United States Census, 1820 - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States

What is in This Collection?
The collection consists of an index to the population schedules listing the inhabitants of the United States taken August 7, 1820. The schedules are from NARA microfilm publication M33 Fourth census of the United States,1820 and is from Record Group 29 Records of the Bureau of the Census. No schedules are known to exist for New Jersey. Index provided by Ancestry.com.

Federal census takers were asked to record information about every person who was in each household on the census day, which was the first Monday in August for 1820. A census taker might have visited a house on a later date, but the information he collected was supposed to be about the people who were in the house on the census day. The basic census enumeration unit was the county. Each county was divided into enumeration districts, one for each enumerator. The completed forms were sent to the Commerce Department’s Census Office in Washington, D.C.

Federal censuses are usually reliable, depending on the knowledge of the informant and the care of the census enumerator. Information may have been given to a census taker by any member of the family or by a neighbor. Some information may have been incorrect or deliberately falsified.

Population schedules consisted of large sheets with rows and columns. The schedules were arranged by place, such as township or post office. The places were not filed in any particular order. The arrangement of families on a schedule is normally in the order in which the enumerator visited the households. The original schedules are well preserved at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. They were microfilmed in the 1950s and 1960s. The schedules for some counties in varying censuses are missing.

What Can These Records Tell Me?
The following information may be found in these records: • 2

How Do I Search This Collection?
To begin your search it would be helpful to know:
 * The name of your ancestor
 * The approximate age of your ancestor
 * The state where your ancestor lived

How Do I Analyze the Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images. Keep track of your research in a research log.

I Found the Person I Was Looking For, What Now?

 * Add any new information to your records
 * Use the age categories to determine an approximate birth date range
 * Use the residence to locate other records such as land, probate, tax, and church records
 * Continue to search the index and records to identify other relatives
 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct
 * You may need to compare the information of more than one family or person to make this determination

I Can't Find the Person I'm Looking For, What Now?

 * Look for variant spellings of the names. You should also look for alias names, nicknames and abbreviated names
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby localities
 * Try alternative search methods such as only filling in the surname search box (or the given name search box) on the landing page leaving the other box empty and then click on search. This should return a list of everyone with that particular name. You could then browse the list for individuals that may be your ancestor
 * There is also the possibility that a family was missed in the census
 * Be aware that, as with any index, transcription errors may occur

Research Helps
The following articles will help you research your family in the United States.
 * United States Guided Research
 * United States Record Finder
 * United States Research Tips and Strategies

Other FamilySearch Collections
These collections may have additional materials to help you with your research.

FamilySearch Catalog

 * An Act for taking the fourth census, or enumeration of the inhabitants of the United States for other purposes
 * Census schedules, 1820
 * Records of the 1820 census of manufactures
 * Census of Michigan Territory, 1820
 * Records of the Bureau of the Census (RG 29) population schedules of the fourth census of the United States, 1820, Indiana, v. 4 : Lawrence and Martin Counties

FamilySearch Historical Records

 * United States Census, 1810
 * United States Census, 1830

FamilySearch Digital Library

 * The history and growth of the United States census : prepared for the Senate Committee on the Census
 * Twenty censuses, population and housing questions, 1790-1980
 * Marie Bankhead Owen, ed. Alabama census returns, 1820 : and an abstract of federal census of Alabama, 1830 Reprinted from the Alabama Historical Quarterly, vol. 6, no. 3, 1944.. Baltimore, Maryland : Genealogical Publishing Company, 1967

Citing This Collection
Citations help you keep track of places you have searched and sources you have found. Identifying your sources helps others find the records you used.

Estados Unidos, censo de 1820 (registros históricos de FamilySearch) Estados Unidos, Censo, 1820 (Registro Histórico do FamilySearch)