Great Resource: University of Virginia Library Historical Census Browser

May 22, 10:34 PMAfrican American Genealogy ExaminerMichael Hait

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This database has been available for a few years, but I think that it deserves another mention:

The University of Virginia Library Historical Census Browser

The University of Virginia Library has compiled the population and other statistics for all of the federal censuses from 1790-1960.  You can select which statistics to view and compare, and view all 50 states or by county within states.  These databases are statistical only, they are not digital images of actual census enumerations, and contain no information on specific households.

But this statistical information is nearly as important as the actual census returns themselves, for it provides context.  As much time as we spend investigating our ancestors, we must also remember that they did not live in a Family Group Record world.  They were members of a community, and the demographic information contained in this database will tell you about that community.

Some of the information is particularly useful for genealogists, if you compare your family to the statistics for the county in which they lived.  Data on the population by size of household, gender, age, and race, information on the ownership and size of farms, occupations, religion, etc., are all available for searching.  You can also organize households by the number of slaves they own.  If more detailed data manipulation is needed for your study, the original datafile is itself downloadable from the site.

You can search by year or subject (i.e. general population, ethnicity, education, agriculture, economy, or slave population), and by selected county and/or state.  Once you have the data available for comparison, you can also click on the button labeled "Map It!" to view the statistics graphically on an interactive map.

To search and view digital images of individual census records:

Free Trial - Ancestry.com US Deluxe Membership

To view the contemporary statistical reports created by the U. S. Census Bureau:

U. S. Census Bureau - Census of Population and Housing