The Census Data Presented at Ancestry.com
-
In reply to:
Re: Charles H. ROSSER (b ca 1877 - AL; d 1944 - Lee, FL)
Cheryl McDonald 7/22/02
Ancestry.com has a FEE BASED subscription presentation of the United States Census data.There tend to be two ways into the data: through the Index and by location and year.
The Census INDEX is INCOMPLETE.Even for the years for which it is ASSERTED to be complete, there are errors and omissions in the Index, so a particular record may be inaccessible using the Index only.
For all years and locations for which data is still extant, the IMAGES of the underlying data can also be pulled up by drilling down by Census Year, then State, then County, then Township, etc.But if you do NOT know where the person you are searching for is LOCATED this can be a tedious and time consuming process.
The page numbering of the data presented by Ancestry.com does NOT precisely conform to the original page numbers or to the Image numbers of the underlying microfilm.For this reason, I try to give as much reference information about where I find a record as possible, so that people accessing the Census data using different facilities can readily find the same record.
THe entry point for the Ancestry.com Census data is:
http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/census/usfedcen/main.htm?lfl=rhnhttp://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/census/usfedcen/main.htm?lfl=rhn
Similarly, some Census data is also available through Genealogy.con.
You can also view the Census images on microfilm at no cost at the nearest regional office of the National Archives and at many good family history libraries.