United States census schedules

Federal census records in the United States have been around since 1790. Within the United States, censuses are conducted every ten years to count the population for a couple of reasons — to correctly divide the number of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and to assess federal taxes. Although census collections are still performed, privacy restrictions prevent the release of any detailed census information on individuals for 72 years. Currently, you can find federal census data on individuals for the census years 1790 to 1940. However, practically all of the 1890 census was destroyed due to actions taken after a fire in the Commerce Building in 1921 — for more on this, see “First in the Path of the Firemen,” The Fate of the 1890 Population Census, at

https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1996/spring/1890-census-1.html.

Federal census records are valuable because you can use them to take historical snapshots of your ancestors in ten-year increments. These snapshots enable you to track your ancestors as they moved from county to county or state to state, and to identify the names of parents and siblings of your ancestors who you may not have previously known. Also, by paying attention to neighbors listed in the census or by individuals who cohabitated with your ancestors, you may be able to determine families that later intermarried with your ancestor’s family or discover why a family member was given a particular first name. For example, a child’s first name might have been named after a close neighbor’s last name.

Each census year contains a different amount of information, with more modern census returns (also called schedules) containing the most information. Schedules from 1790 to 1840 list only the head of household for each family, along with the number of people living in the household broken down by age classifications. Schedules from 1850 on have the names and ages of all members of the household, and each subsequent census year’s schedules contain additional information on members of the household.

Population schedules were not the only product of the federal censuses. Special schedules include census returns for slaves, mortality, agriculture, manufacturing, and veterans. Each type of special schedule contains information pertaining to a specific group or occupation. In the case of slave schedules (used in the 1850 and 1860 censuses), slaves were listed under the names of the slave owner, and information was provided on the age, gender, and race of the slave. If the slave was more than 100 years old, his or her name was listed on the schedule. Note, though, that enumerators may have included names for other slaves if he or she felt inclined to list them. Although the slave schedules do not contain a lot of information, they can be used as a starting point for further research. Figure 4-1 shows an example of a slave schedule from the 1850 census.

Mortality schedules (used in 1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880) include information on people who died in the 12 months previous to the start of the census. For example, the 1860 schedule contains details such as name, age, sex, color, free or slave, married or widowed, place of birth, month of death, profession, cause of death, and number of days ill. Figure 4-2 shows a page from the 1860 schedule.

Agricultural schedules were used between 1840 and 1910. However, only the schedules from 1840 to 1880 survive. They contain detailed demographic and financial information on farm owners. Information contained on the schedules includes name of owner or manager of the farm, acres of land, cash value of the farm, value of implements and machinery, number and value of livestock, value of produce, and value of animals slaughtered; see Figure 4-3.

Manufacturing and industry schedules (taken infrequently between 1810 and 1880) contain information on business owners and their business interests. Details included on the 1850 schedule included the name of the company, product manufactured, capital invested, raw material used, kind of power used, average number of people employed, wages paid, and annual product produced; see Figure 4-4.

Veteran schedules include the Revolutionary War pensioner census, which was taken as part of the 1840 census, and the special census for Union veterans and their widows (taken in 1890). Information found on the 1890 special census includes rank, company, regiment or vessel, date of enlistment, date of discharge, and length of service. The remarks section includes information on disability and other comments the enumerator felt compelled to make. Figure 4-5 contains an example of the 1890 special schedule, including surviving soldiers, sailors, marines, and widows.

State, territorial, and other census records

Federal census records are not the only population enumerations you can find for ancestors in the United States. You may also find census records at the state, territorial, and local level for certain areas of the United States.

Several state and territorial censuses have become available online. Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com) has, within its subscription collection, state and territorial censuses for Alabama (1820–1866), California (1852), Colorado (1885), Florida (1867–1945), Illinois (1825–1865), Iowa (1836–1925), Kansas (1855–1925), Michigan (1894); Minnesota (1849–1905), Mississippi (1792–1866), Missouri (1844–1881), Nebraska (1860–1885), Nevada (1875), New Jersey (1895), New York (1880, 1892, 1905), North Carolina (1784–1787), North Dakota (1915, 1925), Oklahoma (1890, 1907), Rhode Island (1865–1935), South Dakota (1895), Washington (1857–1892), and Wisconsin (1895, 1905), as well as a host of other census records, including images of the U.S. Indian census schedules from 1885 to 1940.

Another source for state and territorial census images is at the free site HistoryKat (www.historykat.com). HistoryKat has images of Illinois (1810–1820). Figure 4-6 shows an image from the 1820 Illinois state census for Franklin County.

