Research Our Records

Nonpopulation Census Records

Introduction

Nonpopulation census records can add "flesh" to the bones of ancestors and provide information about the communities in which they lived.

Agriculture, mortality, and social statistics schedules are available for the census years of 1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880. Manufacturing schedules are available for 1820, 1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880. These records are arranged by state, then by county, and then by political subdivision (township, city, etc.).

Schedules of business are available for 1935 for the following industries: advertising agencies, banking and financial institutions, miscellaneous enterprises, motor trucking for hire, public warehousing, and radio broadcasting stations.

Agricultural Schedules

Agricultural schedules of 1850, 1860, and 1870 provide the following information for each farm:

  • Name of owner or manager
  • Number of improved and unimproved acres
  • Number of livestock owned by farmer (broken down by breed)
  • Amount of agricultural goods produced during the preceding year (broken down by crop)
  • Cash value of the farm, farming machinery, livestock, animals slaughtered during the past year, and "homemade manufactures"

The 1880 schedules provide additional details, such as the amount of acreage used for each kind of crop, the number of poultry, and the number of eggs produced.

Exclusions: Not every farm was included in these schedules. In 1850, for example, small farms that produced less than $100 worth of products annually were not included. By 1870, farms of less than three acres or farms that produced less than $500 worth of products were not included.

Manufacturing Schedules

The quantity and quality of data in manufacturing schedules varies by census year.

1810

On May 1, 1810, the Congress passed an Act directing that "an account of the several manufacturing establishments and and manufactures" be made. However, neither Congress nor the Secretary of the Treasury provided U.S. Marshals with specific instructions about the information that they should collected. As a result, the quality and quantity of the information collected about manufactures varied greatly.

Information is usually included as annotations on the population census schedules found in the descriptive pamphlet for National Archives Microfilm Publication M252, Third Census of the United States, 1810.

1820 & 1850–1880

Manufacturing schedules in 1820, 1850, and 1860 provide the following information for each farm:

  • Name of the manufacturer
  • Type of business or product
  • Amount of capital invested
  • Quantities, kinds, and value of raw materials used
  • Quantities and value of product produced annually
  • Kind of power or machinery used
  • Number of men and women employed
  • Average monthly cost of male and female labor

The amount of detail reported in these schedules increased in 1870 and again in 1880. In 1880, supplemental schedules were also used for specific industries, such as boot and shoemaking, lumber and saw mills, and flour and grist mills.

Exclusions: Small manufacturing operations that produced less than $500 worth of goods were not included on any of the schedules.

Mortality Schedules

Mortality schedules recorded deaths in the year preceding the taking of the census. For example, the 1860 mortality schedules include persons who died between June 1, 1859, and May 31, 1860.

For each person, the following information is listed:

  • Name
  • Age
  • Sex
  • Marital status (if married or widowed)
  • State or country of birth
  • Month of death
  • Occupation
  • Cause of death
  • Length of the final illness

These schedules may be the only record of death for some individuals, as many states did not require recording of deaths until the late nineteenth century and gravestones or cemetery records may not exist.

Social Statistics Schedules

Social statistics schedules provide information about communities. In 1850 through 1870, these schedules indicate the following information for each political subdivision:

  • Value of real estate
  • Annual taxes
  • Number of schools, teachers, and pupils
  • Number and type of libraries and number of volumes they have
  • Name, type, and circulation of newspapers
  • Types of church denominations, number of people each church can seat, and value of their property
  • Number of native and foreign-born paupers and cost of supporting them
  • Number of native and foreign-born criminals convicted and in prison
  • Average wages paid to farm hands, day laborers, carpenters, and female domestics

Note that these schedules only provide statistical data, not information about specific individuals. In contrast, the 1880 schedules of delinquent, defective, and dependent classes list deaf, dumb, blind, and criminal persons by name and provide information about them on an individual basis.

Business Schedules, 1935

The 1935 Census of Business was the largest and most inclusive inventory of business establishments undertaken by the Bureau of the Census up to that time. The Census was designed to provide a picture of essential items of business information concerning most lines of business activity in the United States.

