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What Happened to the 1890 Census
There has been a great amount written about the cause of the destruction of the 1890 Census so I will not repeat or copy their work but will point to a few links where anyone interested can learn of the fire and how a few of the original census schedules survived.
What Happened to the 1890 Federal Census? - GenToday-L (April 1998)
Genealogist's Greatest Loss: What Happened to the 1890 Federal Census
1890 Census Substitutes
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Sherry Hightower on
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Nice points Mavis. I get frustrated by the amount of records lost in the destruction of so many courthouses in the south during the civil war. A northern friend of mine, not necessarily a genealogist, takes it in stride however, his records are continual. If you don't have to deal with it, then how can you understand? The good news is there are other ways to find the missing info.
1890 Census Substitutes
Alternate Resources for Finding Your Ancestor in Circa 1890 Records
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Permalink Reply by Mavis Jones on
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Thanks Sherry for the information.
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Permalink Reply by Sheri L. Whaley on
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This was included in a collection of business forms that I recently downloaded and I thought you would be interested.
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1890.pdf, 88 KB
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Sheri,
This is very interesting as I see that Texas is listed as one of the states where some or all of the 1890 Census survived however, I have not seen anything accept a reference to a 1890 substitute for Texas. I wonder where these records are now?
Thanks for sharing this.
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Permalink Reply by Catherine Davis on
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Sherry, your comment about 1890 substitute records being more prevalent in the north is most fascinating to me. I'm a northerner and as far as I can tell, my family members, from whichever country they originated, settled in the north--NY to Michigan, specifically, from 1850 forward, so I have not had any experience trying to locate info from the southern US at any time period and plead gross ignorance. But, I am at a loss to figure out why some of the same kinds of records we are using for an 1890 substitute wouldn't exist in the south so far post-Civil War as 1890. Weren't there state censuses? Or city or county directories or plat maps? Or church or tax records?
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Catherine
I found this excerpt to be very interesting and horrific!:
"First in the Path of the Firemen" The Fate of the 1890 Population Census, Part 1 By Kellee Blake
"The extant record is scanty on storage and possible use of the 1890 schedules between 1922 and 1932 and seemingly silent on what precipitated the following chain of events. In December 1932, in accordance with federal records procedures at the time, the Chief Clerk of the Bureau of Census sent the Librarian of Congress a list of papers no longer necessary for current business and scheduled for destruction. He asked the Librarian to report back to him any documents that should be retained for their historical interest. Item 22 on the list for Bureau of the Census read "Schedules, Population . . . 1890, Original." The Librarian identified no records as permanent, the list was sent forward, and Congress authorized destruction on February 21, 1933. At least one report states the 1890 census papers were finally destroyed in 1935, and a small scribbled note found in a Census Bureau file states "remaining schedules destroyed by Department of Commerce in 1934 (not approved by the Geographer)."(25) Further study is necessary to determine, if possible, what happened to the fervent and vigilant voices that championed these schedules in 1921. How were these records overlooked by Library of Congress staff? Who in the Census Bureau determined the schedules were useless, why, and when? Ironically, just one day before Congress authorized destruction of the 1890 census papers, President Herbert Hoover laid the cornerstone for the National Archives Building.."
Even after the outcry in 1921, thirteen years later the Census Bureau destroyed the remaining 1890 schedules.
In 1942 the National Archives accessioned a damaged bundle of surviving Illinois schedules as part of a shipment of records found during a Census Bureau move. At the time, they were believed to be the only surviving fragments.(26) In 1953, however, the Archives accessioned an additional set of fragments. These sets of extant fragments are from Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas, and the District of Columbia and have been microfilmed as National Archives Microfilm Publication M407 (3 rolls). A corresponding index is available as National Archives Microfilm Publication M496 (2 rolls). Both microfilm series can be viewed at the National Archives, the regional archives, and several other repositories. Before disregarding this census, researchers should always verify that the schedules they seek did not survive. There are no fewer than 6,160 names indexed on the surviving 1890 population schedules. These are someone's ancestors. ..."
I have never seen a copy of the 1890 Census and I from Texas.
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Sorry, do not know why my comment printed twice, but I don't seem to be able to delete it, so please ignore this message as it is the same as above.
Sherry, your comment about 1890 substitute records being more prevalent in the north is most fascinating to me. I'm a northerner and as far as I can tell, my family members, from whichever country they originated, settled in the north--NY to Michigan, specifically, from 1850 forward, so I have not had any experience trying to locate info from the southern US at any time period and plead gross ignorance. But, I am at a loss to figure out why some of the same kinds of records we are using for an 1890 substitute wouldn't exist in the south so far post-Civil War as 1890. Weren't there state censuses? Or city or county directories or plat maps? Or church or tax records
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Sherry, I knew the 1890 federal census had been destroyed in a fire, and what hadn't been destroyed was later ordered destroyed. What I had never understood until I read some of your posts was why state and county copies didn't still exist, and now I know it is because the 1890 census was the only one where the feds didn't require local copies to be made. Thank you for adding to my knowledge.
The fragments of what is left of the 1890 census are available on ancestry.com.
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I learned too Catherine and I hope my answer didn't come off "over board"...realizing that others read these and that they may not know as much..I sometimes answer with "too much" detail.
Glad you asked!
Sherry
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Permalink Reply by Bill Gaillard on
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Hi, Sherry,
I can only presume that this is still your thread.
I am a Historian and Archivist in Yavapai County in northern Arizona, and there is a way of sorts of "reverse engineering" and resurrecting a "census" of sorts from 1890 through creative extrapolation via other channels, because if nothing else, we are a nation of rather redundant record keepers—and very, very good ones at that.
During the entire nineteenth century, every American county registrar from California to Maine and from Key West to Ketchikan kept two sets of books—but not related in any way to accounting. They kept what were known as the General Registry and the Great Registry. The General Registry was compiled and maintained by the Registrar/Recorder’s office, listing the names of, primarily, registered voters. This was, by and large, to discourage voter fraud. The Great Registry, for all intents and purposes, was the pre-telephone, “phone book”, however, sans addresses, too.
What it t listed were the individual adult residents of any respective county by name, age, sex, country or state of nativity, date and place of naturalization (if applicable), and, most importantly, then-current town or city of residency. They were compiled every five- to ten years, rendered into these large, casebound, holographic, deeds-like books, and were sometimes compiled concurrent with the decennial federal census as a matter of convenience.
The only items missing from some of the Great Registries as opposed the Federal Census were the current marital status, spouse, children, nativity of parents, gainful occupation, mailing addresses, known levels of formal education, whether you owned or rented, and race.
Once you have discovered your respective county Great Registry, all you have to do, then, is to obtain the specific book of protocols from the Census Bureau for the 1890 General Census, which then called out and enumerated both the Supervisorial Districts and Enumeration Districts’ ranges by city or town, and you’ll have a pretty-good 1890’s Census. Our Yavapai County Great Registry Book #2 subsection for the city of Prescott, where I live, is 143 pages long and I am transcribing it on a daily basis for our local museum and archives.
It won’t be the best, it won’t be the bona fide General Census for 1890, but it’s better than what we have now.
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Bill, This is GREAT information. I am sure everyone will benefit from your post!!
Thank you so much for sharing.
Sherry
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