Beginning in 1790, the United States of America became the first country in the world to call for regularly held censuses. However, the Constitution didn’t treat everyone as equal. “Free persons” excluded American Indians living on treaty land and who were exempt from paying taxes (or voting). However, any male Indian who had joined the voting and taxpaying (read: white) population became considered a “free person” and had the right to vote. “All other persons” meant slaves, who were counted as 3/5 of a person for determining representation in Congress. The 3/5 rule was to compensate for the large slave populations of southern states such as Virginia and South Carolina, where slaves represented 39 and 43 percent of

the populations, respectively. For comparison, Connecticut and New Jersey had slave populations of 1.1 and 6.2 percent, respectively.

In Article I, Section 2, the Constitution of the United States says:

Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included within this Union according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons. The actual enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent ten years, in such manner as they shall

by law direct.

You’ll notice that the constitution states simply that a census be taken every 10 years, and leaves the details up to Congress. Therefore, for every census, Congress passes a special law authorizing the census to take place and hammering out the details. Each one is unique, and requests more and different information than the last. Ever since the first census of 1790, more than just an “actual enumeration” or count has been made. The government uses census data for many purposes, including taxation, number of Congressional representatives, and federal block grants.

Genealogists need to keep in mind that census data isn’t always completely correct. During the time periods covered by the census

data currently available to family historians (1790 to 1930), a most people didn’t graduate from high school, including the census takers who went door to door, collecting the information. Mistakes and misspellings happen among even the most educated.

Plus, as difficult as it may be for us to imagine, some people didn’t care how their names were spelled. If the person taking the census said is that “Stockdale” with a “dale” or “Stockdill” with a “dill,” the citizen may have said, “oh, you could spell it either way.”

The first nine censuses (1790-1870) were conducted by assistant federal marshals of the U.S. Federal Court system. One U.S. marshal was assigned to each federal court district, and he was

tasked with hiring and assigning the assistant marshals to take the census in his district. In each territory, the territorial governor was responsible for the census enumeration. Unfortunately, state boundaries didn’t always line up with court boundaries, a potential additional cause of confusion for genealogy research. Congress didn’t get around to creating an actual “census office” until right before the 1850 census.

The 1790 census law required the U.S. marshals to deposit the original returns from their assistants with the clerks of the U.S. District Courts. These name lists remained in the clerks’ offices, while the marshals’ summaries from the various districts were sent to the office of the U.S. president. The law required that the

president receive “the aggregate amount of each description of persons within their respective district.” The marshals were to “file the original returns of their assistants with the clerks of their respective district courts, who are hereby directed to receive and carefully preserve the same.”

This requirement was repeated in the census laws for 1800, 1810, and 1820. The president was to receive not the name lists, but summaries of the census tallies. This fact contradicts what several well-known publications use as the reason for many early census losses. For example, several genealogical reference books indicate that when the British burned Washington in 1814, the earliest census returns were destroyed. This incorrect statement can be found in the

National Archives guides and Family History Library guides, for example.

However, the only census schedules that could have been in Washington, D.C., in 1814 were the 1810 schedules for the District of Columbia, which had its own U.S. District Courthouse. Since the 1810 D.C. schedules are lost, they may have been the only censuses destroyed when the British burned ashington in 1814.

Please visit the [http://www.zodsquad.com/zodblog/index.php?blogid=3]StockdaleAncestry.com Blog for more articles in this series, including specific information on which U.S. Census records are available today to genealogy researchers, and where to find them.

Beth McIntire has researched her family’s history as a hobby for more than 10 years and wants to help you do the same. She offers genealogy forums

at StockdaleAncestry.com and free genealogy research advice at the [http://www.zodsquad.com/zodblog/index.php?blogid=3]StockdaleAncestry.com Blog.