New York State Census, 1905 - FamilySearch Historical Records

Collection Time Period
This information pertains to the census taken in the year 1905.

Record Description
The record is a printed form that was filled in by hand by the enumerator. The schedules are usually arranged by county and political subdivisions.

Record Content


Key genealogical facts found in the 1905 New York State Census are:


 * Street and house number
 * Name of each person whose usual place of abode on June 1, 1905, was in this family
 * Relationship of each person to the head of the family
 * Color or race
 * Gender
 * Age at last birthday.
 * If born in the United States, if not, name of the country
 * Number of years in the United States and if a citizen or not
 * Occupation

How to Use the Records
Begin your search by finding your ancestors in the census index. Use the locator information in the index (such as page number or family number) to locate your ancestors in the census. Compare the information in the census 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 of more than one family or person to make this determination. Be aware that as with any index, transcription errors may occur.

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. For example:


 * 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 race information to find records related to that ethnicity such as records of the Freedman’s Bureau or Indian censuses.
 * 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.”

It is often helpful to extract the information on all families with the same surname in the same general area. If the surname is uncommon, it is likely that those living in the same area were related.

Be sure to extract all families before you look at other records. The relationships given will help you to organize family groups. The family groupings will help you identify related families when you discover additional information in other records.

Some other helpful tips to keep in mind are:


 * Married family members may have lived nearby but in a separate household so you may want to search an entire town, neighboring towns, or even an county.
 * You may be able to identify an earlier generation if elderly parents were living with or close by a married child.
 * You may be able to identify a younger generation if a young married couple still lived with one of their sets of parents.
 * Additional searches may be needed to locate all members of a particular family in the census.

You should also be aware that the census may identify persons for whom other records do not exist.

For a summary of this information see the wiki article: United States, How to Use the Records Summary (FamilySearch Historical Records)

Record History
State censuses were created by the state of New York and were taken about every ten years beginning in 1795. These records do not cover the entire population of New York. Information from eight counties, Livingston, Oneida, Ontario, Orange, Putnam, Queens, Richmond, and Wyoming, is missing.

Why This Record Was Created
The census was compiled to obtain a count and description of the population of the state of New York.

Record Reliability
Use the information with caution, since the information may have been given to a census taker by any member of the family or by a neighbor. Some information may have been incorrect or deliberately falsified.

Known Issues with This Collection
This collection contains many different imaging problems. There are duplicate images and images out of order. Also there is a household issue in that census takers listed more than one family at the same residence. Some records have not been digitized yet, but are available from the Family History Library. Some records are identified as being from the 1892 New York State Census, but are duplicate entries from the 1905 census. Some records are identified as being from the 1905 Census, but the images are from the 1915 New York State Census.

 Problem #1 - Wrong images: 

a. Some images are digitized twice. You may be looking at page 10, and the next image also shows page 10. Workaround: Use the right arrow key to move to the next image..

b. Images are sometimes out of order. Normally the correct indexed image appears, but when browsing, you will find pages that are out of order. Workaround: Check the record detail information to find the correct page number for the individual. If the correct page does not appear, use the forward and back arrows to find the correct page. [We believe that the pages are there, they are just out of order.] If the collection does not start with page 1, check the end of the previous collection within the same county. [The collections may not appear in order in the waypoints.]

c. More than one household may be identified with the same family number. FYI: Members of other families living in the same residence may or may not be related to the researched individual/family.

 Problem #2 - Unavailable images: 

Some records have not yet been digitized, for example, Wards 13-19 in Syracuse, Onodaga County, New York. Workaround: Order and view the microfilm at a FamilySearch Center if it is available.

 Problem #3 - Some search results and record details are duplicate entries identified as part of the 1892 New York State Census.

 Problem #4  – Some search results and record details that are identified as part of the 1905 census are from the 1915 New York State Census.

Related Web Sites
New York Census Online

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Related Wiki Articles
New York Census

Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections
When you copy information from a record, you should also list where you found the information. This will help you or others to find the record again. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records.

A suggested format for keeping track of records that you have searched is found in the Wiki Article: How to Cite FamilySearch Collections

Examples of Source Citations for a Record in This Collection
"New Your State Census, 1905." index and images, FamilySearch: accessed 31 March 2011. entry for Solomon M Banner, age 26; citing Census Records, FHL microfilm 1,433,094; New York County Clerk Office, New York City, New York.

Sources of Information for This Collection:
"New York State Census, 1905", index and images FamilySearch, 2010. Digital images of originals housed in County Clerk offices in various counties throughout New York. FHL microfilm. Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.