Kansas State Census, 1865 - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States Kansas

What is in the Collection?
The collection consists of a name index of the Kansas state census taken in 1865. The census enumerates all household members.

Sample Image
Kansas became a state in 1861 and later passed a law requiring a state census every ten years to number the population of the various counties in order to determine apportionment of the state legislature. The first state census was taken in 1865 and continued until 1925, as the law was repealed in 1933.

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
The census usually includes the following information:


 * Name of every person whose usual place of abode on May 1, 1865 was in this family
 * Age
 * Sex
 * Color
 * Regiment if in military
 * Company if in military
 * Occupation of everyone over 15
 * Value of real estate
 * Value of personal estate
 * Place of birth (state, territory, or country)
 * Marital status
 * If attended school within the year
 * Whether literate
 * Whether deaf, dumb, blind, insane, pauper or a convict

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it helpful to know:
 * The name of your ancestor
 * The place in Kansas where your ancestor lived
 * The names of other household members

Search by Name by visiting the Collection Page: Fill in the requested information in the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the ancestors in the list to what you already know about your 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.

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor in the census, 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 ancestors.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Use the age listed to determine an approximate birth date. This date along with the place of birth can help you find a birth record. Birth records often list biographical and marital details about the parents and close relatives other than the immediate family.
 * Birth places can tell you former residences and can help to establish a migration pattern for the family.
 * Use the naturalization information to find their naturalization papers in the county court records. It can also help you locate immigration records such as a passenger list which would usually be kept records at the port of entry into the United States.
 * If they are subject to military service they may have military files in the State or National Archives.
 * Occupations listed can lead you to employment records or other types of records such as school records; children’s occupations are often listed as “at school.”

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

 * Check for variant spellings of the surnames.
 * Check for an index. There are often indexes created by the court or local historical and genealogical societies.
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby counties.

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):