Terry's TMG Tips

Terry's Census Tag
Simpler Version for 1850 and Later US Census
For TMG 8 and earlier

This page updated 26 Feb 2007

Applies to Version 8

This article describes the Census Tag that I previously used for the 1850 and later US census - the years in which every member of the household was named. I expect the techniques could be adapted to any other census that list each member of household by name. While I now use a more capable structure, I've retained this description of the simpler version because some users may prefer it. A more updated version using new Sentence Variables introduced in TMG 9 is described in the current version of this article.

My article on Recording Census Information describes my approach to recording census information, which is generally aligned with the Census tag I describe here, and some important caveats about its application. Two companion articles describe my Pre-1850 Census tag, and my current Census tag for 1850 and later.

What It Does

The Census Tag I describe below records and provides output in narrative reports the following information:

For the head(s) of household:

• Census title, e.g. "1850 Federal Census"
• Date of enumeration, and address (when available), municipality, county and state of residence
• Miscellaneous notes, e.g. "reporting real estate valued at $600," "with a household including a maid and butler," or "reporting the family did not own a radio"

For the other members of the household:

• Census title, e.g. "1850 Federal Census"
• Municipality, county and state of residence
• Name(s) of head(s) of household
• Relationship to head(s) of household (automatically for children, optionally for others)
• Miscellaneous notes, e.g. "reporting real estate valued at $600"

Thus this tag produces narrative reports that state, in the narrative about the child, that the children were enumerated with their parents. It does not list the children (or others) in the narrative about the parents. The main reason for this is that to list all the other members of the household with the head of household, and to include statements of relationship, can be pretty messy (and I don't think it reads very well to just list the names, without showing the relationships). To do so, you have to account for the possibility of one or more than one child, and if more than one, of the same or different sex. Then, there are lots other kinds of relationships that members of the household have to the head of household, – daughters-in-law, sons-in-law, with or without their children, mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters... the list goes on and on with endless combinations. And, if you like Journal narratives for the whole family, listing all members of the household with with the head of household entry and also noting it for each member creates repetitive entries.

I used this system for a number of years. But with my increasing use of Second Site as an output medium, I found it helpful to change to a more complex system that does list all members of the household with the head of household narrative. The system that lists all members of the household is described here. But since that system uses some advanced techniques, and many readers have said they find this simpler system satisfactory, I've decided to retain the description of it in this article.

Sentence Structures for 1850 to 1870 Census

Below are the Roles and corresponding Sentence Structures I use for the 1850 Census Tag. Those for 1860 and 1870 are the same except for the change in the year. I created custom Sentences for the standard Principal and Witness Roles, and created the three custom Roles listed.

Role	Sentence
Principal	[P]<|and [PO]> appeared on the 1850 Federal Census< of [L]>< enumerated [D]><, [M]>
Witness	[W] appeared on the 1850 Federal Census< of [L]> in the household of [P]< and [PO]><, [WM]><[M0]>
with Parents	[W] appeared on the 1850 Federal Census< of [L]> in the household of his parents [P] and [PO]<, [WM]><[M0]>
with Father	[W] appeared on the 1850 Federal Census< of [L]> in the household of his father [P]<, [WM]><[M0]>
with Mother	[W] appeared on the 1850 Federal Census< of [L]> in the household of his mother [P]<, [WM]><[M0]>

Use:	Enter the Head of Household, and spouse, if present, as Principals. Leave the default Role "Principal." Enter any children of the Head(s) of Household, as Witnesses. Assign the Role "with Parents," "with Father," or "with Mother" as appropriate. Enter any other person listed, who you want to include in your data set, as Witnesses. Apply the Role "Witness."
Note:	The last three Roles also have a Female sentence structure, in which "his" is changed to "her." If you are not familiar with the use of Roles, the discussion in my Roles Tutorial article may help. For help with creating the Sentences involved, see my article on Modifying Sentence Structures.

Sentence Structures for 1880 and Later Census

In 1880 it became common for the census to report the full address of the household, so I use slightly different sentence structures for 1880 and later censuses, as follows.

Role	Sentence
Principal	[P] <|and [PO]> appeared on the 1880 Federal Census of< [LCI],>< [LCN],> [LS]<, at [LD]><, enumerated [D]><, [M]>
Witness	[W] appeared on the 1880 Federal Census of< [LCI],>< [LCN],> [LS], in the household of [P] <and [PO]><, [WM]><[M0]>
with Parents	[W] appeared on the 1880 Federal Census <of [LCI],>< [LCN],> [LS] in the household of his parents [P] and [PO]<, [WM]><[M0]>
with Father	[W] appeared on the 1880 Federal Census <of [LCI],>< [LCN],> [LS] in the household of his father [P]<, [WM]><[M0]>
with Mother	[W] appeared on the 1880 Federal Census <of [LCI],>< [LCN],> [LS] in the household of his mother [P]<, [WM]><[M0]>

Use:	Enter the Head of Household, and spouse, if present, as Principals. Leave the default Role "Principal." Enter any children of the Head(s) of Household, as Witnesses. Assign the Role "with Parents," "with Father," or "with Mother" as appropriate. Enter any other person listed, who you want to include in your data set, as Witnesses. Apply the Role "Witness."
Note:	The first two Roles are the standard "Principal" and "Witness" Roles with custom sentences. The last three Roles also have a Female sentence structure, in which "his" is changed to "her."

Entering Data in the Census Tag

• I enter the head of household as Principal, and if that's a man with a wife listed, enter her as the second Principal (exception - if the people I care about are listed a roomers or the like, and I don't care about the "official" head of household, then I enter my target people as Principals, and note the official head of household in the Memo, if at all).
• I enter the enumeration date as the tag Date.
• I enter the location, with as much detail as is shown, in the Place fields.
• In the Memo field, I enter anything else interesting that I have not entered in another tag. Examples: value of personal and real estate, information about servants or boarders, presence of a land lady, ownership of a radio, or proximity to other households of interest.
• I enter children as Witnesses, applying the "with Parents," "with Father," or "with Mother" Role as appropriate.
• If there are others I care about and want in my database in the household, I enter them as plain Witnesses. Enter the relationship in the Witness Memo in the Add Witness screen for that person so it appears at the end of this person's narrative. For example, for a father living with his married daughter, enter:

his daughter and son-in-law

which produces a narrative like:

• If there is anything of special interest regarding the children or other members of household, such as real estate held, I enter it in the Witness Memo, adding it to the relationship description described above.

About the <[M0]> Variable

The <[M0]> (that's zero) in the witness sentences is to prevent the printing of the main tag Memo for those people if one of the memo options is turned on in the Report Definition screen. Note that when you use <[M0]> you must include the angle brackets, since, by definition, [M0] is empty and thus if you omit them you will get a note about an "unknown" item.

Copyright 2000- by Terry Reigel