Census Background, Structures, & Limitations

A census is a nation or statewide population survey used for a variety of governmental purposes. At the national level, a census is taken at the start of every new decade to determine the proper number of representatives each state should hold in congress. In addition, these census records inform the government about each state’s demographics (occupation, race/ethnicity, agriculture, and other data). Historical federal and state census records, however, can provide us with a wide variety of information on previous generations of Americans.

Between 1790 and 1840, most census records only listed the household’s head – all others present during these censuses are tallied in columns based on age range and in some cases social condition (e.g., free black men and women, enslaved people of color, and all other persons of color). Beginning in 1850, the federal census included the names of all present within the household and their jobs, birthplaces, real estate value, personal estate value, etc. Towards the latter part of the 19th-century, the census records became even more detailed.

In 1825, New York State began conducting its own census every ten years, such that it fell in between the federal decadal census (NYG&BS). NYS censuses occurred regularly through the 1800s, but were interrupted in the 1880s, returning in 1892 and again in 1905, with the last one occurring in 1925 (NYG&BS). NYS census records differ in form and sometimes ask slightly different questions than those on the federal records. NYS census records from the mid 19th-century also include agricultural data related to farmers that can be extremely useful when studying rural lives.

While census records can tell a lot about past peoples, they are not perfect, and must be read critically. Often census records should be read in concert with other documents, materials, or oral histories to parse out accurate details and biases. For example, census records rarely take into young children who were born and died between censuses (Cheyenne Cutter, personal communication 2021). Sometimes, a neighbor provided the census taker with information on a family if they were not present, leading to potential errors (Cheyenne Cutter, personal communication 2021). In addition, one must recognize the census taker as a subjective data collector. In other words, they likely recorded details they felt were necessary and excluded details they felt were not necessary. In sum, the census records can be extremely valuable documents but problematic at times too. For those working with census records, it is beneficial to look for errors or inconsistencies from one census sheet to the next and from one census year to the next and to acknowledge these inconsistencies whenever they come are discovered.