Source Information

Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.

Original data: Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910 (NARA microfilm publication T624, 1,178 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. For details on the contents of the film numbers, visit the following NARA web page: NARA

This database is an every name index to individuals enumerated in the 1910 United States Federal Census, the Thirteenth Census of the United States. In addition, the names of those listed on the population schedule are linked to actual images of the 1910 Federal Census, copied from the National Archives and Records Administration microfilm, T624, 1,784 rolls. (If you do not initially find the name on the page that you are linked to, try a few pages forward or backward, as sometimes different pages had the same page number.)

This new index (released June 2006) maintains the old head of household index and adds to it a new every name index (including a re-keying of the heads of households). As a result, for many heads of households you will see two names - a primary, and an alternate. The primary name is the newly keyed name. The alternate name is the name as it appeared in the original head of household only index. Alternate names are only displayed when there is a difference in the way the name was keyed between the two indexes. By making both names available to researchers, the likelihood of your being able to find your head of household ancestor has increased. Likewise, researchers who were once able to find their head of household ancestor under a particular spelling will still be able to easily find that ancestor.

What Areas are Included:

The 1910 census includes all fifty U.S. states and Washington D.C., as well as Military and Naval Forces, and Puerto Rico.

Why Census Records are Important:

Few, if any, records reveal as many details about individuals and families as do the U.S. federal censuses. The population schedules are successive "snapshots" of Americans that depict where and how they were living at particular periods in the past. Because of this, the census is often the best starting point for genealogical research after home sources have been exhausted.

Some Enumerator Instructions:

The 1910 Census was begun on 15 April 1910. The actual date of the enumeration appears on the heading of each page of the census schedule, but all responses were to reflect the individual's status as of 15 April, even if the status had changed between 15 April and the day of enumeration. For example, children born between 15 April and the day of enumeration were not to be listed, while individuals alive on 15 April but deceased when the enumerator arrived were to be counted.

The following questions were asked by enumerators:

Location:

• Name of street, avenue road, etc.
• House number or farm
• Number of dwelling in order of visitation
• Number of family in order of visitation

Name and Relation:

• Name of each person whose place of abode was with the family
• Relationship of person enumerated to the head of the family

Personal Description:

• Sex
• Color or race
• Age at last birthday
• Marital status - whether single, married, widowed, or divorced
• If married, number of years of present marriage
• For mothers, number of total children born and number of children living

Nativity:

• Place of birth
• Father's place of birth
• Mother's place of birth

Citizenship:

• Year of immigration to United States
• Whether naturalized or alien
• Whether able to speak English; or if not, language spoken

Occupation:

• Trade, profession, or particular kind of work done
• Industry, business, or establishment in which at work
• Whether employer, employee, or working on own account
• If an employee, whether out of work on 15 April 1910 and number of weeks out of work during 1909

Education:

• Whether able to read
• Whether able to write
• Whether attended school any time since 1 September 1909

Ownership of Home:

• Owned or Rented
• Owned free or mortgaged
• Farm or house
• Number of farm schedule (applies only to farm homes)

Military:

• Whether a survivor of the Union or Confederate Army or Navy

Disabilities:

• Whether blind (both eyes)
• Whether deaf and dumb

There were separate Indian population schedules for 1910 in which the tribe and/or band was also recorded.

Taken from Chapter 5: Research in Census Records, The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy by Loretto Dennis Szucs; edited by Loretto Dennis Szucs and Sandra Hargreaves Luebking (Salt Lake City, UT: Ancestry Incorporated, 1997).