Anatomy of the 1880 U. S. federal census

 

The 1880 U. S. Census was the Tenth Decennial Census. This census is especially important to genealogists for several reasons:

 

1)         This census was the first time that family relationships were explicitly stated within households. Earlier census records can only be used as indirect evidence for these relationships, but one should be careful not to infer relationships that are not stated.

 

2)         This is the last census before the largely-destroyed 1890 census. Therefore, any children appearing in this census would likely be the heads of their own households in the “next” (1900) census. What this means going backwards is that adults in 1900 would be living with their parents in 1880.

 

The period 1880 through 1900 was also a period of westward migration from the east and northward migration from the south, especially among African-Americans. It is very important, therefore, to locate your family in this census, as a way to pinpoint their places of origin prior to the mass movements of the twentieth century.

 

“Census Day” – the day that the census is supposed to reflect – fell on 1 June 1880, but, as usual, some census enumerators did not accurately reflect this date.  Be sure to also note the actual date of enumeration, which should appear at the top of the page.

 

Here is the information you can expect to find in this census:

 

Location: The name of the street and the house number within cities are provided here. When looking for neighbors, take a look at a city map of the time period. Sometimes someone living on the same street is further away than someone living around the corner on a cross-street. Also, try to reproduce the path the census taker took. He may have walked down one side of the street for several blocks, then come back around. This would cause the family across the street to be listed further away than families that lived several blocks away.

 

Name: Be aware that this is supposed to be the name of all residents of the household on Census Day (1^st of June). All of these people may not still live in the household, or more may have arrived after that date. At times, you will find people missed or enumerated twice, owing to this confusion.

                   

Personal Description (Color, Sex, Age):  African-Americans were designated “B” for “Black” or “Mu” for “Mulatto.”

 

If born within the Census year, give the month: The census year ran from 1 June 1879 through 1 June 1880, so a birth reported as “July” or “August,” for example, would have meant 1879, not 1880. To corroborate this date, check against the age, which should have been noted as “x/12,” stating the number of months old.

 

Relationship to the head of household: This field was left blank for the head of household, which is useful to know when there were other errors, such as in numbering the dwellings or families. Occasionally, when multiple families lived in the same household, the enumerator mistakenly recorded the relationships within each family group, rather than to the head of the entire household.

 

Civil Condition (Single, married, widowed, divorced): Again, this was supposed to reflect the status on Census Day.

 

Married during Census year: If the couple married between 1 June 1879 and 1 June 1880, a check would have been placed in this column.

 

Occupation: Profession, occupation, or trade of each person. Look at the occupations of all of the households in the area to determine more details about your ancestors’ way of life. If listed as a farm laborer, try to learn on whose farm they may have worked. If someone nearby is listed as a “farmer” or “planter,” then those households would be prime suspects. Also records how many months during the year each worker was unemployed. This may reflect seasonal work.

 

Health: Whether the person was temporarily sick on Census day, and whether blind, deaf and dumb, idiotic, insane, or otherwise disabled (maimed, crippled, etc.). This may tell you whether there was a bug going around that may have affected your ancestors, but is also a good way to guess at Civil War soldiers, a large number of whom were crippled during the war.

 

Education: Whether each individual attended school within the Census year, whether they cannot read, and cannot write

 

Nativity: Place of birth of each person, and each of their parents. This information, when accurate, can help you identify a person’s parents, as well as determine migration routes.