Ancestral Findings

When people talk about the U.S. Census, most think of it as just a headcount. But by 1880, the census had become something far more powerful. It wasn't just about population totals or determining how ...

29 Apr 20259min

The 1870 U.S. Census is a milestone for many family historians. For those tracing African American ancestry, it often marks the very first time their ancestors appear in a public federal record by nam...

25 Apr 20259min

The 1870 U.S. Census might be one of the most meaningful records ever created in the history of the country. For the first time, every person—Black, white, free-born, formerly enslaved, immigrant, far...

23 Apr 20258min

As we continue through our The Forgotten Seconds series—exploring the lives of vice presidents who never became president—we now turn to one of the most unusual figures ever to hold the office. Richar...

21 Apr 20259min

Daniel D. Tompkins was born on June 21, 1774, in the town of Scarsdale in Westchester County, New York. He came into a world still under British rule, just two years before the colonies would declare ...

18 Apr 20258min

The 1860 U.S. Census might be one of the most emotionally charged documents in early American history. On the surface, it looks similar to 1850—names, ages, occupations, birthplaces, property values. ...

16 Apr 20259min

By the time the 1850 U.S. Census was taken, the United States was no longer a slow-growing collection of coastal settlements. It was a booming, restless, coast-to-coast land of contradictions. The pop...

14 Apr 202512min

The 1840 U.S. Census might be the most overlooked turning point in early American recordkeeping. On the surface, it still looks like the older ones—just one name listed, a page full of tick marks, and...

11 Apr 20258min