1910 Census

[East Tennessee Roots]

The saying "you're never too old to learn," is so true. I just learned after years of genealogy and Civil War ancestry research that in the 1910 U.S. census, box #30 the census recorder was to ask the question "was this person a survivor of the Union or Confederate Armies, or Union or Confederate Navies ?" They were to answer by writing in box #30, CA (Confederate Army) CN (Confederate Navy) UA (Union Army) UN (Union Navy) I apologize to those that may have already been aware of that. It was news to me.

 

[Booner]

I didn't know this. Thanks for posting

 

[chellers]

Very interesting, ETR. Thank you!

 

[John Winn]

I didn't know that and I've looked at a lot of 1910 census records. I may have to do some serious review now !

 

[Suzanne A]

The saying "you're never too old to learn," is so true. I just learned after years of genealogy and Civil War ancestry research that in the 1910 U.S. census, box #30 the census recorder was to ask the question "was this person a survivor of the Union or Confederate Armies, or Union or Confederate Navies ?" They were to answer by writing in box #30, CA (Confederate Army) CN (Confederate Navy) UA (Union Army) UN (Union Navy) I apologize to those that may have already been aware of that. It was news to me.

I've looked at hundreds of 1910 censuses and never noticed this. On the one I just pulled to see what you were referencing, there were internal code numbers in the boxes in those columns if anything a all was filled in. Remember that the persons whose information was taken did not fill out anything themselves, cards or forms in a book were filled out by the ennumerator who interviewed someone for each household and those notes were then transcribed in the same handwriting into the final "original" census forms we see today. This procedure was followed because so many people didn't read and write or didn't read and write well. The process does account for the many misspellings of names, the enumerators just wrote down what they heard, often without even asking spelling.

I will keep an eye out now for those columns that might actually contain U's or C's on the version we have. Hope I find some. Thanks for mentioning this.

 

[John Winn]

OK, so a little looking revealed this guide to the 1910 census:

https://usa.ipums.org/usa/resources/codebooks/1910_PUMS_codebook.pdf

In it they say the question was only to have been asked of males fifty years or older and was largely ignored but here's the codes and the responses recorded:

 

[Suzanne A]

The saying "you're never too old to learn," is so true. I just learned after years of genealogy and Civil War ancestry research that in the 1910 U.S. census, box #30 the census recorder was to ask the question "was this person a survivor of the Union or Confederate Armies, or Union or Confederate Navies ?" They were to answer by writing in box #30, CA (Confederate Army) CN (Confederate Navy) UA (Union Army) UN (Union Navy) I apologize to those that may have already been aware of that. It was news to me.

Just in case some don't know about it, there is also the 1890 Veterans Schedules which are enormously helpful because the 1890 census for the entire country was almost 100% destroyed by fire and because, as many will be well aware, there was a lot of movement around the country after the Civil War and many veterans relocated.

Before calendar year 1890, as I understand it, the federal government required each state to inventory its veterans, which were mostly Civil War veterans but the occasional Mexican War or War of 1812 veteran could be included as well. I think this is because the Civil War Pension accounted for well over 1/4 of the federal budget and they wanted to assess future costs. What's good about the Schedules is if you're looking for a veteran and he (or she) was alive in 1890, this will tell you where he/she resided and you will know you have the right person and aren't guessing because his rank, service unit and length of service is written right beside his name. Here's a sample page: the soldier I was interested in was Edward W. Ryan, listed here as Ed. W Ryan with rank private Co. A, 2 M.S.M. (which I know was the 2nd MO State Militia Cav.) and he served from Feb. 1863 to June 1865 (there's a blob there, but I see enough to know I have the right man). At the top of the page, you see he is located in Election District 49, Jackson township MO. The E.D. can be converted into the county, in this case Clark Co.

 

[Suzanne A]

OK, so a little looking revealed this guide to the 1910 census:

https://usa.ipums.org/usa/resources/codebooks/1910_PUMS_codebook.pdf

In it they say the question was only to have been asked of males fifty years or older and was largely ignored but here's the codes and the responses recorded:

View attachment 96678

Ah-ha! I saw 3's and 5's in the page I was reviewing as a sample. Good work. BTW someone who was 50 in 1910 would have been born in 1860, they made the age range a little more generous than feasible to cover transcription errors and such, I guess. I know there were drummer boys, but were there any that were born in or after 1860, 5 years of age and under? I see they eliminated the female nurses by asking males only. Thanks for the help, I've never looked up the codes before.

