Reading U.S. Census Data
(Notes by Alva M. Tuttle)

"The federal censuses of the United States, which have been taken every ten years beginning in1790, and some state censuses are of great importance in thorough genealogical work. A great many of these census records, 1790 to 1880, will be found herein [Alva Tuttle's book].

However, the reader should be aware of the many limitations of the census. In the first place the census schedules are entirely missing for several states, counties, and localities. Special List No. 8 of the National Archives 1951 indicates that the following census schedules are missing:

1790:

The states of Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Virginia. Also, Allegany, Calvert, and Somerset counties in Maryland.

1800:

Georgia, Indiana Territory, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Jersey, Ohio Territory, Tennessee, and Virginia. Part of York County, Maine; Baltimore County, Maryland, outside the city of Baltimore; part of Suffolk County, Mass.; parts of Rockingham and Strafford Counties, New Hampshire; part of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania; Richland County, South Carolina.

1810:

District of Columbia, Georgia, Indiana Territory, Illinois Territory except Randolph County, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, Ohio, and Tennessee except Rutherford County. Part of Oxford County, Maine; Cortland County, and part of Broome County, New York; Craven, Greene, New Hanover, and Wake Counties, North Carolina; part of Bedford, Cumberland, and Philadelphia Counties, Pennsylvania; and all of 18 counties of Virginia. Also the writer [Alva Tuttle] finds a large part of Salem, Mass. is missing for 1810, as well as some parts of other localities in Essex and Suffolk Counties, Mass.

1820:

Alabama, Arkansas Territory, Missouri, New Jersey. Franklin, Rabun, and Twiggs Counties, Georgia; Daviess County, Indiana; part of Penobscot and Washington County, Maine; Grafton and part of Rockingham and most of Strafford County, New Hampshire; Currituck, Franklin, Montgomery, Randolph, and Wake Counties, North Carolina; Franklin and Wood Counties, Ohio; part of Luzerne and Lancaster Counties, Pennsylvania; and 22 counties in Tennessee."

For the U. S. Census of 1790, the tables included five numbers per household:
free white males aged 16 years or more, free white males under the age of 16 (of any surname; not necessarily sons of the head of household), free white females, other free persons [i.e. non-white], and slaves. The numbers can be filled into a table such as the one shown below for a family of five.

The information collected for the U. S. Census of 1800 and 1810 expanded the tables to define five age brackets for white males, the same five brackets for white females, and separate brackets for other free persons and slaves. The numbers are most often reported as a string of five numbers or dashes for males, a semicolon, then a string of five numbers or dashes for females. Dashes were entered instead of 'zero' in all cases. The age brackets are shown in the table below.

The information collected for the U. S. Census of 1820 added a special age bracket for white males of prime military service age, 16 to 18 years old. All of the males counted in this column were also counted in the 16 - 25 year bracket. The extra bracket was not used for females, of course, as shown in this table:

The information collected for the U. S. Census of 1830 and 1840 greatly expanded the number of age brackets to record a more accurate picture of the population. The same age brackets were used for males and females, extended if necessary into the 90's and 100's. When reported as a string of numbers, the data usually stopped with the bracket after the oldest person, as shown in the table below:

U. S. Census information collected for 1850 included, for the first time, full names, ages, and birth localities for all of the members of each household -- at least in theory. The completeness and accuracy was quite variable, and the handwritten reports are often very difficult to interpret. Inconsistencies in age and location of birth are quite common when comparing consecutive reports for a single household (e.g 1850, then 1860, then 1870). Conversely, if the ages reported for individuals with well-documented birth dates are accepted as accurate, the Census of 1850 may have actually been taken as late as 1853 or 1854 in some localities.