United States Census, 1900 - FamilySearch Historical Records

Collection Time Period
The U.S. federal census was conducted each decade from 1790 to the present. This information pertains to the census conducted in 1900.

Record Description
Population schedules consist of large sheets with rows and columns. The schedules are arranged by state, county, place, and enumeration district. The districts are not always filed in sequential order. The arrangement of families on a schedule is usually in the order in which the enumerator visited the households.

Record Content


The 1900 census includes the following genealogical information:


 * Full name
 * Race
 * Sex
 * Age (can be used to calculate an approximate birth year)
 * Birth month and year
 * Relationship to the head of household
 * Birthplace of the individual and the parents (included even if the parents were not members of the household)
 * Marital status (single, married, widowed, or divorced)
 * Number of years married (can be used to calculate the approximate marriage year)
 * Number of children born to each mother and the number of those still living
 * Year of immigration and number of years in the United States
 * Whether a naturalized citizen
 * Occupation
 * Street address and house number

The census also includes the following information for people who lived in Alaska:


 * Tribe and clan
 * Date of locating to Alaska
 * Occupation in Alaska
 * Post office address at home

The census also includes the following information for Native Americans (Indians):


 * Indian name
 * Tribe of the individual and the parents (included even if the parents were not members of the household)
 * Percentage of white blood
 * If married, whether living in polygamy
 * Whether taxed
 * Year of citizenship
 * Whether citizenship was acquired by land allotment

The census also includes the following information for people living in the Hawaiian Islands:


 * Year of immigration and number of years lived in the Hawaiian Islands

The census also includes the following information about people serving in the military or Navy:


 * Name of military, naval station, or vessel
 * Company or troop, regiment, and arm of service
 * Rank grade or class
 * Residence in the United States

How to Use the Records
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. Some on-line indexes, such as indexes to FamilySearch Historical Records, will take you directly to an image. 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.
 * The census may identify persons for whom other records do not exist.

Record History
Federal census takers were asked to record information about all those who were in a household on the census day, which was June 1 for the 1900 census. A census taker might have visited a house on a later date, but the information collected was supposed to have been about the people who were in the residence on the census day. The basic census enumeration unit was the county. Each county was divided into enumeration districts, one for each enumerator. The completed forms were then sent to the Census Office of the Commerce Department in Washington, D.C. The 1900 census covers 95 to 97 percent of the population.

Why This Collection Was Created?
The U.S. federal census has been taken at the beginning of every decade, beginning in 1790, to apportion the number of representatives a state could send to the House of Representatives. In the absence of a national system of vital registration, many vital statistics and personal questions were asked to provide a statistical profile of the nation and its states.

Record Reliability
Federal censuses are usually reliable, depending on the knowledge of the informant and the care taken by the census enumerator. Realize that any family member or even a neighbor may have supplied information to the census taker. Some information may have been incorrect or deliberately falsified.

Related Web Sites
United States Census Online

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Related Wiki Articles
United States Federal Census

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

Examples of Source Citations for a Record in This Collection
"United States Census, 1900." index and images, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org): accessed 8 April 2011. entry for Olive G Mason, citing Census Records, FHL microfilm 1,241,238; United States Bureau of the Census, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C.

Sources of Information for This Collection:
"United States Census, 1900," index, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org), from United States. Bureau of the Census. "United States census schedules 1900. "U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C.:FHL microfilm, 1854 reels. Family History LIbrary, Salt Lake City, Utah.