Iowa State Census, 1885 - FamilySearch Historical Records

Record Description
The collection consists of an index of the Iowa state census taken in 1885. The population schedule names every person in the household.

Record Content
The 1885 census contains the following biographical information:


 * Name of every person who resided in the family
 * Address
 * Age at birthday in 1884
 * Marital status
 * Sex
 * Race
 * Place of birth (if in Iowa, the county of birth, if not state or country)
 * Parentage (if native or foreign) of father and mother
 * Whether subject to military duty
 * Whether entitled to vote
 * If an alien whether or not have taken out naturalization papers
 * Whether literate or not
 * Any disabilities
 * Occupation

Iowa became a territory in 1838 and a state in 1846. The state of Iowa conducted statewide censuses in the following years; 1847, 1849, 1854, 1856, 1859, 1862, 1865, 1867, 1869, 1873, 1875, 1885, 1895, 1905, 1915, and 1925.

Some townships are missing in the 1885 census.

How to Use This Record
To begin your search it is helpful to know


 * Your ancestor's name
 * Other identifying information such as age or parents' names.

Search the Collection
To search the collection by name fill in your ancestor’s name in 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.

To search the collection image by image ⇒Select "Browse through images" on the initial collection page ⇒Select "County" ⇒Select "Locality" which takes you to the images. Search the collection by image comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine which one is your ancestor.

Be aware that with either search you may need to compare the information about more than one person to make this determination.

As you are searching it is helpful to know such information as your ancestor’s given name and surname, some identifying information such as residence and age, and family relationships. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name as your ancestor and that your ancestor may have used nicknames or different names at different times.


 * If your ancestor used an alias or a nickname, be sure to check for those alternate names.
 * Even though these indexes are very accurate they may still contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned.

For tips about searching on-line collections see the on-line video at FamilySearch Search Tips.

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

Tips to Keep in Mind

 * Birth places can tell you former residences and can help to establish a migration pattern for the family.
 * 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.
 * 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 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.

Unable to Find Your Ancestor?

 * Look for variant spellings of the surnames.
 * Look for an index. There are often indexes at the beginning of each volume. Local genealogical and historical societies often have indexes to local records.
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby counties.

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

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.

Related Websites
Iowa Genweb Project

Related Wiki Articles

 * Iowa
 * Iowa Census
 * Iowa Censuses Existing and Lost

Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections
Citations for individual image records are available for this collection. Browse through these images in this collection and click on, "Show Citation" box: Iowa State Census, 1885

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.

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.