Mississippi Census

Portal:United States Census &gt;Mississippi

Availability
1820-1930--The Family History Library has the U.S. federal censuses of Mississippi

1830--The census for Pike County is missing.

1860--The census for Sunflower and Washington counties are missing.

1890--The census has been destroyed. The 1890 Union veterans schedule and index are available at the Family History Library and at the National Archives.

Historical Background
1699--The French established a settlement called Fort Maurepas on Biloxi Bay.

1716--Fort Rosalie, now Natchez, was established by the French on the Mississippi River.

1763--France ceded its claims to the Mississippi region to Great Britain.

1783--Britain ceded the Gulf Coast area to Spain. The rest of the Mississippi region was claimed by Georgia. The boundary was in dispute until 1795.

1798--Congress organized the Mississippi Territory.

1817--The eastern part of the Mississippi Territory was organized as the Territory of Alabama. Mississippi became a state.

Indexes
1820-1870--Statewide indexes are available for the censuses.

1880-1930-- Soundex (phonetic) indexes are available on microfilm. Large cities in Mississippi have their own soundex.

Special Censuses
1850-1880--Mortality schedules are at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Indexes to the 1850, 1860, and 1870 schedules are available at the Family History Library.

Territorial Censuses
Territorial and State

Territorial and state censuses were taken at frequent intervals between 1792 and 1866 for various counties. Few are complete and the information in the censuses varies. For example, maiden names are included in the 1792 census. These censuses are available at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and at the Family History Library (FHL film 899868-870).

For an index covering the years 1792 to 1816, see Norman E. Gillis, Early Inhabitants of the Natchez District (Baton Rouge, Louisiana: N.E. Gillis, 1963; FHL book 976.2 X2p). This includes a list of residents in 1810.

Published indexes are available for the surviving censuses for the years 1810, 1820-25, 1830/37, 1840/41, and 1845. Some additional information about research and records in Mississippi is in Richard Stephen Lackey, “Mississippi,” Genealogical Research: Methods and Sources, Volume 2: 188-218 (Washington, D.C.: American Society of Genealogists, 1980; FHL book 973 D27gr).

Web Sites
Ancestry: http://www.ancestry.com

Heritage Quest Online: http://www.heritagequestonline.com

Census Online: http://www.census-online.com/links/MS/

Genealogy Today: http://dir.genealogytoday.com/usa/ms/census.html

Access Genealogy: http://www.accessgenealogy.com/census/mississippi.htm

Bibliographic Citations
Mississippi Research Outline. Salt Lake City, Utah: Intellectual Reserve, Inc., Family History Department, 1998, 2001.