Mississippi Enumeration of Educable Children - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States Mississippi

What is in the Collection?
This collection includes lists of children compiled by Mississippi counties and school districts for the years 1850-1892, 1908 to 1957.

The listing of school-aged children in Mississippi dates back to 1850, though some counties took another 100 years to adopt the practice. In some areas the records are referred to as school censuses. The records are usually compiled on a yearly basis.

School records helped local governments determine funding needs for individual schools. The information is usually reliable.

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
Key genealogical facts found in the collection include:


 * County, town, and school district of enumeration
 * Race
 * School Status (regularly attending, enrolled, or withdrawn from school)
 * Parents' names
 * Name of child
 * Age
 * Month of birth
 * Gender
 * School and ward
 * Address

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know:
 * The name of the child.
 * The age or approximate birth date of the child.
 * The name of the child's parents.
 * The place where the family lived.

Search by Name by visiting the Collection Page: Fill in the requested information on the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about those in the list to what you already know about your own ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to compare the information about more than one person to find your ancestor.

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page: To search the collection you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒Select the Browse link in the initial search page ⇒Select the "County name" category ⇒Select the "Year" category which takes you to the images.

Look at each image comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination. Keep in mind:


 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * You may not be sure of your own ancestor’s name.
 * Your ancestor may have used different names or variations of their name throughout their life.

For tips about searching on-line collections see the on-line article FamilySearch Search Tips and Tricks.

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor in the school records, carefully evaluate each piece of information about them. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestor.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Use the age to calculate an approximate birth date.
 * Use the age or birth date along with the parents’ names and residence to find the family in census records.
 * Use the residence and names of the parents to locate church and land records.
 * It is often helpful to extract the information on all children with the same parents. If the surname is unusual, you may want to compile the entries for every person of the same surname and sort them into families based on the names of the parents. Continue to search the birth records to identify other relatives such as cousins who attended the same school or other nearby schools.

I Can't Find Who I'm Looking for, What Now?

 * Look for variant spellings of the names. You should also look for nicknames and abbreviated names.
 * Look for another index. Local genealogical and historical societies often have indexes to local records.
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby counties.
 * Try alternative search methods such as only filling in the surname search box (or the given name search box) on the landing page leaving the other box empty and then click on search. This should return a list of everyone with that particular name. You could then browse the list for individuals that may be your ancestor.

Known Issues with This Collection
For a full list of all known issues associated with this collection see the attached Wiki article. If you encounter additional problems, please email them to [mailto:support@familysearch.org support@familysearch.org]. Please include the full path to the link and a description of the problem in your e-mail. Your assistance will help ensure that future reworks will be considered.

Citing this Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image.

Collection Citation Record Citation (or citation for the index entry):

Image Citation