Fifteen categories of businesses were originally surveyed. Upon completion of tabulations and reports, the Department of Commerce, under authority granted by Congress, disposed of the schedules relating to construction; distribution of manufacturers' sales; and hotels, retail trade, and service and amusement. See the following Congressional reports for more information: 

  • Construction: 75th Cong., 1st sess., H. Rep. No. 1538, July 21, 1937, and 78th Cong., 1st sess., H. Rep. No. 555, June 16, 1943
  • Manufacturers' sales: 81st Cong., 2d sess., H. Rep. No. 3208, Dec. 19, 1950
  • Service and amusement: 78th Cong., 1st sess., H. Rep. No. 555, June 16, 1943)

The schedules relating to advertising agencies, banks, bus transportation, financial institutions, insurance and real estate, miscellaneous, motor trucking for hire, public warehousing, and radio broadcasting were retained and transferred to the custody of the National Archives in 1941 and 1946.

In 1953, in order to dispose of the paper schedules, the National Archives transferred to microfilm the following categories of schedules: advertising agencies, banks and other financial institutions, miscellaneous enterprises, motor trucking for hire, public warehousing, and radio broadcasting. Disposal of the original paper schedules after microfilming was authorized by Congress (83d Cong., 1st Sess. H. Rept. 573, June 17, 1953).

The remaining schedules, relating to bus transportation, insurance and real estate, service and amusement, and wholesale trade were retained in paper form because "resources required for extensive rearrangement prior to microfilming were not available."

Available 1935 Census of Business Microfilm Publications

Roll lists are available for the six 1935 Census of Business microfilm publications:

  • M1797, Advertising Agencies
  • M2066, Banking and Financial Institutions
  • M2067, Miscellaneous Enterprises
  • M2068, Motor Trucking for Hire
  • M2069, Public Warehousing
  • M2070, Radio Broadcasting Stations

Nonpopulation Census Schedules by State, 1820-1930

Accordion
  • M279Records of the 1820 Census of Manufactures
  •  M1871Nonpopulation Census Schedules for Alaska, 1929: Agriculture

For more information, see Nonpopulation Census Records: Alaska.

  • M1874: Nonpopulation Census Schedules for American Samoa, 1930: Agriculture
  • T655Federal Mortality Census Schedules, 1850–1880 (formerly in the custody of the Daughters of American Revolution), and Related Indexes

T655 has been digitized and made available online through Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org.

  • M279Records of the 1820 Census of Manufactures

Nonpopulation Schedules Available Elsewhere:

The California State Library has these nonpopulation censuses for California:

  • Agriculture: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • Industry/Manufacturing: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • Mortality: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • Social Statistics: 1850, 1860, 1870
  • T655Federal Mortality Census Schedules, 1850–1880 (formerly in the custody of the Daughters of American Revolution), and Related Indexes

T655 has been digitized and made available online through Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org.

  • M279Records of the 1820 Census of Manufactures
  • M279Records of the 1820 Census of Manufactures

Nonpopulation Schedules Available Elsewhere:

The Delaware Public Archives has these nonpopulation censuses for Delaware:

  • Agriculture: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes: 1880
  • Manufacturing/Industry: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • Mortality Schedules, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • Social Statistics: 1850, 1860, 1870
  • M279Records of the 1820 Census of Manufactures
  • M1793Nonpopulation Census Schedules for the District of Columbia, 1850-1870: Agriculture, Industry, Mortality, and Social Statistics; and Nonpopulation Census Schedules for Worcester County, Maryland, 1850: Agriculture
  • M1794Nonpopulation Census Schedules for the District of Columbia, Montana Territory, Nevada, and Wyoming Territory, 1880: Agriculture 
  • M1795Nonpopulation Census Schedules for the District of Columbia, 1880: General and Special Schedules of Manufacturing and Supplemental Schedules of Dependent, Defective, and Delinquent Classes
  • T655Federal Mortality Census Schedules, 1850-1880 (formerly in the custody of the Daughters of American Revolution), and Related Indexes

T655 has been digitized and made available online through Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org.

  • T1168Nonpopulation Census Schedules for Florida, 1850–1880
  • M845Schedules of the Florida State Census of 1885

T1168 and M845 have been digitized and made available online through Ancestry.com.

 

Nonpopulation Schedules Available Elsewhere:

The State Archives of Florida has these nonpopulation censuses for Florida:

  • Mortality: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • M279Records of the 1820 Census of Manufactures
  • T1137Nonpopulation Census Schedules for Georgia, 18501880

T1137 has been digitized and made available online through Ancestry.com.

