When the United States was a fledgling country,
the government initiated its first census,
because the US constitution requires
that the number of members of the House of Representatives
be based on a national census conducted every 10 years.
Therefore, the first census was taken in 1790 and what a census
it is.
If you've avoided using this first census
because it looks like a puzzle to decipher, don't worry.
We're going to help you out here.
It's still an important document to look at if you
have early American ancestors.
Census takers recorded information in only six columns
in 1790--
the name of the head of the family, which wasn't always
a man, the number of free white males of 16 years and older,
the number of free white males under 16 years,
the number of free white females no matter their ages,
a number of all other free persons--
these might be lodgers or hired help--
and the number of slaves.
Schedule survived for only 11 states, including only 9
of the 13 original states, plus Vermont,
which became a state in 1791, and Maine, which was part
of Massachusetts at that time.
So if your ancestors lived in Georgia, Delaware,
New Jersey, or Virginia, those records no longer exist.
Sorry.
The best way to locate heads of families in this census
is from the main 1790 census search page.
Click on the 1790 link on your Ancestry home
page under US census records or go to Search,
then Census and Voter Lists, narrow to the US federal census
collection, and then scroll to the link for the 1790 census.
Here's an example of what the results
of that first enumeration look like--
lots of numbers with no columns identified
tied to a list of names.
Oh, and no, brought forward is not someone's name.
It's enough to make new genealogists throw their hands
up in the air and give up.
But don't.
Because enumerators often wrote down information
on pieces of paper and then transferred that information
to the census form, you'll occasionally
discover a town citizens in a rough alphabetical order, which
is unfortunate, because many censuses pinpoint where
our ancestors lived within a community
and who their neighbors were.
So if you find a census like this one for Hampton Falls,
New Hampshire, or this one for Georgetown County,
South Carolina, remember that your ancestors did not
live in alphabetical order.
Let's look at this South Carolina schedule
a little more closely.
It's hard to read the handwriting.
But Ancestry can help.
Scroll to the bottom of the original search page,
look to the right, and you'll see a link
to download blank census forms.
Now, you can more easily decipher which
column is for which tally.
Also, if you're having trouble reading someone's name,
click on the index button at the bottom of the viewer
and you'll see transcriptions.
They aren't always correct, but you
can understand how the old handwriting can
be hard for anyone to decipher.
Let's look more closely at the two Baxter families
on this page.
Just because they're written one line above the other
doesn't mean they're related, but you could research further
to see if they are.
Mary Baxter is most probably a widow,
because she is listed as the head of a family of four males
under 16 years of age, three females--
one of whom is herself--
and 11 slaves.
James Baxter is not only the head of his family,
but also the only person in his household,
except for 42 slaves.
With these basic clues deciphered from the tallies,
we can begin to build families.
To learn more about how you can use this information, as well
as the names and tick marks on other early censuses,
check out Mark Lowe's course Who is That Tick Mark:
Using Early Census Records on Ancestry academy.
Next, let's look at the 1800 census.