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Subject: [RHEA-L] 1790 Census Datebase Info and Extended Info
Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 22:43:49 EDT

1790 United States Federal Census





Description:
This database details those persons enumerated in the 1790 United States
Federal Census. In addition, the names of those listed on the population
schedule are linked to the actual images of the 1790 Federal Census, copied
from the National Archives and Records Administration microfilm, M637, 12
rolls.

Enumerators of the 1790 census were asked to include the following categories
in the census: name of head of household, number of free white males of
sixteen years or older, number of free white males under sixteen, number of
free white females, number of slaves, number of other persons, and sometimes
town or district of residence. The categories allowed Congress to determine
persons residing in the United States for collection of taxes and the
appropriation of seats in the House of Representatives. This first United
States census schedule differs in format from later census material, as each
enumerator was expected to make his own copies on whatever paper he could
find. Unlike later census schedules an enumerator could arrange the records
as he pleased. This database is certain to prove useful for those seeking
early American ancestors.

Extended Description:


The United States was the first country to call for a regularly held census.
The Constitution required that a census of all "Persons...excluding Indians
not taxed" be performed to determine the collection of taxes and the
appropriation of seats in the House of Representatives. The first nine
censuses from 1790-1870 were organized under the United States Federal Court
system. Each district was assigned a U.S. marshal who hired other marshals to
administer the census. Governors were responsible for enumeration in
territories.

The jurisdiction of the original thirteen states canvassed an area of
seventeen present states. Schedules survive for eleven of the thirteen
original states: Connecticut, Maine (part of Massachusetts at the time),
Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina,
Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Vermont. (Vermont became the
fourteenth state early in 1791 and was included in the census schedules).

Enumerators were only required to make one copy of the census schedules to be
held by the clerk of the district court in their respective area. In 1830,
Congress passed a law requiring the return of all decennial censuses from
1790-1830. At this point it was discovered that many of the 1790 schedules
had been lost or destroyed. Thus, we have about two-thirds of the original
census from the time period. The 1790 census suffered district losses of
Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, New Jersey, and Virginia. However, some of the
schedules for these states have been re-created using tax lists and other
records. Virginia was eventually reconstructed from tax lists as well as some
counties from North Carolina and Maryland.

Taken from Chapter 5: Research in Census Records, The Source: A Guidebook of
American Genealogy by Loretto Dennis Szucs; edited by Loretto Dennis Szucs
and Sandra Hargreaves Luebking (Salt Lake City, UT: Ancestry Incorporated,
1997).

Source Information:
Index created from United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Heads of
Families at the First Census of the United States in the Year 1790.
Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1908. Corresponding images
scanned from National Archives and Records Administration. 1790 United States
Federal Census. [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000. Data imaged
from National Archives and Records Administration. 1790 Federal Population
Census. M637, 12 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records
Administration.

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