Census Records and Schedules
My name is Noemi Mendez, I am your instructor,
and I am a data Dissemination Specialist with the U.S. Census Bureau.
In this Module: You will learn about, what are Census Schedules?
You’ll hear about 1950 Questionnaire Facts
You’ll learn about what questions were asked in 1950 Population Questionnaire
And the 5% Sample Questionnaire
And you will learn about, how to use the Census Soundex
Notes about Census Records
Each decennial census collected different information
based on the needs of the federal government.
Therefore, the information that you will find will differ from census to census.
Census records are an oral history, and the information may not have been verified.
Names may have been mispronounced
and/or spelled incorrectly.
Some records may be unreadable because of handwriting.
Some individuals may not have been counted.
Also, you may not know who provided the
information about a family
because the neighbor may have been used as a proxy and may have
missed some individuals.
1950 Questionnaire Facts
Census day was April 1, 1950.
There were 20 questions on the form.
United States, the territories of Alaska and Hawaii, American Samoa,
the Canal Zone, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands of the United States
and some of the smaller island territories were included in this census.
Americans abroad were enumerated for the first time.
College students were enumerated at their college address.
1950 Population Questionnaire
Let's take a look at the questionnaire from the 1950 Census
When conducting your Genealogy research
the information available about the household are limited
to the questions asked during the census.
Here are the questions:
Name of street,
avenue or road
where the household is located.
Home or apartment number.
Serial number of dwelling unit.
Is this house on a farm
or ranch?
If no,
is this house on a place of three or more acres?
Corresponding agriculture questionnaire number.
Name.
Relationship to head of household.
Race.
Sex.
How old was this person on their last birthday?
Is this person now married,
widowed,
divorced,
separated,
or never married
What state or country was the person born in?
If foreign born,
is the person naturalized?
For persons 14 years of age and older:
What was this person doing most of last week -
working
keeping house or something else?
If the person was “keeping house”
or “something else”
did the person do any work at all
last week,
not counting work around the house
(Including work-for-pay, in his own business,
working on a farm or on paid family work)?
The person answered “no” to the question, was he looking for work?
The person answered “no” to question 17, even if he did not work last week,
does he have a job or a business?
The person was working how many hours did he or she work in the last week?
What kind of work does this person do?
What kind of business or industry is the person in?
And the class of worker the person is?
1950 5% Sample Population Questionnaire
This was a 1 in 100 national random sample of the population
The 1950 Samples do not include data from Alaska and Hawaii
First question
Was the person living in the same house a year ago?
If no,
was the person living on a farm a year ago?
If no,
was the person living in the same country a year ago?
If no,
go on to question 23
What county or (nearest place) were they living in a year ago
What state of foreign country were they living in a year ago?
What country were the person's mother and father born in?
What is the highest grade of school that the person has attended?
Did the person finish his grade?
Has the person attended school since February 1st?
For persons 14 years and older,
If the person is looking for work
how many weeks have they been looking for work?
Last year,
how many weeks did this person not work at all,
not counting work around the house?
Last year,
how much money did the person earn working as an employee for wages or salary?
Last year,
how much money did the person earn working at their own business, professional occupation,
or farm?
Last year,
how much money did the person receive from interest, dividends, veterans allowances,
pensions, rents, or other income (aside from earnings)?
If this person is a head of the household:
last year,
how much money did the relatives in this household earn
working for wages or salary?
If this person is the head of the household:
last year, how much money did the person earn
working at their own business,
professional occupation, or farm
If this person is the head of the household:
last year,
how much money did the person receive from interest,
dividends, veterans allowances,
pensions, rents or other income
aside from earnings
If male:
did he ever serve in the U.S. Armed Forces during
World War II,
World War One
Any other time, including present service
What kind of work does this person do in his job?
What kind or business or industry
does this person work in?
Class of worker?
If ever married, has this person been married before
If married, widowed, divorced, or separated
how many years since this event occurred
If female and ever married,
how many children has she ever borne,
not counting stillbirths
Census Soundex
The Decennial Census Soundex System
began as a project of the Franklin D. Roosevelt
Administration's Work Progress Administration.
Because many states did not have uniform systems
for registering births the Soundex indexes,
were originally prepared to assist the Census Bureau
in finding records for people who needed official proof of age.
The Soundex system was used for the 1880,
1900,
1910,
1920, and 1930 censuses.
The Soundex is a coded surname index based on the way a name sounds
rather than the way it's spelled.
Surnames that sound the same but are spelled differently
such as Smith
and Smyth,
have the same code and are filed together.
The system was developed to make it easier to find a particular name
even though it may have been spelled
(or misspelled
as was more often the case) in a different way.
To locate a last name, you must know its code.
How Do I Find my Soundex Code
Soundex code always start with the
first letter of the surname and are
always followed by three numbers.
Those numbers represent the first three
remaining consonants in the surname
if there are not enough letters in the surname
zeros will be added until they are three digits.
If the surname is too long,
the numbers will be limited to three.
For more information about the Soundex
please see the reference
section at the end of the course.
Time for another quiz.
True or false?
The Soundex system was developed
to make it easier to find a particular name
even though it may have been spelled
or misspelled, as was most often the case, in different ways.
The answer
is True