Indexes and some images for state and territorial censuses are also found at no charge on FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org). Locations available on the site include Alabama (1855, 1866), California (1852), Colorado (1885), Florida (1885, 1935, 1945), Illinois (1855, 1865), Iowa (1885, 1895, 1905), Massachusetts (1855, 1865), Michigan (1894), Minnesota (1865–1905), New Jersey (1855, 1865, 1885, 1895, 1905, and 1915), New York (1855–1925), Rhode Island (1885–1935), and South Dakota 1905–1945).

Special census records can often help you piece together your ancestors’ migration patterns, account for ancestors who may not have been enumerated in the federal censuses, or provide greater details on ancestors who were members of a specific population. Some examples of special censuses available at Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com) include

• Census of merchant seamen, 1930: Enumerates the name of each person on board, sex, race, age, marital status, ability to read/write, place of birth, citizenship status, ability to speak English, occupation, whether the person was a veteran mobilized for war/expedition, and address of next of kin
• New York census of inmates in almshouses and poorhouses, 1830–1920: Contains name, age, date of admission and discharge, habits, education, names and addresses of relatives and friends, questions on extended family, and questions on tendency toward self-sufficiency or dependence
• Puerto Rico, special censuses, agricultural schedules, 1935: Lists the names of owners and managers of farms, acreage, farm value, machinery, livestock, and amount of staples produced on the farm
• U.S. special census on deaf family marriages and hearing relatives, 1888–1895: Contains information on how the person became deaf and other relatives that might also be deaf
• U.S. special census of Indians, 1880: Includes Indian name, English translation of the name, whether a chief, whether full-blooded, number of years on the reservation, and health information
• U.S. Indian census rolls, 1885-1940: A collection of several censuses performed on Indian reservations; see Figure 4-7

Sifting through census record results

As you might recall from Chapter 2, William Henry Abell was born around 1873 in Kentucky, was located in Wapella, De Witt County, Illinois, in 1901, and died in Hodgenville, Kentucky, on 07 September 1955. There are a lot of gaps between 1873, 1901, and 1955 that can be narrowed with census records. In this section, we walk you through the process of evaluating the census records found on the Ancestry.com website. We use the same search steps outlined in Chapter 3, so we won’t repeat them here.

Figure 4-8 shows some of the results from Ancestry.com. A total of 3,818 results came back and only a very few will pertain to William. After all, during his lifetime there were only eight censuses — 1880, 1890, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940, and 1950. The 1890 census is unavailable due to the actions taken after the fire in the Commerce Building in 1921 and the 1950 census is not available to the public until 2022 (due to privacy restrictions). This leaves six census years for research — a very manageable number.

Here is a quick evaluation of the search results:

• Search result 1: The result is from the 1900 census. The search record matches the following elements that we assembled in Chapter 2: William H Abell, Lizzie F Abell, and birthdate of January 1873.
• Search result 2: The result is from the 1910 census. The search record matches: William H Abell, Lizzie F Abell, Leona P Abell, [Ella E Abell], birth about 1873 in Kentucky.
• Search result 3: The result is from the 1920 census. The search record matches William K Abell, Leona P, Edna E, birth around 1873 in Kentucky. The middle initial error is not uncommon in indexing — sometimes it is hard to read the handwriting of the census enumerator.
• Search result 4: The result is from the 1900 census. The search record matches William Abell, but no other element except a birth in Kentucky. The birthdate is close — 1872, but we already have a better match for the 1900 census in the first search result.
• Search result 5: The result is from the 1930 census. The search record matches William Abell, Betty Abell, birth around 1873 in Kentucky. Keep in mind that William was married to a Betty at the time of his death, according to his obituary.
• Search result 6: The result is from the 1880 census. The search record matches William H, but the last name is spelled Abl. The birth date and place are a match — about 1873 in Kentucky. It is not unusual to see name spelling variations in census records. Some enumerators spelled the name like it sounded.

In the first six search results, we had pretty good luck. Five census records match our target ancestor. Of course, you may be asking where the 1940 census is. It doesn’t appear until search result number 36. This is probably because the first name is abbreviated Wm H Abell with a birth date of about 1872. The abbreviation and conflicting year of birth prompted the entry for the 1940 census to drop down in the search results. Of course, if you knew you were missing one census year (1940), you could click on the 1940s link in the left column to filter the results. Doing that makes the Wm H Abell result number 2 on the list.

