Minnesota State Census, 1895 - FamilySearch Historical Records

Collection Time Period
This census is for the year 1895.

Record History
State censuses were taken in Minnesota every ten years beginning in 1865 through 1905. The census includes most individuals within the counties enumerated.

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

Record Reliability
The information is generally reliable. However use the information with some caution since it 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.

Record Description
The record is a printed form that was filled in by hand by the enumerator. The forms are arranged by county and community.

Record Content
The key genealogical facts found in the Minnesota 1895 State Census are:


 * Name
 * Age
 * Gender
 * Color
 * Place of birth (state or territory if in the U.S., country if foreign born)
 * Length of residence
 * Occupation
 * If a soldier or sailor in the Civil War
 * Whether mother and father foreign born or not
 * Residence or location within a country (The location within a county may not be a town name but a legal land description instead which gives the township number and the range number.)

How to Use the Record
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.

Related Web Sites
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Related Wiki Articles
Minnesota Census

Sources of This Collection
"Minnesota State Census, 1895," database, FamilySearch; from Minesota Census Bureau. "State census, 1895." Minnesota State Library and Records Service. FHL microfilm, 59 reels. Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

A full bibliographic record is available in the Family History Library Catalog.

How to Cite Your Sources
An example of citing these records is: State Library and Records Service, St. Paul, Minnesota. Census page. From FamilySearch Internet (www.familysearch.org), April 23, 2010. Rebecca Smith, female, 28, residence: Pilot Mound township, Fillmore, Minnesota, page 15, line number 33.

Instructions for citing this source can be found at: How to Cite FamilySearch Collections