Terry's TMG Tips

Census Source Type – 1790 to 1840

This page updated 15 Apr 2014

Version Note: Applies to Versions 8 & 9

My Census Source Types article describes my general approach to citing US Census records. That article lists the five different Source Types I have developed, and provides a means to download them so they can be imported into your Project. This article describes in detail the Source Type I have developed for the 1790 to 1840 Schedules.

Topics Included in this Article
The Templates
The Templates used in the Source Definition
Style Notes
Some notes about the general approach used in this Source Type
Technical Notes
Notes about technical issues
Usage Notes
Notes about using the Source Type
Downloading this Source Type
Where to download the Source Type

This Source Type is designed to record one household in the Schedule. It is designed for the census enumerations each decade from 1790 through 1840. The following discussion describes how the Source Type is constructed, and provides notes about its construction and usage.

The Templates

The following templates are used in this Source Type:

Full Footnote: [HOUSEHOLD] household, [TITLE], [COUNTY], [STATE]<, [LOCATION]><, page [PAGE]><, line [LINES]>, National Archives micropublication [FILM NUMBER]<, [COMMENTS]><, [CD]>
Short Footnote: [HOUSEHOLD] household, [TITLE], [COUNTY], [STATE]<, [CD]>
Bibliography: [STATE]. [COUNTY]. [TITLE]. Micropublication [FILM NUMBER]. Washington: National Archives
Reminder: Source Definition:
- Title - enter "1XX0 U.S. Census".
- County - enter name of county (omit for DC).
- Household - enter name of Head of Household, in given name surname format.
- Location - enter name of town or township if given.
- State - enter name of state.
- Page - enter sheet or page number(s).
- Lines - enter the line number (count them) if desired.
- Film Number - enter film and roll numbers, as "M704-637".
- Comments (Supplemental tab) - enter location viewed and date if desired.

Citation:
- Citation Detail - optionally enter any notes about how this source relates to the information recorded in this tag.

Style Notes

There are some differences between the notes produced by this template and the example in Elisabeth Mills' Evidence!. The principal one is that I repeat the head of household name in the short footnote instead of the dwelling and family numbers. I believe this makes the notes easier to follow, especially if you have a lot of census cites in your report.

I have included the Comments element, in which I record when and where I saw the census. This is based on comments by Ms Mills that some copies of the census may be more clear than others, so recording the date and location of the copy viewed is a good idea. Now that "enhanced" copies of the census images are available online and on CDs, this seems like an especially good idea.

Many census sheets have both a hand written "sheet" number and a rubber stamped page number. There seems to be no consensus on which to use, but I have decided to use what appears to be the original handwritten number.

Technical Notes

The following may be helpful to those interested in creating a Source Type using this method:

Usage Notes

In the Source Definition Screen, enter the following in the fields provided:
Field Comments Example
Title Enter the census name and year 1840 U.S. Census
County Enter the county Montgomery Co.
Household Enter the name of the head of household Joshua Atkinson
Location Enter town or city, if recorded Clarksville
State Enter the state Tennessee
Page Enter the sheet number 19
Lines Enter the line number 12
Film Number Enter film and roll numbers M704-532
Comments
(Supplemental tab)
Enter location and date viewed, and any other general notes that apply to the household entry image viewed on Ancestry.com

When the Source is cited enter any notes specific to the individual citation, such as:

Downloading this Source Type

For those who prefer to down load this Source Type and Import it into their Project rather than create their own version, it and my other census Source Types are available from my Census Source Types article.


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