ensus Records

• US Federal Census Records
  • What Is It? An enumeration of the public conducted every 10 years since 1790 by the federal government.
  • What Are They? A listing of schedules that each contain different and unique information.
    • Population Schedules (1790-present)
    • Motality Schedules (1850-1880)
    • Agricultural Schedules (1850-1880, 1900 schedules were destroyed)
    • Veterans Schedules (1890)
    • Slave Schedules (1850-1860)
    • Manufacturers/Industrial Schedules (1850-1880)
    • Social Statistics recorded existing social organizations (churches, schools, etc) (1850-1880)
  • Where Are They? Federal Census schedules for Wisconsin are available at the Area Research Center which is located on the UW-Platteville campus. A complete file of all the surviving schedules of the 1790-1920 U.S. censuses for all the states is available at the Wisconsin Historical Society on microfilm.
  • Other Access?
    • Interlibrary Loan: The Wisconsin Historical Society has circulating copies of the Wisconsin State Censuses available for loan. Request these from your local library's Interlibrary Loan office. Provide the year and county. They also circulate indexes to the 1905 state census. Provide the name of the person and year.
    • Research by Mail/Fax: If you would like the Wisconsin Historical Reference Staff to locate and photocopy pages from the censuses, it is very important for you to view their Library Services page for an explanation of charges before you place any order
    • InterAreaResearch Loan: Some collection items are available to be interlibrary loaned to another Area Research Center. This is up to the discretion of each Area Research Center librarian as to what can and can not be sent out.
  • What's the Timeline?
    • 1790-1840 Census information was recordered every 10 years. These census years recorded only the name of the head of household and tabulated the number of males and females residing in the household by age categories.
    • 1850-pres Each person in the household has been listed separately by name.
    • 1890 This census was almost completely destroyed by fire. All that remain are a few Veteran's schedules.
    • 2012 The 1940 census will be available for public viewing
  • How Does it Work? Make sure that you explore every form of index available (book, soundex, miracode) to find your ancestors. This will make the job a lot easier for you.
• Wisconsin State Census Records
  • What Is It? An enumeration of the public conducted at different time intervals by the Wisconsin territorial or state government.
  • What Are They? A population schedule similar to the federal census
  • Where Are They?
  • What's the Timeline?
    • 1836
    • 1838
    • 1842
    • 1846
    • 1847
    • 1855
    • 1865 (fragments only)
    • 1875
    • 1885
    • 1895
    • 1905 (Only Wisconsin state census to list all the members in a household by name)
  • State Census schedules for Wisconsin are available at the Area Research Center which is located on the UW-Platteville campus and at the Wisconsin Historical Society on microfilm.