Our next step is to look at the digitized records to confirm the information from the index and to see what other nuggets are in the record.

Digging into digitized census records

We think that the best part of family history research is when you are able to see the actual record that is evidence of the existence of your ancestor. You never know what surprising information you may encounter.

Before jumping into looking at census records, it is a good idea to understand more about how the record was created so you have the context of the information presented on the image. Census enumerators conducted the census by going from house to house within a pre-defined enumeration district. They would ask occupants a standard set of questions and record the answers. If the occupants were not home, the enumerators were authorized to get answers to the questions from the nearest available person with knowledge of the household. This means you will find incorrect information in census schedules, and that is a reason to always corroborate information with other records. In some census years, multiple copies of the census records were made. As they were handwritten records, mistakes were also made in recopying the schedules. Enumerators were provided instructions on how to complete the census returns. The 1940 instructions can be found at http://1940census.archives.gov/downloads/instructions-to-enumerators.pdf.

As far as a strategy for using digitized records is concerned, we like to begin with the newest record and work our way back in time. That way we can build on the information from record to record and triangulate any new information. In our case, we start with the search result for the 1940 census. Clicking on the result brings us to the record page (see Figure 4-9). This page is a transcription of the key elements of the census record. The transcription can be very handy if part of the record is hard to read — it is almost like having a second set of eyes to help you interpret the record. However, keep in mind that indexers do make mistakes, so it is okay if you don’t agree with their interpretation of the record. Also, note that at the bottom of the page is a source citation for the record. The citation is something that you will want to use when putting the record’s contents into your genealogical application.

If you click on the View button on the thumbnail of the census record, you are taken to the image viewer (see Figure 4-10). To make it easy to find your ancestor, the information matching the search result is highlighted on the page. In the next few paragraphs, we go through the schedule so that you know where to look for all the relevant information provided by the record.

The first important element of a census enumeration is at the top of the page. Starting on the left side, the schedule states that the record is from Larue County, Kentucky. In particular, the page was enumerated in the Magisterial District Number 3, Buffalo. This provides us with a geographical landmark for the schedule. The Supervisor’s District (Number 4) and Enumeration District (Number 62-7) numbers are found in the upper right corner of the schedule. These can also be used to locate where the enumerator was when the record was created. These can be very handy in rural areas where addresses were not always used. The final piece of critical evidence is the date of the enumeration — 23–24 April 1940. You have the actual date that the enumerator asked the questions. This date can help explain why an individual may not be listed in the census (for example, they were born in 1940, but after the enumeration date).

Armed with the enumeration district number, we can find a digitized map of the 1940 enumeration districts at the National Archives Web or Ancestry.com websites. An easy way to find the map is to use Steve Morse and Joel Weintraub’s Viewing 1940 Enumeration District Maps in One Step web page. Try this:

1. Point your browser to http://stevemorse.org/census/arc1940-1950edmaps.html?year=1940.

   The page appears with drop-down boxes for the state, county, and city.

2. Set the drop-down boxes to your desired location and click the Get ED Map Images button.

   We set the state to Kentucky and county to Larue County. A new page appears with links to the National Archives viewer (preferred if you don’t have an Ancestry.com subscription), the image files on the National Archives site, and the Ancestry.com viewer.

3. Click a link to view the enumeration district map.

   We clicked on the Ancestry.com viewer, so we could link the map to William Henry Abell’s record on our online family tree. The map appears in a separate browser window as seen in Figure 4-11.

Back to the census schedule, we scrolled down to the entry for Wm H Abell. His household begins on line 17. Starting with the left side of the entry, we can see that the house was located on Levelwoods Road, and it was the fifth residence visited by the enumerator. The property was a farm owned by William valued at $500. The value of the farm was consistent with neighboring properties. William was the head of a three-person household, a white male aged 68, born in Kentucky. The highest grade of school he completed was fifth grade. On 1 April 1935, William lived at the same residence. He was self-employed for 10 hours a week as a farmer and had worked 40 weeks during 1939. His annual income was $50. The record also indicated that William was listed on Farm Schedule 5. As for his wife Betty, she was a 48-year-old white female, born in Kentucky. She was the respondent to the census enumerator (as indicated by the circle with an “X” symbol). She also had a fifth-grade education and worked as the postmistress at the Post Office, earning a salary of $242. She worked 52 weeks in 1939. Also, living in the household was Lillie Allen, a step-daughter to William. She was a single, 28-year-old white female with a fifth-grade education. She was not listed as employed, but had made $30 over the past year, working 10 weeks in 1939.

