Description:
Enumerators of the 1910 census were instructed to record the names of every person in the household. Enumerators were asked to include the following categories in the census: name; relationship to head of family; age at last birthday; sex; color or race; whether single, married, widowed, or divorced; number of years of present marriage; number of children born; number of children now living; birthplace; mother tongue; birthplace of father and mother; mother tongue of father and mother; year of immigration to the U.S.; whether naturalized or alien; whether able to speak English, or if not, give language spoken; trade or profession; industry; whether employer, employee, or working on own account; if an employee, whether out of work on April 15, 1910; if an employee, number of weeks out of work during year 1909, whether able to read; whether able to write; attended school any time since September 1, 1909; home owned or rented; home owned free or mortgaged; farm or house; number of farm schedule; whether a survivor of the Union or Confederate Army or Navy; whether blind; whether deaf and dumb. The categories allowed Congress to determine persons residing in the United States for collection of taxes and the appropriation of seats in the House of Representatives.
Few, if any, records reveal as many details about individuals and families as do the U.S. Federal Censuses. The population schedules are successive "snapshots" of Americans that depict where and how they were living at particular periods in the past. Because of this, the census is often the best starting point for genealogical research after home sources have been exhausted.
Extended Description:
The United States was the first country to call for a regularly held census. The Constitution required that a census of all "Persons...excluding Indians not taxed" be performed to determine the collection of taxes and the appropriation of seats in the House of Representatives. The first nine censuses from 1790 to 1870 were organized under the United States Federal Court system. Each district was assigned a U.S. marshal who hired other marshals to administer the census. Governors were responsible for enumeration in territories.
The official enumeration day of the 1910 census was 15 April 1910. All questions asked were supposed to refer to that date. By 1910, there were a total of forty-six states in the Union, with Utah and Oklahoma being the latest editions and Arizona, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Alaska as territories.
Taken from Szucs, Loretto Dennis, "Research in Census Records." In The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy, ed. Loretto Dennis Szucs and Sandra Hargreaves Luebking (Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1997).
William Dollarhide, The Census Book: A Genealogist's Guide to Federal Census Facts, Schedules and Indexes, Heritage Quest: Bountiful, Utah, 2000.
Source Information:
Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT: MyFamily.com, Inc., 2004. Indexed by ProQuest from microfilmed schedules of the 1910 U.S. Federal Decennial Census. Data imaged from National Archives and Records Administration. 1910 Federal Population Census. T624, 1,784 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration.
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