What Can Census Records Say About Your Family?



Census records are important for many reasons. Genealogists were super excited when the 1940 census data was released because of the potential that it contained information they needed (and had no way to access before that release). There are many things that census records can say about your family.

The National Archives points out that census records can provide the building blocks of your research, allowing you to both confirm information and to learn more.

Starting with the U.S. 1850 census, and continuing through the 1940 census, details are provided for all individuals in each household. Those details include:

* Names of family members
* Their ages at a certain point in time
* Their state or country of birth
* Their parent’s birthplaces
* Year of immigration
* Street address
* Marriage status and years of marriage
* Occupation(s)
* Value of their home and personal belongings
* The crops that they grew (in agricultural schedules)

MyHeritage points out that census records (worldwide) can also include marriage information, military service, and more. Some countries recorded religious affiliation.

Census records can reveal information about the daily lives of your ancestors that can be added to your family tree. Families can be traced from each census over the years, and often from location to location throughout the country.MyHeritage has 94 census collections, containing over 1 billion census records. Their earliest census records date back to 1657.

MyHeritage is offering free searching and viewing of their major census collections from August 14, 2017 through August 20, 2017. This covers more than 1 billion census records from the U.S., the U.K., Ireland, Canada, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark. This offer is available to users of MyHeritage as well as people who have never used MyHeritage before.

Here is a quick look at the records MyHeritage is offering for free (for a limited time). These records will remain available for MyHeritage users after the “freebie” offer expires.

United States
100,465,273 census records
From 1790-1940

U.K. & Ireland
213,519,384 census records
From 1801-1911

Canada
28,167,687 census records
From 1825-1911

Sweden
46,583,546 census records
From 1880-1920
Exclusive to MyHeritage: Sweden Household Examination Books, 1880-1920

Finland
33,428,981 census records
From 1657-1915
Exclusive to MyHeritage: Finland Church Census and Pre-Confirmation Books, 1657-1915

Denmark
62,057,547 census records
From 1850-1930
Exclusive to MyHeritage: Many of the Danish Censuses

It is worth noting that a MyHeritage Data subscription is still required to view records from other collections, and for saving records to your family tree or confirming Record Matches with any collection.

Related Articles at FamilyTree.com:

* Before the Civil War – The 1860 Census

* US Federal 1870 Census

* The 2020 Census has Funding Problems

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