Consolidating your discoveries

As you can see, we learned a lot about William and his family from the record that we covered in the last section. We can compare his information to his neighbors to get a sense of the community that he lived within. Up to now we’ve engaged in the planning phase and researching phase. Now, it’s time to move into the consolidation phase and store our information. As we have confirmed that the information in the census record is consistent with what we knew about William, we can save the information to our Ancestry.com online family tree (even if you don’t have an Ancestry.com family tree, you can save the record to your computer). Here is how:

1. Click the green Save button.

   The button is located in the upper-right corner of the viewer. A drop-down box appears with choices on where to save the record.

2. Choose a location to save the record.

   We chose to save it to William Henry Abell online family tree record. A new page appears comparing information from the record to the current information stored in William’s online family tree record (see Figure 4-12).

3. Select the information that you wish saved to the online family tree.

   Use the checkboxes to select the information. Note that the box specifies information that is different from the record in the online family tree, as well as, those items that are new. If the person’s box is grayed out, click on the checkbox next to their name.

4. Optionally, edit any information that needs clarification by clicking on the Edit All Fields button located in the right column. Click the Close Editing button when the edits are complete.

   In our example, the residence entry for 1935 shows the place as Sh, Larue, Kentucky. “Sh” isn’t really a place — it is a code from the census meaning “Same House.” So, we edited the field to say “Larue County, Kentucky, USA.”

5. Click the Save to Your Tree button.

   The facts page appears for the person to whom you saved the record.

Figure 4-13 shows the updated facts page for William Henry Abell. Notice that the 1940 United States Federal Census box was added to the Sources column and is linked to three facts (the purple lines drawn from the source to the fact shows the link). Also, see that a new entry shows under Web Links — to the 1940 Enumeration District Map. Notice that Lillie Allen has been added as a child under Betty. Because Lillie was a step-daughter, we edit the entry to show that William was not the biological father.

1. Click on the box of the person you want to edit.

   We clicked on the Lillie Allen box under the Spouse & Children section of the Family Column. The facts page for the person appears.

2. Click on the Edit drop-down button.

   The button is located in the upper-right corner of the screen (a pencil icon is on the button). A drop-down menu appears.

3. Select Edit Relationships and change the relationship information.

   A pop-over box appears. You can choose to add an alternative father or mother or change the relationship of the current parent. We don’t know Lillie’s father, so we change William Henry Abell’s drop-down from Biological to Step. If we discover the identity of Lillie’s father in the future, we can associate her with him later.

4. Click the “X” button in the upper-right corner to dismiss the pop-over box.

   The facts page appears.

Using census records to tell a story

Family history is more than collecting the names and birth/death dates of people who lived in the past. It is about telling the story of their lives. Your ancestor was more than a line number on a census schedule within a particular county and state. They had jobs, possessed land, were educated at a certain level, and had relationships with the community around them.

As a final step in the consolidation phase, we should write up the results of our research on the census record and put it into our genealogy application. In our case, we add it to the Ancestry.com online family tree LifeStory page. Here’s how:

1. From the Pedigree view, click your ancestor’s box and select the Profile button.

   We selected William Henry Abell’s box and clicked on the Profile button. The facts page appears.

2. Click on the LifeStory link.

   The LifeStory link is located in the menu just under the name of the ancestor. The LifeStory timeline appears with facts, maps, and historical articles, as seen in Figure 4-14.

3. Edit a fact to provide additional details from the census record.

   We scrolled down to the fact dated 1 April 1940 — marked “Residence, William Henry Abell lived in Larue, Kentucky, on April 1, 1940.”

4. Click the Edit button.

   The Edit button is located in the upper-right corner of the fact. The fields in the fact become editable. Type or cut and paste information into the fields. We put our discoveries into the third field and adjusted the date to be the actual date on the census schedule.

5. Click the Save button.

   The text saves in the field.

To complete the research on census records, we would repeat the process for each census year. To triangulate information, compare the results from each census year. Table 4-1 shows an abstract of the information that we discovered in each census year.

After looking through the six censuses, we pieced together the following new information about William Henry Abell. William lived in four counties in two states — starting and ending in Larue County (Kentucky), with stops in De Witt County (Illinois), Tazewell County (Illinois), and McLean County (Illinois). He was first married to Lizzie F. Pickerell around 1899 (1900 census) and married Betty between 1920 and 1930 (1930 census). We also have the approximate birth dates and states of Lizzie and Betty, five children, four step-children, and four siblings. Finally, we have the names and birth dates and states for William’s parents (1880 census). By looking at six records we expanded the number of facts on William’s online family tree page from three to eighteen (see Figure 4-15).

