USGenWeb Free Census Project Help, 1790 Census Help
Remember, please sign up with a State Census Coordinator before beginning a transcription.
The following following are available to our volunteer transcribers so that our file managers can convert them to the standardized text output to meet the goals of the project.
- CENTRANS (MAC & PC) Centrans Instructions and Help
- We have the following templates available for download: MSExCel Spreadsheet | MSWorks Spreadsheet | Tab Text Templates [Note: These are zipped and are also available by request from Maggie Stewart. Please use "templates" as the subject of your email and include what year and type of template that you need.]
Header Information That's Needed:
- Census Year
- Microfilm # (NARA Microfilm Series M637)
- State
- County
- Subdistrict
- Enumerator
- Enumeration Date
Columns present in the census: [Columns highlighted in red are additional columns that we require to be filled out unless otherwise noted.]
- Page # (If this is not there start with page number one and go up in numerical order.)
- Line # (This needs to be added starting at 1 for each page)
- Head of Household Last Name
- Head of Household First Name
- Free White Males 16 and up including Head
- Free White Males 0-15
- Free White Females
- Other Free Persons (Colored)
- Slaves
- Transcriber's Remarks (Fill this out only if some additional comment is needed.)
- A few states had other columns, if your census enumeration has them, please add them.
Special Notes/Comments:
- States with surviving 1790 census schedules:
- Connecticut
- Maine District (of Massachusetts)
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- New Hampshire
- New York
- North Carolina
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- Vermont (1791)
- Only in MA were standard printed forms used. Every where else was told to use whatever they had at hand. Not until 1830 were standard forms used. (Entries are all handwritten in this census - if typed you are using the 1908 Index)
- Total Number of Persons in each household (Some States did this)
- Pages were added between 1900 and 1907 as part of the preparation for the index published in 1908.
- In 1908 the Census Bureau published a 12 volume index of Heads of Household in the 1790 census. While this is not a substitute for the actual census schedules, it is a valuable additional source of information.
- In a few places you can make out enumerators name, enumeration date non existant.
- In a few places the Slave column is omitted.
- In a few places omitted the Free Colored column. (North Carolina)
- In some locations there is a running total at the bottom.
- One state has a column for Number of Heads of Household and then everyone with the same surname and only put heads of household in total.
- In Vermont they have columns for free Blacks just like Free whites.
