1890 Census - A forgotten treasure.

DixieRifles

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Regtl. Staff Shiloh 2020
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This article explains the importance of the 1890 Census as a source for immigrants, Veteran's and widows.
http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1996/spring/1890-census-1.html

Page 2 link details the information gathered on Veterans.
http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1996/spring/1890-census-2.html

Here is only a portion of the article.



The Special Enumeration of Union Veterans and Widows

Often confused with the 1890 census, and more often overlooked or misjudged as useless, are nearly seventy-five thousand special 1890 schedules enumerating Union veterans and widows of Union veterans. Nearly all of these schedules for the states of Alabama through Kansas and approximately half of those for Kentucky appear to have been destroyed before transfer of the remaining schedules to the National Archives in 1943. Nearly all, but fragments for some of these states were accessioned by the National Archives as bundle 198. Many reference sources state or speculate that the missing schedules were lost in the 1921 fire. The administrative record, however, does not support this conclusion.

The Pension Office requested the special enumeration to help Union veterans locate comrades to testify in pension claims and to determine the number of survivors and widows for pension legislation. Some congressmen also thought it scientifically useful to know the effect of various types of military service upon veterans' longevity. To assist in the enumeration, the Pension Office prepared a list of veterans' names and addresses from their files and from available military records held by the War Department. The superintendent of the census planned to print in volumes the veterans information (name, rank, length of service, and post office address) compiled from the 1890 enumeration and place copies with libraries and veterans organizations so individuals could more easily locate their fellow veterans.

Question 2 on the general population schedules inquired whether the subject had been "a soldier, sailor, or marine during the civil war (United States or Confederate) or widow of such person." Enumerators were instructed to write "Sol" for soldier, "Sail" for sailor, and "Ma" for marine, with "U.S." or "Conf." in parentheses, for example, Sol (U.S.) or Sail (Conf.). The letter "W" was added to these designations if the enumerated was a widow. According to enumeration instructions, if the veteran or widow responded "yes" to Union service, the enumerator produced the veterans schedule, marked the family number from the general population schedule, and proceeded to ask additional service-related questions.
 
The 1890 Veterans' Schedule is very useful for tracking veterans in their later years. It's especially handy for sorting out men who had common names, or linking an older veteran who turns up in the newspaper with his wartime service record.
 
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