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 these Records 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 * School Status (regularly attending, enrolled, or withdrawn from school)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 at least some of the following:
 * 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.

Fill in the requested information in the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information in the list to what you already know about your ancestor to determine if it is the correct person. You may need to compare several persons in the list before you find your ancestor.

Search by Name by visiting the Collection Page:

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page then: ⇒Select the "County name" category ⇒Select the "Year" category which takes you to the images.

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

What Do I Do Next?
Whenever possible, view the original records to verify the information and to find additional information that might not be reported. These pieces of information can lead you to additional records and family members.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Use the age to calculate a birth date and to find other records such as birth, christening, census, land and death records.
 * Use the information to find additional family members. Witnesses or bondsmen were usually relatives.
 * Repeat this process with additional family members found, to find more generations of the family.
 * Church Records often were kept years before government records were required and are a good source for finding ancestors before 1900.

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

 * Try viewing the original record to see if there were errors in the transcription of the name, age, residence, etc. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * Collect entries for every person who has the same surname. This list can help you identify possible relations that can be verified by records.
 * If you cannot locate your ancestor in the locality in which you believe they lived, then try searching records of a nearby locality in an area search.
 * Standard spelling of names typically did not exist during the periods our ancestors lived in. Try variations of your ancestor’s name while searching the index or browsing through images.
 * Remember that sometimes individuals went by nicknames or alternated between using first and middle names. Try searching for these names as well.
 * Search the indexes and records of Mississippi, United States Genealogy.
 * Search in the Mississippi Archives and Libraries.

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