Published: April 22, 2007 12:00 am         

Genealogy: 1830 federal census underwent some changes in format and protocol

The 1830 federal census, like those before it, was under the jurisdiction of the U.S. District Court in each state and was carried out by U.S. marshals who hired and organized the enumerators. However, there were some changes in the 1830 census format and protocol from previous censuses.

There had been problems in getting the earlier four censuses shipped to Washington, D.C. from the district courts, when they were finally ordered years later, and this had resulted in the loss of many of the enumeration districts, which never reached Washington. Therefore, it was ordered that the census of 1830 was to have two copies, one deposited with the U.S. District Court in the state, and one to be sent directly to Washington. This was the first time a decennial census was ordered to be sent to Washington immediately after being conducted.

Some of the 1830 schedules in Washington are the originals and some are the copies that were handmade from the originals. When viewing these on microfilm, observe whether the handwriting changes for each district or remains the same. If it is the same, then you are looking at a copy and the probability of error is greater on a copy than on an original.

If a copy of the 1830 census is in Washington, D.C., then where is the original? This would have been deposited with the U.S. District Court in the state and could still be there, or lost forever.

Another census first for 1830 was the fact that the schedules were made up of two pages and were printed out and given to the census takers so that a uniform format would be used. In previous years, each census taker had to provide his own paper and had to copy and hand-rule it to match a sample form.

A third change in the census of 1830 was that the enumeration date was moved from the first Monday in August to June 1. The enumeration date of June 1 would be used for the next seven censuses, up to and including 1900. Enumerators had 12 months, or from June 1, 1830, to May 31, 1831, to complete the census.

The 1830 census also had many more age divisions and for the first time asked if people had certain disabilities (blind, deaf or dumb). There were also age and status (free white, free colored, slave) divisions for the disability categories. It again asked for foreigners not naturalized. There was an interest in finding out how many free white, school-age children were in the nation because of the growing movement to establish free common schools. So these children were counted in five-year increments. Age categories for free white persons (both male and female) were: “under 5 years, of 5 and under 10, of 10 and under 15, of 15 and under 20, of 20 and under 30, of 30 and under 40, of 40 and under 50,” etc., continuing in 10-year increments for adults all the way up to “of 100 and upward.” For free colored persons and slaves, both male and female, the age categories on the census were in 10-year increments from “under 10 years” to “of 100 and upward.” Age divisions for all deaf and dumb persons were “under 14 years, of 14 and under 25, and of 25 and upwards.” The census asked for no age divisions for those who were blind or for aliens not naturalized.

The 1830 census exists for the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, D.C., Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland (five counties missing), Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina (one county missing), Tennessee, Vermont, and Virginia.

The 1830 schedule for Wabash County, Ind., is missing.