Getting the most out of the US Census

[jsanders]

I know I can't wait for the 1940 US Census and it's only weeks away now.  How well do  you know the census?  Are  there questions on the US Census which you just plain overlooked and didn't pay much attention to?  I know this has happened to me in the past.  The 1910 census asked whether you were a veteran of the civil war.    The 1880, 1900 and 1910 census asked questions like mother of how many children and number of these still alive?  Did you use these to find children who were born and died in between census years?

Take our census quiz at the following  http://www.hiddengenealogynuggets.com/genealogyblog/2012/02/census-genealogy/ and see more questions you may have over looked.

Regards

[shellyesq]

There is an index of the questions asked on the census here:  http://www.census.gov/history/www/through_the_decades/index_of_questions/

The 1880 Census did not ask about the number of children.  Perhaps you meant 1890?

[coombs]

One of my fave US censuses is the 1900 one as month and year of birth had to be given. Providing the said given dates were accurate, probably the month but not always the year as ages were not that relevant then.

[jsanders]

That's one of my favorites as well.  I agree the month will most likely be correct but the year could possible be off a little bit. 

You always must be careful about the ages and years in the census.  I've found that my wife's ancestor aged 13 years between one census and about 15 years during the next census period.  At least that's what the approximate ages indicated...

[coombs]

Sort of shows that even people who did not know how old they were exactly probably knew their month of birth but forgot the year.

Also the 1900 census was the first to give immigration year for people born overseas living in America.