Africa

• Ghana: FamilySearch has added images of census records from 1984.

Asia

• Japan: FamilySearch.org hosts census records from Ehime-ken from 1661-1875 at https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2313184.
• Philippines: Censuses were taken by the United States for military personnel in 1900, 1910, and 1920 and are available on Ancestry.com. A census was also conducted in 1903 and is available on the Internet Archive at https://archive.org/details/censusphilippin01ganngoog.

Europe

• Albania: FamilySearch.org has unindexed images of the 1930 census available online.
• Austria: Some general information is available on the content of the Galicia censuses and is contained in two articles on the Federation of East European Family History Societies site: Austrian Census Returns from 1869 to 1890 (http://feefhs.org/region/galicia-census-returns) and Austrian Census for Galicia (http://feefhs.org/region/galicia-austrian-census). FamilySearch.org has posted census records for Wels, Upper Austria, citizen rolls for Linz 1658-1937, and Vienna population cards 1850-1896.
• Czech Republic: The South Bohemian Census 1857–1921 contains digitized images from the 1857, 1869, 1880, 1890, 1900, 1910, and 1921 censuses. You can find the images at http://digi.ceskearchivy.cz/DA?lang=en&menu=0&doctree=1t&id=5. FamilySearch has placed more than 4.9 million images of census records and registers from 1800-1990 at https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1930345.
• Denmark: The Danish Archives has census returns for the years 1787, 1801, 1834, 1840, 1845, 1850, 1855, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1890, 1901, 1906, 1911, 1916, 1921, 1925, 1930, and 1940. You can find information from these censuses at the Statens Arkiver site (https://www.sa.dk/ao-soegesider/da/collection/theme/2) and the Dansk Demografisk Database (http://ddd.dda.dk/kiplink_en.htm). The Dansk Demografisk Database also includes censuses and lists of emigrants and immigrants for Denmark. FamilySearch.org hosts the 1911 and 1916 censuses. MyHeritage (www.myheritage.com) has the 1901, 1906, 1911, 1916, 1921, 1925, and 1930 censuses online. Police Registers from Copenhagen 1890-1923 are available at http://www.politietsregisterblade.dk./index.php. Censuses for the county of Aarhus are online at www.folketimidten.dk.
• Estonia: FamilySearch has placed over 600,000 images of population registers from Estonia. Years covered include 1918 through 1944.
• Finland: MyHeritage (www.myheritage.com) has church census and pre-confirmation books dated 1657-1915 available online.
• France: FamilySearch.org has indexes and images for the 1856 and 1876 censuses for Dordogne, France; and the 1830-1831, 1872, 1886, and 1891 censuses for Haute-Garonne, Toulouse, France. The English census of Pondichéry is available on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine at http://web.archive.org/web/20051018170723/http://pondichery.ifrance.com/index.html.
• Germany: The collection at Ancestry.com contains the Mecklenburg-Schwerin censuses of 1819, 1867, 1890, 1900, and 1919; the Lübeck census of 1807, 1812, 1815, 1831, 1845, 1851, 1857, 1862, 1871, 1875, and 1880. FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org) and MyHeritage (www.myheritage.com) has also posted the Mecklenburg-Schwerin censuses of 1867, 1890, and 1900.
• Hungary: Ancestry.com has the 1869 All Citizen Census, assorted census records from 1781-1850, Jewish Census of 1848, and Jewish names in property tax census of 1828. The National Archives of Hungary collection (http://mnl.gov.hu) includes the 1623, 1631, 1691, 1715,1775, 1787, and 1828 Urbarial Census; Jewish Census of 1848; 1857 Census, and 1877 Census.
• Iceland: The National Archives of Iceland Census database (http://www.manntal.is/?lang=en) includes records from the censuses of 1703, 1816, 1835, 1840, 1845, 1850, 1855, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1890, 1901, 1910, and 1920. Ancestry.com hosts the censuses from 1870, 1880, and 1890.
• Ireland: The 1901 and 1911 censuses, along with fragments and substitutes from 1821-1851 are available online at www.census.nationalarchives.ie. The following records are available at Ancestry.com — 1766 Religious Census, Census Abstracts 1841-1851, 1901 Census, and 1911 Census. Findmypast (www.findmypast.com) hosts records from the 1821–1851 census, 1901 and 1911 censuses, 1922 Army Census, and Census of Elphin of 1749. FamilySearch.org has the 1821, 1831, 1841, and 1851 censuses. MyHeritage (www.myheritage.com) has the 1901 and 1911 censuses and the 1851 Dublin city census.
• Italy: FamilySearch.org contains census records from 1750–1900 for Mantova.
• Moldova: FamilySearch.org has image only collections of Poll Tax Census (Revision Lists) and Census Lists 1796–1917. Ancestry.com has the Bessarabia, Revision Lists, 1837–1952.
• Luxembourg: FamilySearch has uploaded 1.1 million images of census records from 1843 to 1900 at https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2037957.
• Netherlands: FamilySearch houses census and population registers from 1574 to 1940 and Noord-Brabant Province population registers from 1820 to 1930. Ancestry.com has the Population Registers Index, 1850–Present and Census and Population Registers, 1645–1940 collections.
• Norway: The National Archives of Norway (https://media.digitalarkivet.no/en/ft/browse) maintains online the censuses of 1663-1666, 1701, 1769, 1801, 1815, 1825, 1835, 1845, 1855, 1865, 1870, 1875, 1885, 1891, 1900, and 1910. FamilySearch.org, MyHeritage, and Ancestry.com have the 1875 Census.
• Poland: Ancestry.com has the Będzin Jewish Census, 1939.
• Romania: Ancestry.com hosts the Jewish Census, 1942.
• Russia: FamilySearch contains Tver Confession Lists 1728–1913 and Tartarstan Confession Lists 1775–1932. Ancestry.com has the Jewish Families in Russian Empire Census, 1897.
• Slovakia: FamilySearch.org hosts images from the 1869 Census.
• Spain: FamilySearch houses the Catastro de Ensenada, 1749–1756.
• Sweden: The National Archives houses a database of the 1860, 1870, 1880, 1890, 1900, 1910, and 1930 censuses at https://sok.riksarkivet.se/folkrakningar. The Research Archives, Umeå University Library houses the 1890 Census at http://www2.foark.umu.se/census/Index.htm.
• Switzerland: FamilySearch.org contains census enumerations from Fribourg for the years 1811, 1818, 1831, 1834, 1836, 1839, 1842, 1845, 1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880.
• Ukraine: FamilySearch.org has the Odessa Census Records 1897.
• United Kingdom: For general information on census records, see the National Archives Census page at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/recordscensus.htm. Images of the 1841 through 1911 censuses are available at Ancestry.com, FindMyPast.com (www.findmypast.co.uk), Genes Reunited (www.genesreunited.co.uk), and MyHeritage. Transcriptions are sporadic for the 1841 through 1891 censuses at the FreeCEN site (http://www.freecen.org.uk) and TheGenealogist.co.uk (www.thegenealogist.co.uk).

