Terry's TMG Tips

Census Source Types

This page created 1 Sep 2008

Version Note: Applies to Versions 6 & 7

I have developed three custom Source Types which I use in citing US Census records. To see how these Source Types are used within the context of an overall plan for managing census data, see my article on Managing Census Information.

This article describes the method I currently use to record census sources. My previous method, which makes use of split CDs to reduce the total number of Sources defined in TMG while producing notes in the desired format, is described in my article on Census Source Types with Split CD.

Overview

Elizabeth Shown Mills has authored two books that are widely used by genealogical researchers as guides in formatting source notes. Her long-standing work Evidence! is the basis for the "Mills" source types supplied with TMG. Her newer work, Evidence Explained, provides somewhat different guidance, and provides more specific recommendations for online sources, including online census images. I don't use TMG's standard Census Source Type because I find confusing and generally unsatisfactory. While I find elements of Ms. Mills' guidance useful, I disagree with some of the details of her advice, so my approach has some similarities with her examples but differs in many details.

In my view the format recommended in her earlier work, which placed the name of the head of household first, is easier for readers to understand, and therefore I retain that format rather than the one suggested in the newer book.

I regard the National Archives microfilm "original" as my source, even if I actually view an image of that online. Thus my citation focuses on the original, as suggested in Evidence!, rather than the vendor who simply provides me with a copy and who would get more recognition under the suggestions in the newer guide (but I do note that I saw an image, e.g. "viewed on Ancestry.com Jul 2003").

Finally, I think including the dwelling and family numbers but not the name of the head of household in the short footnote is exactly backwards. That seems to me to make the reader work much too hard to understand the notes, so I include the name of the head of household and exclude the dwelling and household details from the short footnote.

I don't put any of the household details in the Bibliography Template because I use the Bibliography format only for my "minimalist" website and don't want much detail there. If I were actually creating a conventional bibliography I'd probably add the household details to that template.

These examples were designed for the US census, but in the few cases where I've dealt with state censuses or those of other countries I've found they can be adapted with little difficulty.

The Three Source Types

I use three different Source Types to accommodate the various formats used by US Census throughout the years:

• 1850 to 1930 Population Schedules – see next section.

• 1790 to 1840 Schedules - described below.

• 1850 and 1860 Slave Schedules - described below.

The Style Notes and Technical Notes sections apply to all three Source Types. The sections for the 1790-1840 census and for Slave Schedules address only what is different about those Source Types.

Source Type for 1850 - 1930 Population Schedules:

Style Notes:

There are some differences between the notes produced by this template and the example in Elisabeth Mills' Evidence!. The principal one is that I repeat the head of household name in the short footnote instead of the dwelling and family numbers. I believe this makes the notes easier to follow, especially if you have a lot of census cites in your report. I've eliminated the listing of the Supervisor's District, as I've never found it to be useful in finding a census listing.

I have included the Comments element, where I record when and where I saw the census. This is based on comments by Ms Mills that some copies of the census may be more clear than others, so recording the date and location of the copy viewed is a good idea. Now that "enhanced" copies of the census images are available online and on CDs, this seems like an especially good idea.

Many census sheets have both a hand written "sheet" number and a rubber stamped page number and letter. Since there seems to be no consensus on which to use, I have stolen a suggestion from someone (perhaps Ms Mills?) and show both.

Technical Notes:

• I have made custom Source Elements for County and State. The Mills example reverses the order of the county and state between the footnotes and the bibliography. You cannot do that with a single location element, but using two elements accomplishes that. For help creating a custom Source Element, and especially considerations for selecting the Source Element Group, see my article on Working with Source Elements and Groups.

• I created custom Source Elements for Enumeration District, Dwelling, and Family, which makes it easier to recall which data to enter in which field on the Source Definition screen. By placing them in the Series, File Reference, and Record Number Groups respectively they appear in a logical order on the Source Definition Screen.

• For help with the procedure of creating a custom Source Type see my article on Creating a Custom Source Type.

• I do not use detail information, such as household name and dwelling and family numbers, in the Bibliography Template and the Mills examples for Census do not either. But if you prefer you could include those Source Elements in the Bibliography.

• This template is designed for one Source defined in the Master Source List for each household in the census.

Use of the 1850-1930 Source Type:

When the Source is cited enter any notes specific to the individual citation, such as:

• Birth Tag: shows age 12 and state

• Name Tag: shows name as Frank Reigel

• Relationship Tag: shows him as the son of her husband

• Occupation Tag: shows occupation as farm hand

• Immigration Tag: shows year, as 1874

Source Type for 1790 - 1840 Schedules:

US census records for years prior to 1850 are in a significantly different format from the later ones, so I developed as separate Source Type for them:

Use of the 1790-1840 Source Type:

When the source is cited enter any notes specific to the individual citation.

Source Type for 1850 - 1860 Slave Schedules:

Separate slave schedules were used for the 1850 and 1860 US Census, in a different format than the other schedules, so I created a separate Source Type for them:

Use of the 1850-1860 Slave Source Type:

When the source is cited enter any notes specific to the individual citation.

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