today on the ancestral findings podcast the 1820 u.s federal census is the last one
to not use pre-printed forms because enumerators often drew their own columns
it can sometimes be challenging to interpret the results of this census however the effort
is worth it for genealogists here's what you need to know about the 1820 u.s federal census
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the 1820 u.s federal census was the fourth one the u.s government conducted it included
populations from six states that were not yet states in the previous census
these new states were louisiana mississippi illinois alabama indiana and maine enumeration
of this census began on august 7 1820. like the three censuses prior to it there have been some
significant record losses over the decades with this census the 1820 u.s federal census
is currently missing records for new jersey as well as the territories of arkansas and missouri
the 1820 u.s federal census determined the population of the united states at this time
to be about nine and a half million people of these about a million and a half were slaves the
center of population of the united states was in hardy county virginia which is now west virginia
this particular u.s federal census was the first one to record a state as having a population
of more than a million people in fact there were two states with a million plus population
in this census new york and pennsylvania this census was also the first to record a u.s city
with a population of more than one hundred thousand in this case new york city baltimore was
recorded as the second most populous u.s city in this census its first time achieving this position
the act of congress that authorized the 1820 u.s federal census was enacted on march 14 1820.
this act required the new census to be more detailed in its population related questions
than in previous censuses it was also the first one to require enumerators to ask
if respondents were engaged in manufacturing commerce or agriculture
beginning on the first monday of august in 1820 the census was authorized with
a six-month enumeration time however this time ended up being extended by another seven months
to september first 1821. assistant u.s marshals were required as with previous censuses
to visit every house that had someone living in it or barring that the head of every family
with their designated enumeration districts there were assistance to the marshals in each district
the job of these assistants was to collect data in the district related to manufacturing
and then send it to the marshals who supervise their districts the marshals then sent this
information to the secretary of state along with the population returns for their district
the manufacturing data was intended to be compiled into a nationwide manufacturing report however the
results were not summarized in each district which meant the information that was aggregated and
released to the government was based on incomplete returns this is blamed on the same factor that
caused the same issue in the previous 1810 census poor training of enumerators at the time of the
1820 census the art of taking a senses was not yet perfected prior to 1830 for example there were no
pre-printed forms for the enumerators to use this meant many of the enumerators drew their own
this meant that some of the pages in the 1820 u.s federal census do not have headings column totals
line tallies or anything else that would make them make sense in context with other census pages
the absence of pre-printed forms in the 1820 and earlier censuses makes the enumeration of
many towns to be quite idiosyncratic and down to the individual style of each enumerator this does
not mean this census and earlier ones are less reliable with their information than later ones
however it does mean that interpreting the results may take more work on the part of the researcher
results on each page on this census need to be examined closely and compared to results
from the same region from other censuses in order to extract truly useful information
from it the questions that were asked on the 1820 u.s federal census include the name of
the head of the household the number of free white males in a household under the age of 10
the number of free white males in a household aged 10 to 16. the number of free white males in
a household aged 16 to 26 the number of free white males in a household aged 26 to 45. the number of
free white males in a household aged 45 and up the number of free white females in a household
in the same age groups as the free white males the number of unnaturalized foreigners in a household
the number of people in a household engaged in agriculture commerce and or manufacturing the
number of male slaves in a household in the same age groups as white men
the number of female slaves in a household in the same age groups as white women the number of
free african-american men in a household in the same age groups as white men the number of free
african american women in a household in the same age groups as white women the number of all other
people not otherwise categorized in a household except native americans who were not taxed
some of the columns on this census were for special counts which were not supposed to be
included in the aggregate total of the published information including information from these
special columns in the aggregate total would have made some people be counted twice such
as the column for free white men between the ages of 16 and 18 which was a special column
it was a special column because the men in this column were supposed to be tabulated
in the ages 16 to under 26 column as well the columns for unnaturalized foreigners people
engaged in agriculture people engaged in commerce and people engaged in manufacturing were also
special columns the census enumerators were also given instructions to count each individual person
in only one of the three available occupation columns so if someone was engaged in agriculture
commerce and manufacturing the census enumerator could only choose one and had
to decide based on the information given by the individual which occupation was the primary one
you can get all the genealogical charts and forms that i've talked about look for the link
in the description box thanks for joining me today on the ancestral findings podcast
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