North America

• Canada: Library and Archives Canada maintains information on the 1825, 1831, 1842, 1851, 1861, 1870, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901, 1906, 1911, and 1916 censuses online at www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census/Pages/census.aspx. Ancestry.ca (www.ancestry.ca) has the 1825, 1842, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901, 1906, 1911, 1916, and 1921 censuses. MyHeritage (www.myheritage.com) hosts the 1825, 1842, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901, and 1911 censuses. FamilySearch.org has the 1901 and 1916 censuses.
• Guatemala: FamilySearch.org, Ancestry.com and MyHeritage contain the Cuidad de Guatemala Census of 1877.
• Mexico: FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com have the 1930 Census.

Oceania

• Australia: Individual state censuses date 1788. The first country-wide census was conducted in 1881. Most returns were destroyed, in accordance with law. You can substitute other records for census returns in the form of convict returns and musters and post office directories. These returns are available for some states for the years 1788, 1792, 1796, 1800, 1801, 1805, 1806, 1811, 1814, 1816, 1817–1823, 1825, 1826, and 1837. FamilySearch.org offers the New South Wales 1828, 1841, and 1891 censuses and Ancestry.com has the 1901 census for New South Wales online. A portion of the 1913 census is available at http://www.hotkey.net.au/~jwilliams4/act1913.htm. For more information on locating census returns, see the Census in Australia page at www.jaunay.com/auscensus.html.

South America

• Argentina: The first two national censuses were conducted in 1869 and 1895, and a census was conducted in 1855 for Buenos Aires. These censuses are available online at FamilySearch.org, MyHeritage and Ancestry.com. The 1914 national census is only available at the Archivo General de la Nación.
• Peru: FamilySearch.org hosts the Municipal Census, 1831–1866.