United States Census, 1850 - FamilySearch Historical Records/Known Issues

Note
NOTE: In some cases, the enumerator did not record a town name within a county. Since Township or other division of county is the final waypoint structure, and no town name was given, the indexer repeated the county name, as instructed.

Question 1
Question 1: Some records are missing. Where can the records be viewed? Answer 1: See answers below for information about known missing records and respective film numbers, if available, or alternate online location:


 * Pennsylvania &gt; Philadelphia &gt; Spring Garden Wards 5-7 are missing. Access to HeritageQuest Online to view the images is available at a local FamilySearch center.
 * Georgia &gt; Decatur &gt; Decatur county images are blurred and illegible.

Question 2
Question 2: The Township or other division of county waypoint title does not properly reflect the actual digital record content. How can I determine what digital records are likely to be found within a collection? Answer 2: The list of known waypoint discrepancies describes the Township or other division of county existing in the collection:


 * Illinois &gt; McHenry &gt; Benton records include the current township of Burton. Originally, Burton was settled as English Prairie in 1836. Settlers renamed the town Benton, but soon discovered that a post office and township of Benton already existed in Illinois. The town name was changed to Burton on December 28, 1850 after the census had been recorded.
 * Tennessee &gt; Smith &gt;Smith county and Tennessee &gt; Stewart &gt; Stewart county are located on the same film and were intermingled by the enumerator. Below is a listing of the correct distribution of the two county images:

&gt; Smith &gt; Smith county:    Images 1-255 and Images 309-345 are Smith county records. Images 256-308 are Stewart county records. &gt; Stewart &gt; Stewart county    Images 1-49 are Smith county records. Images 50-167 are Stewart county records

Question 3
Question 3: Some family members are not listed with the family unit or household in the record detail page. How can I find all the family members? Answer 3: Always view the original image to validate correct family relationships. To work around the problem, search by last name and residence or event place. On the record detail page, compare the Line Number and Household ID. To refine the search, include the Film Number. Families are grouped sequentially on the same image or an adjacent image. Order the film number from the record detail page to view the original image. Possible reasons why this occurred include the following:


 * If a family unit begins on the bottom of a census page, and continues at the top of the next census page, the family members are generally not grouped together if the second page was erroneously listed under a different township. In this case the next page, or previous page with the remaining family members will not come up because of the different township.
 * In some cases, the enumerator recorded entries that are not in sequence, or the enumerator jumped back and forth between townships.
 * In other cases, the pages were out of order when filmed, pages are missing, or pages are cut off. View the images and watch for consecutive page numbers to assure correct family relationships.
 * It's also possible that the indexer simply failed to record a new Household ID resulting in incorrect family units, especially when the members are continued on a new page.
 * Or, as in the case of Weymouth Township, New Jersey, the enumerator recorded the Household ID next to the last person in the household, but the images were indexed as if the Household ID line was the Head of Household.

Question 4
Question 4: The record detail page is linked to the wrong image. How can I find the correct image? Answer 4: From the record detail page, use either the Event Place, House Number, Household ID, or Film Number information, or a combination of any of the search criteria, to find the correct image by clicking the right or left scroll arrow.


 * Go to the United States Census, 1850 - FamilySearch Historical Records article
 * Go to the United States Census, 1850 collection at FamilySearch.org