Abstract

This dataset includes all individuals from the 1870 US census.

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Documentation

This dataset was developed through a collaboration between the Minnesota Population Center and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The data contain demographic variables, economic variables, migration variables and race variables. Unlike more recent census datasets, pre-1900 census datasets only contain individual level characteristics and no household or family characteristics, but household and family identifiers do exist.

The official enumeration day of the 1870 census was 1 June 1870. The main goal of an early census like the 1870 U.S. census was to allow Congress to determine the collection of taxes and the appropriation of seats in the House of Representatives. Each district was assigned a U.S. Marshall who organized other marshals to administer the census. These enumerators visited households and recorder names of every person, along with their age, sex, color, profession, occupation, value of real estate, place of birth, parental foreign birth, marriage, literacy, and whether deaf, dumb, blind, insane or “idiotic”.

Sources: Szucs, L.D. and Hargreaves Luebking, S. (1997). Research in Census Records, The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy. Ancestry Incorporated, Salt Lake City, UT Dollarhide, W.(2000). The Census Book: A Genealogist’s Guide to Federal Census Facts, Schedules and Indexes. Heritage Quest, Bountiful, UT

1870 United States Federal Census contains records from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA by Year: 1870; Census Place: Philadelphia Ward 28 District 91, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Roll: M593_1445; Page: 248A; Family History Library Film: 552944 - .

1870 United States Federal Census contains records from Lyndon, Aroostook, Maine, USA by Year: 1870; Census Place: Lyndon, Aroostook, Maine; Roll: M593_538; Page: 236A; Family History Library Film: 552037 - .

This data collection contains individual-level and family-level information collected from the 1870 and 1880 manuscript schedules of the United States Population Census for seven Southern cities: Charleston, South Carolina, Richmond, Virginia, Atlanta, Georgia, Savannah, Georgia, Mobile, Alabama, Norfolk, Virginia, and New Orleans, Louisiana. Approximately 5,000 individuals and 1,500 families are represented for each of the two census years studied. Part 1 contains data for 1870, and Part 2 contains data for 1880. The data gathered for sampled individuals include age, sex, race, marital status, presence of health defect, school attendance, ability to read, ability to write, occupational classification (female and male), nationality, and real and personal wealth (for 1870 only). Both datasets include a variable that uniquely identifies each family in the sample to facilitate the aggregation of the data for the creation of family-level data for each member, e.g., sex, race, age, marital status, school attendance, member status in the family, occupation, health, unemployment, city of residence, nationality and parents' nationality, and real and personal wealth.

1870 United States Federal Census contains records from Fort Fairfield, Aroostook, Maine, USA by Year: 1870; Census Place: Fort Fairfield, Aroostook, Maine; Roll: M593_538; Page: 106A; Family History Library Film: 552037 - .