 

[unionblue]

The saying "you're never too old to learn," is so true. I just learned after years of genealogy and Civil War ancestry research that in the 1910 U.S. census, box #30 the census recorder was to ask the question "was this person a survivor of the Union or Confederate Armies, or Union or Confederate Navies ?" They were to answer by writing in box #30, CA (Confederate Army) CN (Confederate Navy) UA (Union Army) UN (Union Navy) I apologize to those that may have already been aware of that. It was news to me.

east Tennessee,

Good catch!

And thanks for sharing this with the forum.

Sincerely,
Unionblue

 

[DRW]

Just in case some don't know about it, there is also the 1890 Veterans Schedules which are enormously helpful because the 1890 census for the entire country was almost 100% destroyed by fire and because, as many will be well aware, there was a lot of movement around the country after the Civil War and many veterans relocated.

Before calendar year 1890, as I understand it, the federal government required each state to inventory its veterans, which were mostly Civil War veterans but the occasional Mexican War or War of 1812 veteran could be included as well. I think this is because the Civil War Pension accounted for well over 1/4 of the federal budget and they wanted to assess future costs. What's good about the Schedules is if you're looking for a veteran and he (or she) was alive in 1890, this will tell you where he/she resided and you will know you have the right person and aren't guessing because his rank, service unit and length of service is written right beside his name. Here's a sample page: the soldier I was interested in was Edward W. Ryan, listed here as Ed. W Ryan with rank private Co. A, 2 M.S.M. (which I know was the 2nd MO State Militia Cav.) and he served from Feb. 1863 to June 1865 (there's a blob there, but I see enough to know I have the right man). At the top of the page, you see he is located in Election District 49, Jackson township MO. The E.D. can be converted into the county, in this case Clark Co.

Is this available online anywhere?

 

[Suzanne A]

Is this available online anywhere?

Yes, these documents with images are available online in the subscription service Ancestry.com, where it is called "1890 Veterans Schedules" under the Census and Voter category when you search for a person or under United States 1890 Veterans Schedules as a separate database in Ancestry's Card Catalogue.

The records are also available on the free service www.familysearch.org.
The record did not come up here when I searched "Edward W Ryan", my subject, by name, at least I didn't see it, but the file is searchable as a separate database entitled "United States Census of Union Veterans and Widows of the Civil War 1890", its official name. Find this database by selecting Search on the entry menu bar when you first go to the site and then under the map of the world at the right (on a computer, not a mobile), below "Find a Collection", fill in the title above quoted in the search box just above "browse all published collections". Don't worry you don't have to browse anything. On the next screen, a search box for your subject person will come up with the database. When I filled this in and searched, Edward Ryan's record came up just as shown on civilwartalk (that copy was from Ancestry). BTW on my successful search, I did not fill in a residence or date, because when I tried that, the name did not come up, so leave those boxes blank.

I had not realized before accessing the files through familysearch.org that the 1890 Veterans' census was confined to Union Veterans and their widows because it was needed to forecast federal Civil War pension obligations. Confederates thus are absent from the list. The widow will come up with a search of the soldier's name.

Another comment, when the states canvassed residents for this compilation, some of them published their own results as a state collection and some asked questions of their own, such as do you belong to a GAR Post, were you taken prisoner, are you dependent for your support, and were you injured, wounded or diseased during the War. These questions were in the Kansas compilation known online on Ancestry.com as "Kansas 1889 Enrollment of Civil War Veterans" under the military category. If you have an ACW vet in KS in 1889, it's helpful, and KS also has incomplete but plentiful GAR post records on Ancestry under the "military" category if you want to see that. Widows are listed in these KS records as well. If you don't see such a database for your State, try contacting the State archives or the state historical society for further information.

 

[Lnwlf]

I apologize to those that may have already been aware of that. It was news to me.

Thanks ETR for sharing this and there is no need to apologize! Remember, not one of us here knows everything there is to know about a given subject, and bits of information such as this benefit everyone willing to acknowledge that fact. Admittedly I had not looked far enough along in the 1910 census to have noticed it either! Thank you, and thanks to the others that brought good stuff to this thread! Kudos!