for searching U. S. Census records is at https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/United_States_Census.

And, finally, the Access Genealogy website at http://www.accessgenealogy.com/census includes a pdf of Juliana M. Szucs’ favorite “next step clues” which shows how the information you find in the censuses will lead you to more information about your ancestors.

RESEARCH TIP: Always look at the census pages before and after the one on which your particular ancestor appears. Relatives often lived close to each other, and you may find more members of the family nearby.