• Welcome Ancestry Library Edition
  • Help

1850 United States Federal Census

Original Images

This database contains images of original records.

Sample Forms
Download blank Census forms
You can fill out the form with information on your ancestor, or just use it to better read the column headings.

Handwriting Help
View a sampling of handwriting examples
The examples should help you read the text on the original images more easily.

Please choose a county in Iowa:

Allamakee Fremont Monroe
Appanoose Henry Muscatine
Benton Iowa Page
Black Hawk Jackson Polk
Boone Jasper Pottawattamie
Buchanan Jefferson Poweshiek
Cedar Johnson Scott
Clarke Jones Tama
Clayton Keokuk Taylor
Clinton Lee Van Buren
Dallas Linn Wapello
Davis Louisa Warren
Decatur Lucas Washington
Delaware Madison Wayne
Des Moines Mahaska Winneshiek
Dubuque Marion
Fayette Marshall

Census Records - Counties

After separating the census records into groups by state, the federal government subdivided these records into county groups. Searching for an ancestor on the county level provides a smaller region for research if you remain uncertain about the specific township where your ancestor resided. Researchers should also be aware of boundary line or jurisdictional changes through time. These changes may affect where an ancestor was enumerated on the census, so it remains important to search the counties surrounding the area where your ancestor lived.