Up to date 15 April 2022. Initially printed 4 April 2022. By Sherri Mastrangelo.
Replace: When penning this weblog publish initially, I fashioned the chart by means of comparability of over 50 enumeration districts (the primary to point out for each state on the Nationwide Archives search outcomes). This week whereas I used to be wanting into the opposite “Go away Clean” columns on the 1950 census, I discovered a greater major supply for this info, not within the enumeration directions, however buried in a big zip file referred to as The 1950 Censuses – How They Had been Taken on the census.gov website, written by the U.S. Bureau of the Census in 1955. Updates are included under, although my authentic findings have been just about in line.
Within the 1950 Census, between columns 8 for Relationship and 9 for Race, is “Go away Clean A”. This column is hand-written later, after the census taker has visited properties, and refers back to the particular person’s relationship to the pinnacle of family. You’ll discover that column 8, instantly to the left, additionally describes the connection. So are these numbers really telling us something new?
Nicely, sure and no – however earlier than we get into the usefulness of those notes let me share my findings.
I used to be getting requested this questions in just a few emails, and observed it in just a few Fb family tree teams as nicely: “What do the numbers within the first Go away Clean” column imply?”. Another members in one of many Fb teams dismissed the notes as not essential and never price wanting into, whereas others speculated it needed to do with a widow standing.
I got here throughout this part on Stevemorse.org referred to as “Deciphering Miscellaneous Codes Appended to the 1950 Census in One Step” by Stephen P. Morse, PhD and Joel D. Weintraub, PhD: that was compiled earlier than the discharge of the census, which appeared to have the solutions within the first dropdown for Column A. But I rapidly observed that these solutions, that included “0” for head of family, “1” for spouse, “2” for youngster, and so forth, didn’t match what I used to be seeing on precise 1950 census information (they align extra with the 1940 census). Replace 16 April: this web site has now been up to date!
So I made a decision to give you a fast reference chart for this column and 1950 information. I took a take a look at the primary non-reservation enumeration district of every state of the 1950 census out there at NARA ( and tallied up the occurrences of notations and their relationship to their head of family, to search for similarities. The outcomes have been the identical throughout all states (with lower than a handful of outliers) summarized within the chart under:
| Notation | Most Typically |
|---|---|
| 1 | Head |
| 2 | Spouse |
| 3 | Step-son Step-daughter Baby |
| 4 | Son-in-law Daughter-in-law |
| 5 | Grandson Grandaughter |
| 6 | Mom Father Mom-in-law Father-in-law |
| 7 | Brother; Sister Aunt; Uncle Brother-in-law; Sister-in-law Niece; Nephew Cousin (Descendant of any of those) |
| 8 | Employed hand Maid Housekeeper |
| 9 | Lodger; Roomer; Boarder (Descendant of Lodger) Accomplice (unrelated particular person) Foster youngster (unrelated by blood) |
| X | Head of lodge or establishment |
| 0 | Visitor of lodge or establishment Workers or different employees of establishment |
| V | Affected person Inmate |
Supply checklist of enumeration districts reviewed to compile above chart might be discovered under, following this publish.
For comparability, under is an excerpt from the doc The 1950 Censuses – How They Had been Taken talked about above, written by the U.S. Bureau of the Census. I believe it matches up fairly nicely to my chart above, although I did replace # 3 to incorporate all kids. You’ll additionally discover that I’ve “affected person” or “inmate” beneath “V” whereas the federal government publication reveals solely inmate. I made a decision to depart mine this strategy to replicate the information from the information I reviewed.
*”Presumably all kids” beneath notation 3, as a result of it’s unclear to me proper now if 3 refers solely to step-children, or to any associated youngster of the pinnacle of family (apart from a foster youngster that’s unrelated by blood, that’s discovered by a “9”). You’ll discover when there’s a step-child there may be nearly at all times a 3 on this column, but when the connection is listed as a son or daughter, this column is often clean. Does anybody on the market have any perception right here?
(Up to date right here to point out that 3 means all kids, not simply step kids.)
So how is the useful info, and does it really inform us something new?
It might assist us decipher the connection if the writing is illegible in column 8 (although from what I’ve seen thus far, handwriting in 1950 was fairly first rate).
If the connection in column 8 is lacking, it’d assist decide it.
An instance of the latter is commonly seen for these transcribed from an ICR (Particular person Census Report), as seen within the picture under:
Picture excerpt from the 1950 Census of Barnstable, Massachusetts (Enumeration District 1-2; web page 31), discovered on 1950.census.archives.gov
On this 1950 census excerpt, we see a brief checklist of “Individuals Transcribed From ICRs [Individual Census Report] and Missed Individuals Types”. Immediately we all know the connection of those folks to the pinnacle of family, with none info proven within the relationship column. For instance, for the final two indivudals we see that Edwin T. Chester is the pinnacle of the home, and Olive G. is his spouse. You’d in all probability be capable to determine this out ultimately, however I nonetheless take into account this beneficial! What do you all assume?
Sources for my chart: All census information reviewed have been from NARA ( as talked about above. Enumeration districts reviewed embrace:
Alabama, Autauga, 1-1; Alaska, First Judicial Division, 1-1; Arizona, Apache, 1-1; Arkansas, Arkansas, 1-1; California, Alameda, 1-1; Colorado, Adams, 1-1; Connecticut, Bridgeport, Fairfield, 9-1; Delaware, Kent, 1-1; District of Columbia, Washington, 1-1; Florida, Aluchua, 1-1; Georgia, Appling, 1-1; Hawaii, Hawaii, 1-1; Idaho, Ada, 1-1D; Illinois, Adams, 1-1; Indiana, Adams, 1-1; Iowa, Adair, 1-1; Kansas, Allen, 1-1; Kentucky, Adair, 1-1; Louisiana, Acadia Parish, 1-1; Maine, Androscoggin, 1-1; Maryland, Allegany, 1-1; Massachusetts, Barnstable, 1-1; Michigan, Alcona, 1-1; Minnesota, Aitkin, 1-1; Mississippi, Adams, 1-1; Missouri, Adair, 1-1; Montana, Beaverhead, 1-1; Nebraska, Adams, 1-1; Nevada, Churchill, 1-1; New Hampshire, Belknap, 1-1; New Jersey, Atlantic, 1-1; New Mexico, Bernalilo, 1-2; New York, Albany, 1-1; North Carolina, Alamance, 1-1; North Dakota, Adams, 1-1; Ohio, Adams, 1-1; Oklahoma, Adair, 1-1; Oregon, Baker, 1-1; Pennsylvania, Adams, 1-1; Rhode Island, Bristol, 1-1; South Carolina, Abbeville, 1-1; South Dakota, Aurora, 2-1; Tennessee, Anderson, 1-1; Texas, Amarillo, Potter, 255-1; Utah, Beaver, 1-1; Vermont, Addison, 1-1; Virginia, Accomack, 1-1; Washington, Adams, 1-1; West Virginia, Barbour, 1-1; Wisconsin, Adams, 1-1; Wyoming, Albany, 1-1
#Revealing #Codes #Census #Go away #Clean #Column #Begin #Researching