Colorado State Census, 1885 - FamilySearch Historical Records

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Collection Time Period
These records cover the inhabitants of Colorado in1885.

Why This Record Was Created
The census was compiled to obtain a count of the population of the state to determine how many representatives the state would send to Congress.

Record Reliability
The information is generally reliable. However use the information with some caution, since the information 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
On June 1, 1885 a special federal census of Colorado was taken. The 1885 census included four general schedules: population, agriculture, manufactures, and mortality. These schedules are organized alphabetically by county and thereunder by the number assigned to each type of schedule. Within each type of schedule the records are arranged by enumeration district.

Population Schedule

The 1885 population schedule resembles a typical census schedule and can provide valuable information that can be used to fill the gap caused by the loss of the 1890 federal census in the 1921 Department of Commerce fire.

The first two columns provide the street name and the house number. The next two give the visitation number and the family number. As with all post-1840 census schedules, all members of the household are listed. Also listed is the relationship of each person to the head of household, their age, sex, color, and their birth month if born in the census year. Included along with each individual's personal description is information on their "civil condition"—single, married, widowed/divorced—along with a notation if the individual married during the census year.

The second half of the population schedule gives the occupation of each individual over the age of 10 and asks for the number of months he or she had been unemployed during the census year. The next section records information about the person's health. Question 15 asks, "Is the person sick or temporarily disabled? If so, what is the sickness or disability?" In questions 16 to 20, the enumerator recorded if the individual was blind, deaf and dumb, idiotic, insane, maimed, crippled, bedridden, or otherwise disabled. Questions about an individual's education are found next. The last section of the population schedule will give the birthplace of the individual and his or her parents.

Mortality Schedule

The 1885 mortality schedule enumerated all individuals who died between June 1, 1884, and May 31, 1885. This schedule was to include individuals who died within the district, even if they had no family in the district, and individuals who died outside the district but had family within the district.

These schedules include the name of the deceased, a personal description (age, sex, and color), marital status, birthplace as well as parents' birthplaces, profession, the month in which the person died, the cause of death, the length of their residency in the county, the place where disease was contracted, and the name of the attending physician.

A second smaller schedule found with the above schedule provides more information about the deceased. The first section of this schedule pertains to individuals who died within the enumeration district but who had families who resided outside the district. In this case the town, county, and state are listed for the deceased's family.

The third and final section of the 1885 mortality schedule provides a statement from the attending physician. This statement would list the primary and immediate causes of death along with a signature of the attending physician. At the bottom of each page a space was left for physician's remarks. This space was to be used if any particular malady or strange disease caused a significant number of deaths in the enumeration district, or if an unusual amount of deaths were recorded due to violence or an accident. It was also stated that all enumerators should ask the physicians in the area to examine all entries and verify or restate the information given about their patients.

Counties Included Araphoe, Archuleta, Bent Boulder, Chaffee, Clear Creek, Conejos, Costilla, Custer, Delta, Dolores, Eagle, Elbert, El Paso, Gilpin, Grand, Gunnison, Hinsdale, Huerfano, Jefferson, Lake, La Plata, Larimer, Las Amimas, Mesa, Montrose, Ouray, Park, Pitkin, Pueblo, Rio Grande, Routt, Saguache, San Juan, San Miguel, Summit, Weld

Record Content The following information is listed in the population schedule:

 * Enumeration place (locality, county, state)
 * Enumeration District (ED) number
 * Name of individual
 * Relationship to the head of household
 * Race
 * Gender
 * Age
 * Marital Status
 * Birth date
 * Birth location
 * Father's birth location
 * Mother's birth location
 * Street Address
 * Occupation
 * Length of Employment
 * Disability and Type
 * Attended School Within Year
 * Can Read, Write, and Speak English

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 a 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.

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• United States. Bureau of the Census. 12th census, 1900, digital images, From FamilySearch Internet (www.familysearch.org: September 29, 2006), Arizona Territory, Maricopa, Township 1, East Gila, Salt River Base and Meridian; sheet 9B, line 71 • Mexico, Distrito Federal, Catholic Church Records, 1886-1933, digital images, from FamilySearch Internet (www.familysearch.org: April 22, 2010), Baptism of Adolfo Fernandez Jimenez, 1 Feb. 1910, San Pedro Apóstol, Cuahimalpa, Distrito Federal, Mexico, film number 0227023

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Sources of Information for This Collection
“Colorado State Census, 1885”, database, FamilySearch; (http://familysearch.org); from Colorado Census Bureau. Digital images of originals housed in the National Archives and Records Administration, District of Columbia. FHL microfilm, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Rebecca Crawford, "The Forgotten Federal Census of 1885." Prologue Magazine, Fall 2008, Vol. 40, No. 3. (http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2008/fall/1885-census.html)