I have been told that the subscription services provide only the basics and not much more that I have been finding on my own, without them. Some volunteers have forwarded some copies of the census to me but I would rather look them up on my own if that is possible. Thank you.
2006-09-13 11:30:52 · 8 answers · asked by Liligirl 6 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Genealogy
The best online free census data is at familysearch.org, and the census that is free is the U.S. 1880 Census and the Canada 1881 Census. There are other free sites for census data by county and state, but you would need to know the county and state and look through the text documents for the census pages to find who you might be looking for. An example would be to go online to
ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/tn/davidson/census
and look at the folder for that county (Nashville, Tennessee). You will see they only have one census there, 1860. When you double-click on the 1860 folder it will browse and you will see that it has no index, so you would have to open each .txt document individually to search (time consuming unless you KNOW they were there in 1860).
Going to a larger local library system would be the best bet. They generally have a computer which will have an account set up to go to ancestry.com, where most of the census pages are available to look at online, and it is generally indexed in good order, although in the late 1800's, some census takers did not spell very well, or the name was unusual and the person telling them the name couldn't spell it because they could not read or write. I have found a few pages not scanned or available online, and a lot of names spelled wrong, but it has worked so far for me if I keep thinking 'that's maybe how I'd spell it if I had never heard it before'. Larger libraries also have microfilm viewing machines, and some of those machines will even let you make a copy straight from the micrifilm for a quarter or so. It's like a copy of the original. Hope this helps!
2006-09-13 16:17:37 · answer #1 · answered by Another Guy 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
When I first started doing genealogy in 2000, I began with looking at microfilms of the original US federal censuses. Since then, I have discovered that there might be quite a few mistakes in the on-line transcriptions at certain unnamed expensive membership websites. I have found such discrepancies myself. Since I cannot afford a membership, and I don't think it's worth the money, I go to my local LDS Family History Library, and I use their computers free to access on-line census information. I have found that I have to go back to the originals frequently when I find something that doesn't make sense to me. I hope this helps.
2006-09-14 03:44:26 · answer #2 · answered by correrafan 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
For anyone doing Canadian research both the 1901 and 1911 Canadian census are on line and free to search. You can view the transcribed census as well as the original document at:
http://automatedgenealogy.com/index.html
2006-09-15 12:16:47 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Some libraries provide access to pay sites, such as Ancestry.com. Some even have home access available. That's how I'm able to do my research. Also, try the U.S. Genweb project. Some states have excellent websites that have a lot of information.
You can also try to find libraries for the location where your family was. They sometimes have access to newspaper articles, obituaries, etc. on their website. Good luck!
2006-09-13 11:44:58 · answer #4 · answered by Bren 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
nobody has it online for free, except the one listed above, which might not be the one you are looking for. but this info is available in some places.
first, see if your library has it or they might have it somewhere in the county.
next, ask the library or look online to see where the nearest branch to you is of the national archives. they will have it on microfilm
next, use the link below to see if there is a branch of the mormon family history library near you. they have a lot of microfilm in their collection and they are very nice and friendly and helpful, it is free and you don't have to be mormon, there is no catch.
2006-09-13 17:16:39 · answer #5 · answered by new yorkr 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Mary Gatt
2013-11-16 05:55:59 · answer #6 · answered by Lawrence 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Try this link:
http://www.census-online.com/links/
Some will just have transcriptions, others will have actual images of the scanned documents. You might have to browse around a bit, but it's worth it.
Good Luck!
2006-09-15 10:11:56 · answer #7 · answered by welches_grape_jelly 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
"actual old" ??!!
2006-09-14 02:39:09 · answer #8 · answered by intergalactica 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