| Author | Message | ||
     Fran Anderson |
I recently signed up with Ancestry.com to access the Federal Census Records. I trying to find my g-g-grandfather and family in Maine, but quickly got overwhelmed. I know where he was born, where he died, but when I go to the Census Record for Maine, it first ask for a county, then a township. How do I know what township the city or town, or rural area was part of?? Thanks Fran Salem, OREGON | ||
| debbie |
I don't know if I understand your question but I'll try. I have had a great deal of luck with the census but sometimes it takes lots of time to fish through the pages. I couldn't tell by your question if you knew the town/city. But, if you do, and you need to know the county, there is a site at rootsweb.com that can tell you what county a city was part of. Once you know the city, county and state, then you log onto whatever census you are curious about. You may get a LOT of districts to choose from. I would look at the ones that mention your town first. Another way (providing the census has an index--some are just images), is to type in the person you are looking for and it will tell you if there are census records for that person. In some cases you can even go right to the census image. You might even want to start with the city he died in. Look in the last census associated with his death date. Also it depends on what year you are looking at too. Especially in the early years, people tended to stay in the same area they were born in. If you find your person on a census, you can look thru a few pages before and after the page you find him on. You may find other family members who lived nearby. This happened to me with the 1880 census. The 1880 census is on CD now and you can view it at your Family History Center (at least my FHC has a copy). I would think all FHC's have a copy of this. If you have an obit for the person you are seeking, see if a street is mentioned. Lots of times on census records, the street name is hand written on the left edge of the document. This is what I am doing now with one of my ancestors. One last thing, run off copies of the census record forms from ancestry.com. They are invaluable. I do make copies of the census records. But I copy the info onto a form to use doing research. I hope I have been of some help. | ||
| Allan Dean Unregistered guest |
I think I understand your question. If you do not know the name of the town it can be determined. For example, today's Lincolnville Center in Waldo County was once New Canaan in Hancock County. I have seen pages that show previous town names. Can't remember where. You might try rootsweb as was suggested earlier. Another question...was their a colonial census. The earliest federal census is 1790. Didn't the Brits keep track of people too? |
