{"id":47469,"date":"2019-01-23T12:17:20","date_gmt":"2019-01-23T17:17:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=47469"},"modified":"2023-08-11T12:52:54","modified_gmt":"2023-08-11T16:52:54","slug":"genealogybank-adds-u-s-census","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/genealogybank-adds-u-s-census.html","title":{"rendered":"GenealogyBank Adds U.S. Census"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/em><\/strong>: In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega writes about the new feature added to GenealogyBank: the U.S. Federal Census. Gena is a genealogist and author of the book \u201cFrom the Family Kitchen.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Did you notice? GenealogyBank doesn\u2019t just have a great newspaper collection, government publications, historical books, and the Social Security Death Index<\/a> \u2013 it now has the U.S. Federal Census<\/a>! Thanks to a partnership with FamilySearch, you can now search the U.S. Federal Census population schedules from 1790-1940 on the GenealogyBank website.* Here is what you need to know to start searching the census for your ancestors.<\/p>\n

There are a few different ways you can search the census on GenealogyBank. You can do a search from the GenealogyBank homepage that will look at all the site\u2019s content, including the census; you can also specifically search just the census by clicking on \u201cCollections\u201d at the top of the GenealogyBank homepage and choosing \u201cU.S. Federal Census\u201d from the drop-down menu.<\/p>\n

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Source: GenealogyBank<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Beginning with a General Search<\/strong><\/p>\n

In this example, I will do a search in all of GenealogyBank\u2019s collections at once by using the general search box on GenealogyBank\u2019s home page.<\/p>\n

Start your search by typing in an ancestor\u2019s name. You may also want to choose a state, if you know where you ancestor lived. In this example I\u2019m searching on my ancestor Joseph Chatham, who lived in California.<\/p>\n

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Source: GenealogyBank<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Search Results Page<\/strong><\/p>\n

The general search for Joseph Chatham in California gave me this search results page.<\/p>\n

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Source: GenealogyBank<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Notice that the top of the search results page breaks down the hits by category: 40 newspaper articles (the default results shown); 5 hits on the U.S. Federal Census; 7 records in the Social Security Death Index; 49 results in the Government Publications collection; and 1 mention in a Historical Book. This menu on the top of the search results page gives you another way to access the U.S. Federal Census.<\/p>\n

Since we\u2019re focusing on the census in this article, let\u2019s click on the \u201cU.S. Federal Census\u201d menu choice, giving us this census search results page.<\/p>\n

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Source: GenealogyBank<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I can use this four-column results list to determine what census documents I want to look at. The first column, NAME, provides me the name, relationship to the head of household, and the census year. The second column, RELATIONSHIPS, lists the names of those who were enumerated at the same address, along with their relationships to the head of the household. The third column, EVENTS, provides the residence, birthplace and birth year of the person named in column 1. The fourth column has a camera icon which you can click on to see the actual image.<\/p>\n

What do you do if your census search results page has too many results? There are search engine options on the left-hand side of the screen that allow you to either conduct a new search or narrow your current search. This is an important tool when researching a common name. You can use these tools to focus on one census year, a specific state, or even make changes to the name you searched. Notice that you are also given the option under the last name box to conduct an exact name search.<\/p>\n

Just like your newspaper search results page on GenealogyBank, you can show your census results by sorting by Oldest First, Newest First, or Relevance. The \u201cSort by\u201d option is found at the top right-hand side of your results. This sorting option can be helpful if you are searching more than one census year.<\/p>\n

Before we look more closely at the census, let me just remind you that you can use the \u201cSave My Search\u201d link on the search results page. This allows you to save each search you do on GenealogyBank into your Folder. You can click on \u201cMy Folder\u201d at any time to see your previous searches or items you saved.<\/p>\n

Looking at a Census Page<\/strong><\/p>\n

Looking at my census search results page, I see that the second result listed is my ancestor in the 1920 census. I want to click on the camera icon so that I can view the 1920 U.S. Federal Census page that includes my ancestor, Joseph Chatham.<\/p>\n

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Source: GenealogyBank. Image displayed by FamilySearch.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There are seven tools in the upper right-hand corner of this page that can assist you.<\/p>\n

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Source: GenealogyBank. Image displayed by FamilySearch.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The four tools at the very top of the screen allow you to:<\/p>\n