census records
Official head counts
Census records are official documents from periodic government counts of a population.
In the United States, the federal census has been conducted every ten years since 1790, recording names, ages, occupations, and other demographic details.
These records are invaluable for genealogical research: I traced my ancestors through census records back to 1850.
Historians use them to study migration patterns, household composition, and social change.
- marriage licensesDocuments authorizing legal unions
- place of birthLocation of one's arrival
- populationAll inhabitants combined
- addressSpeak to formally
- household sizeResidents in one dwelling
vital statistics · archives · marital status · lineage · living relatives · family tree · family history · historical societies · town hall · enumeration · paper trail · national archives · genealogy · data collection methods · parish registers · age · migration · ancestry
- ancestry databasesfamily trees, DNA matches
- historical recordsdiary, annual reviews, letter, ledger, archives
- historical datademographic data, birth rates, death tolls, mortality rates, parish registers
- Roman recordstax rolls, wax tablets, papyrus scrolls, inscriptions, annals
- registriesbirth registry, marriage registry, voter registry, voter rolls, land registry
- official documentsbirth certificate, marriage certificate, death certificate, passport, driver's license
census recordsbirth certificates
Documents proving nativity
death certificates · marriage records · marriage certificates · naturalization papers