1880 Census Map
The 1880 census began on June 1, 1880 for the general population of the United States. The enumeration was to be completed within thirty days, or two weeks for communities with populations of 10,000 or more. Regardless of when an individual was contacted, all responses were to reflect the status of the individual as of June 1, 1880, the official Census Day.
Thirty-eight states (including the recently admitted Colorado) were enumerated in the 1880 census, along with eight territories: Arizona, Dakota, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. Non-organized Alaska was also enumerated, but the "Indian Territory" (now Oklahoma) was not enumerated for non-Indians.
Enumerators (census takers) collected the following for each household:
- Address (name of the street; house number)
- Occupant (name of each person and their relationship to head of family)
- Personal (sex, race, age, marital status, ability to read and write, birthplace, and birthplace of parents)
- Occupation (trade or profession; number of months unemployed)
- Health (whether blind, deaf and dumb, crippled, maimed, idiotic, insane, bedridden, or otherwise disabled)
Other Useful Sites for Genealogy
When conducting family history research, you will quickly realize that no one source can answer all your questions. This is true for original source material, physical archives, and those archives that have been digitized and transcribed for searching via the Internet.
While this site is focused on 1880 census and how to use Census Records, there are a host of other record types and Web sites that may be of interest.
Here are some of our favorites:
¤ 1930 Census - free details for researching 1930 census records
¤ US Census - an summary overview, 1790 - 1940
¤ Google Your Family Tree (Award Winning Book)
¤ Genealogy 101 Tips for Beginners & Free forms
¤ NY Arrivals searcing NY passenger arrivals
¤ Vital Records tips at Genealogy Worldwide
¤ American Immigrant Wall of Honor at Ellis Island
¤ New York Passenger Lists, detail about the Port of NY
¤ SteveMorse.org (One Step Search Tools)
¤ Castle Garden
¤ APG (Assoc. of Professional Genealogists)
¤ LDS Church (the Mormon Church)
¤ Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter (by Dick Eastman)