State and Territorial Censuses
The main historical purpose for most state censuses was to obtain information on the financial, educational, and social profiles of communities throughout a particular jurisdiction. State officials compiled this data to establish policies, meet the social and economic needs of the population, and identify the various ethnic populations living within their borders.
Although not all states conducted state censuses, many collected information designed to provide statistical data as well as personal information. The amount of this type of information varies by time period and state/territory. Some censuses contained many of the same questions and listed all members of a household in the same manner as their federal counterparts.
For more detailed information on state censuses, four of the best sources are listed below:
4.Lainhart, Ann S. State Census Records. Baltimore, MD; Genealogical Publishing Company, c1992.
In addition to the resources listed above there are numerous websites containing tutorials and searchable databases for the individual states that conducted their own censuses. Many of these are operated by state genealogical and historical societies. Searchable databases are also available on Ancestry, Family Search, Find My Past, Heritage Quest, and My Heritage.
The main benefit of searching state censuses is filling in gaps between censuses or overcoming the lack of information due to missing census records. Some prime examples of this are state and territorial censuses taken in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, and Wisconsin. These censuses taken between the years of 1885 and 1895 often fill in missing information caused by the loss of most 1890 federal census schedules.
Unlike the federal censuses, the quality of indexing for personal names in most state census returns usually is very poor to non-existent. Now that a growing number are available online, this situation has improved somewhat. Otherwise, they are alphabetically arranged by county, and then geographically by election precincts. For states with little or no indexing of personal names, users must obtain election precinct numbers to expedite searches.
BLM 4/7/2017