Your First 30 Days of Family History Research
A week-by-week plan for starting your family tree the right way, from interviewing relatives to finding your first census record.
Census Records
Federal and state censuses, and the other records that work like a census: how to find them, read them and get every clue out of them.
How to Read the U.S. Federal Census (1790–1950)
What each federal census asked, which years are most useful, and how to get every clue out of a census page.
Naturalization Records: How Immigrants Became Citizens
How the two-step citizenship process worked, why 1906 is the dividing line, and where to find the papers that can name a hometown and ship.
The FAN Club: Solving Problems Through Friends, Associates and Neighbors
When your ancestor's own records run out, the people around them can still lead the way. A step-by-step guide to cluster research.
City Directories: Tracking Your Ancestors Year by Year
The phone books of the past list adults with addresses and jobs every year, filling the ten-year gaps between censuses.
Researching Enslaved Ancestors Before 1870
How to work past the 1870 census, identify a likely enslaver, and find enslaved people named in probate, tax, Freedmen's Bureau and military records.
Tax Lists: The Annual Census Most Researchers Skip
Tax lists were made every year, survive where other records burned, and can reveal ages, deaths and migrations. Here's how to read them.
State Census Records: The Censuses Between the Censuses
Many states took their own censuses, often in years ending in 5. They fill the ten-year gaps, partly replace the lost 1890 census, and sometimes ask questions the federal census never did.
Where Did My Ancestor Go? Finding Someone Who Vanishes Between Records
Your ancestor is in the 1880 census and missing from 1900. Before you assume the worst, work through the most common reasons people disappear from records, and where to find them again.
Why Can't I Find My Ancestor in the Index? Search Tricks That Work
Misspellings, misread handwriting and transcription errors hide millions of ancestors from name searches. Wildcards, Soundex, sideways searches and browsing will find most of them.
Old Causes of Death Decoded: Dropsy, Consumption, Apoplexy and More
What the causes of death on old death certificates, burial records and mortality schedules usually meant, why they're often vague, and what they can tell you about your family.
Mortality Schedules (1850–1885): The Census of the Dead
For four decades, census takers also listed everyone who had died in the previous year. What the mortality schedules record, where to find them, and why they matter for deaths that left no other trace.
Poorhouses, Asylums, Prisons and Hospitals: Institutional Records
Ancestors who spent time in a poorhouse, asylum, prison, hospital or soldiers' home left records most researchers never look for. Where to find them, and the privacy rules that govern them.
Native American Ancestors: Dawes Rolls, Indian Census Rolls and Tribal Records
How to research Native American ancestors using federal records such as the Dawes Rolls and Indian Census Rolls, tribal records and other sources, and how to approach this research with care.
English and Scottish Ancestors: Civil Registration, Censuses and Parish Registers
British records are rich, well indexed and often free to search. How to use civil registration, the 1841–1921 censuses and parish registers in England, Wales and Scotland.
French-Canadian and Canadian Ancestors: Parish Registers, Censuses and "Dit" Names
French-Canadian families can often be traced to the 1600s through some of the best church records in North America. How to use Quebec's parish registers, Canadian censuses and the tools built for this research.
Find the records
Websites and archives for this topic are in our Resource Directory under Census & Vital Records.
Other topics
Getting Started 21Census Records 16Birth, Marriage & Death Records 15Church Records 12Cemeteries & Burials 2Newspapers & Obituaries 3Land & Property Records 7Wills, Probate & Court Records 13Tax Records 3Military Records 5Immigration & Naturalization 12DNA & Genetic Genealogy 9Libraries & Archives 8Research in the Old Country 10African American Research 2Research Methods & Evidence 31Brick Walls 11Organizing Your Research 7Online Sites & Family Trees 11