It is always exciting when a new census is released. The latest was the 1950 U.S. Census that was released earlier this year. Each federal census has different questions but any information when looking for ancestors is important. See our previous post on the 1950 census.
The 1950 census contains the following information for each person:
- Age
- Gender
- Race
- Marital status
- Occupation
- Nationality
- Citizenship
- Veteran status
- Family members
- Residence
- Enumeration district
- Highest grade level they completed
- How much they earned
Because a census is available only after 72 years due to privacy laws, the 1950 census is the latest one available to the public. Many providers including Ancestry, FamilySearch, and the National Archives have indexed this census to make it name searchable.
The census is organized alphabetically by state, county, and enumeration district. This census also has district finder maps you can view to locate the area your ancestors lived in. New to this census are Indian reservation schedules and more. Native Americans living off-reservation, or on reservations in Alaska and Oklahoma, were listed on regular population schedules.
Most districts were recorded in 70 pages or less. If supplemental information was needed, they would begin on page 71. This would happen if the census taker would need to go back to catch residents who were not home before.
The census information for military members stationed in Alaska, Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Panama Canal Zone, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the military bases of Canton [Kanton], Johnston, Midway, and Wake Island are available as are those living on military bases within the U.S.
The 1950 U.S. Census began on April 1, 1950 and lasted four weeks. This census was the first to include Americans living abroad, not necessarily military personnel. It is estimated that 4.1% of the population was missed, however.
Some of the questions were only asked of those on certain lines, such as where living last year and where were parents born.
One example from my own research concerns my uncle. From previous research, I knew he was born in Missouri, traveled to California, and died there. I also knew he lived in Missoouri in the 1940 census and in city directories in 1951, he was living in Compton, California. I was pretty sure that Compton was the place to look. However, that was not the case. I searched for him at the address in the city directory. Someone else lived there in 1950. I tried searching for his wife’s name with no luck. I double checked my research so far and it all checked out. So where was he?
I broaden my search to California in general and found him in Los Angeles County. Now I was doing my research when the census first came out and only the National Archives had a machine-generated index. Not perfect but better than paging through an entire section. He was listed by machine code in Los Angeles, but checking the actual page was living in Compton at a different address.
Searching for him now with name indexes available at National Archives, Ancestry, and FamilySearch, among others, he comes up right away! I learned he was a welder for an oil transportation company at the time, working full-time. He lived next door to a truck driver for an oil transportation company (guessing the same company).
You never know what you will find in records. Keep searching!
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