Florida State Census, 1885 - FamilySearch Historical Records

Record Description
The record is printed on large sheets with rows and columns that were filled in by hand by the enumerator. The schedules are usually arranged by county, then by political subdivision.

These records do not cover the entire population of Florida because information from four counties, Alachua, Clay, Columbia, and Nassau, is missing.

For a list of records by date or locality currently published in this collection, select the Browse link from the collection landing page.

The census was created by the state of Florida with partial funding from the Federal government.

These records are for the year 1885.

The census was compiled to obtain a count and description of the population of the state of Florida for representation purposes.

Use the information with some caution. The information may have been given to a census taker by any member of the family or even by a neighbor. Some information may have been recorded incorrectly, or even deliberately falsified.

Citation for This Collection
The following citation refers to the original source of the information published in FamilySearch.org Historical Records collections. Sources include the author, custodian, publisher, and archive for the original records.

Suggested citation format for a record in this collection.

Record Content
Key genealogical facts found in the 1885 Florida State Census are:




 * Name of each person in the home
 * Relationship to the head of household
 * Race
 * Gender
 * Age
 * Marital status
 * Occupation
 * Health
 * Education
 * Place of birth by state or territory in the U.S. or by country if foreign born
 * Place of birth of mother and father by state or territory in the U.S. or by country if foreign born

How to Use the Records
Begin your search by locating your ancestor 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.

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).

Related Websites
Census Online - Florida Census Records

Related Wiki Articles

 * Florida
 * Florida Census
 * Florida Censuses Existing and Lost

Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections
When you copy information from a record, you should 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 Help:How to Cite FamilySearch Collections.

Citation Example for a Record Found in This Collection
"Florida, State Census, 1885," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MNJ9-G3H: accessed 14 May 2012), Albert A Johnson,, Duval, Florida; citing Florida, Secretary of State, Unites States National Archives; FHL microfilm 888,963.