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1910 Census

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Introduction

The 1910 census was the 13th Census of the United States. The data obtained in this census was mostly the same as 1900, though in one way it was inferior. In 1910 they no longer asked for birth month and year as in 1900. In 1910 they only asked for the age of each person. One helpful improvement was the inclusion of the marriage number, i.e. how many times had a person been married. One other helpful improvement was an expansion on occupation. Not only was the occupation listed, but also the industry or location of the occupation included.

The 1910 census was taken state by state, and county by county, and township by township. In 1910, the records were left in the original order the census taker visited each household, which is very useful to determine who a persons neighbors were. If you see three Wright families listed side by side, you can reasonably assume they are somehow related. Of course there are always cases where they appear to be "side by side," but were not close together at all, depending on how the census taker visited houses.

You can determine an approximate birth year for a person based on their age as given on this census. For example, someone reported as age 25 in 1910 was born ca 1884 or 1885. You can also determine an approximate marriage year for a married couple listed in the 1910 census. The census was taken as of 15 April 1910, so you can narrow a persons approximate marriage date down to within two calendar years. If they were listed as married for 11 years in 1910, they were either married in mid to late 1898, or early to mid 1899. It should be mentioned that the marriage years given in 1910 and other census records are not always correct. This all depends on who gave the census taker the information.

The Columns of Data

Each person was listed by household including name, ages and other information for each person. I will explain what each column represents in detail below.

The census was as of 15 April 1910, meaning all data collected (even if collected months after that date) was supposed to reflect the family’s condition on 15 April 1910, meaning all ages were to be listed how they were back on April 15th, even if it was three months later when the census taker asked. It isn't known if the census taker adhered to this rule or not, but that is what they were supposed to do. The actual date he visited the households was included at the top of each page, so you can use that to determine whether the data was as of 15 April or a later date.

Each "page" of the 1910 census was actually two pages. The second page had no stamped number, and is usually designated by the page number of the previous page plus the letter "B," or "D.", (the page with the number was either A or C) for example, page 75A and 75B or 76C and 76D. The 1910 census pages also have a "sheet" number which starts over with each township.

The 1910 census had a header at the top of each page with information on the county, the district, the date and other information.

Page Number. Near the upper right is a stamped page number (on alternating pages).

State of: This is the State name.

County of: This is the County name.

Supervisor’s District No. This is a number showing the Census Supervisor’s District Number.

Enumeration District No. This is the "E.D." number that normally corresponds to a township or other county or city division.

Sheet No. This is like a page number which starts over with each new Enumeration District. The number is written under the heading, and not next to it as in other cases.

A, B, C, D. After the sheet number is a stamped letter that starts A on one page, B on the next, C on the next, D on the next, then it starts over. Use these in conjunction with the stamped page number for page number references.

Township or other division of county: Anything listed here indicates Township or District within the county.

Name of incorporated place. This is the name of the City, Town, Village, etc.

Ward of City:. If the city is divided into wards, the ward number or designation would be listedhere.

Name of Institution:. This is for Schools, Prisons, Hospitals, Mental Institutions and other such places where numerous people would be found.

Enumerated by me on the __ day of ___, 1910. This is the date the census taker actually visited the households listed on this page. You can see that this date can be months after "15 April 1910" when the census was "as of."

Enumerator. This is the name of the person who took the census.

The columns for the 1910 census follows:

Location

– Street, Avenue, Road, etc. If within a City or Town, the street name is given.

– House Number. If within a City or Town, the house number is given.

  1. Number of Dwelling house in the order of visitation. This is what I refer to as the Household number. Each house was numbered consecutively. If more than one family group lived in the same house, the family number would be different, but the household number would be the same.
  2. Number of Family in the order of visitation. This is what I refer to as the Family Number. Each family was numbered consecutively. If more than one family group lived in the same house, each family would have a different family number (this isn't always true), but the household number would be the same.
  3. Name of each Person whose place of abode on April 15, 1910 was in this family. This is the name of each individual living in this house or family. The family members are usually listed in this order: Husband, wife, all children by age, parents, brothers, sisters, etc. This isn't a rule, just a general way you find it.
  4. Relationship of each person to the head of the family. This column gives the relationship of each person to the primary person (head of household). You will see Wife, Son, Daughter, Grandson, Granddaughter, Niece, Nephew, etc. If a person isn't related, it will either say None, or Hired, or Servant, or something like that. Sometimes it is left blank for those not related.
  5. Sex. M=Male, F=Female.
  6. Color or Race. The race of each person.
  7. Age at last birthday. The age in years of each person as of April 15, 1910. If under 1, it is given in fractions of 12, as in 4/12, meaning 4 months.
  8. Whether single, married, widowed or divorced. The marital status was listed here, (S, M, W, or D). This column also includes a number after the marital status code. This is the number of times this person has been married, for example, 1 = one marriage, 2 = 2 marriages, etc.
  9. Number of years married. For those who were married, the number of years would be listed here.
  10. Mother of how many children. If the person has children, the total number of children born to her are listed here.
  11. Number of them who are living. How many of her children are still alive.
  12. Place of Birth of this person. Place of birth of each person, usually just the state or country.
  13. Place of Birth of the Father of this person. Place of birth of each person's father, usually just the state or country.
  14. Place of Birth of the Mother of this person. Place of birth of each person's mother, usually just the state or country.
  15. Year of Immigration to the United States. If the person is an immigrant, what year did they arrive here.
  16. Whether Naturalized or Alien. Is this person a naturalized citizen?
  17. Whether able to speak English; or if not give language spoken. "English" or "Spanish" or whatever would be entered here.
  18. Occupation, Trade or Profession of, or particular kind of work done by this person, as spinner, salesman, laborer, etc. Self explanatory.
  19. General Nature of Industry, business or establishment in which this person works, as cotton mill, dry goods store, farm, etc. Self explanatory.
  20. Whether an employer, employee, or working on own account. E=Employer, W=Employee, OA=On own account.
  21. Whether out of work on April 10 1910 if an Employee. Yes or No.
  22. Number of weeks out of work in 1909 if an employee. If this is applicable, the number of weeks are entered in this column.
  23. Education: Whether able to read. This column would be marked "yes" or "no."
  24. Education: Whether able to write. This column would be marked "yes" or "no."
  25. Education. Attended School anytime since September 1, 1909. "Yes" or "no."
  26. Ownership of Home: Owned or Rented. Marked with "O" for owned, "R" for rented.
  27. Owned Free of Mortgage. If owned, is it free of mortgage? If free, "F" is listed.
  28. Farm or House. "F" for farm, "H" for house.
  29. Number of Farm Schedule. If this person listed Farm above, they are also listed on a separate farm schedule for the census. The number of their entry on that schedule is listed in this column.
  30. Whether survivor of the Union or Confederate Army or Navy. CA=Confederate Army, UA=Union Army (different census takers marked them different ways). Although this column was for veterans, many of the pages have numbers listed here which appears to be some "figuring" the census taker has done to tally some numbers and has nothing to do with veteran status. The same is true for the next two columns as well.
  31. Whether Blind (Both Eyes). "Yes" or "No."
  32. Whether deaf and dumb. "Yes" or "No."