Tips and Tricks to help you make sense of the census

These are perhaps the most widely used records by genealogists. And for good reason. They can yield a goldmine of information.

However, you should always supplement your findings by trying to locate information in other records like birth certificates or church records. And don't rely on just one ennumeration year. Try and gather information from all available census years and then compare the data. Why?

Data you find in these records about your ancestor is not always accurate. These reasons include:

your ancestor may have fudged the truth about their age

the ennumerator may have misunderstood what he heard

he might have made up the information

someone else may have provided the information like a neighbour or other family member

the handwriting in some of these records may be hard to read

What exactly is a census record?

These are a government sponsored enumeration of the population in a particular area. The data captured varies by country and by year, but often contains names of heads of households or all household members, their ages, citizenship status, and ethnic background, etc.

I've broken down my guides to using these records by country. Just click on the link you're interested in and start reading!

United States guide UK (England) Census guide

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