  • M1876Nonpopulation Census Schedules for Hawaii, 1930: Agriculture
  • M1890: Nonpopulation Census Schedules for Guam, 1930: Agriculture

Nonpopulation Schedules Available Elsewhere:

The Idaho Historical Society has these nonpopulation censuses for Idaho:

  • Agriculture: 1870, 1880
  • Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes: 1880
  • Industry/Manufacturing: 1870, 1880
  • Mortality: 1870, 1880
  • Social Statistics: 1870
  • M279Records of the 1820 Census of Manufactures
  • T1133Nonpopulation Census Schedules for Illinois, 1850–1880

T1133 has been digitized and made available online through Ancestry.com.

  • M279Records of the 1820 Census of Manufactures

Nonpopulation Schedules Available Elsewhere:

The Indiana State Archives has these nonpopulation censuses for Indiana:

  • Agriculture: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes: 1880
  • Industry/Manufacturing: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • Social Statistics: 1850, 1860, 1870
The Indiana State Library has these nonpopulation censuses for Indiana:
  • Mortality Schedules: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880

T1156 has been digitized and made available online through Ancestry.com.

  • T1130Nonpopulation Census Schedules for Kansas, 1850–1880

T1130 has been digitized and made available online through Ancestry.com.

  • M279Records of the 1820 Census of Manufactures
  • T655: Federal Mortality Census Schedules, 1850–1880 (formerly in the custody of the Daughters of American Revolution), and Related Indexes
  • M1528: Nonpopulation Census Schedules for Kentucky, 1850–1880

T655 has been digitized and made available through Ancestry.com.

  • M279Records of the 1820 Census of Manufactures
  • T655: Federal Mortality Census Schedules, 1850–1880 (formerly in the custody of the Daughters of American Revolution), and Related Indexes
  • T1136: Nonpopulation Census Schedules for Louisiana, 1850–1880

T655 has been digitized and made available online through Ancestry.com.

  • M279Records of the 1820 Census of Manufactures

Nonpopulation Schedules Available Elsewhere:

The Maine State Archives has these nonpopulation censuses for Maine:

  • Agriculture: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes: 1880
  • Manufacturing/Industry: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • Mortality Schedules: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • Social Statistics: 1850, 1860, 1870
  • M279Records of the 1820 Census of Manufactures
  • M1793: Nonpopulation Census Schedules for the District of Columbia, 18501870: Agriculture, Industry, Mortality, and Social Statistics; and Nonpopulation Census Schedules for Worcester County, Maryland, 1850: Agriculture 
  • M1799: Nonpopulation Census Schedules for Baltimore City and County, Maryland, 18501860: Agriculture, Industry, and Social Statistics

Nonpopulation Schedules Available Elsewhere:

The Maryland State Archives has these nonpopulation censuses for Maryland:

  • Agriculture: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes: 1880
  • Industry/Manufacturing: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • Mortality Schedules: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • Social Statistics: 1850, 1860, 1870
  • M279Records of the 1820 Census of Manufactures
  • T1204: Nonpopulation Census Schedules for Massachusetts, 1840–1880

T1204 has been digitized and made available online through Ancestry.com.

 

Nonpopulation Schedules Available Elsewhere:

The Massachusetts Archives has these nonpopulation censuses for Massachusetts:

  • Agriculture: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes: 1880
  • Industry/Manufacturing: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • Social Statistics: 1850, 1860, 1870
  • M279Records of the 1820 Census of Manufactures
  • T1163: Nonpopulation Census Schedules for Michigan, 1850: Mortality Schedules (in the custody of the State Library of Ohio) 
  • T1164Nonpopulation Census Schedules for Michigan, 18501880 (in the custody of the Michigan State Archives)

T1163 and T1164 have been digitized and made available online through Ancestry.com.

  • T1164: Nonpopulation Census Schedules for Michigan, 1850–1880 (in the custody of the Michigan State Archives)
    • Includes Aitkin, Anoka, and Benton Counties in Minnesota on Roll 14.
  • M1802: Nonpopulation Census Schedules for Minnesota, 1860: Agriculture

T1164 has been digitized and made available online through Ancestry.com.

Nonpopulation Schedules Available Elsewhere:

The Mississippi Department of Archives and History has these nonpopulation censuses for Mississippi:

  • Agriculture: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • Industry/Manufacturing: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • Mortality: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • Social Statistics: 1850, 1860, 1870
  • Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes: 1880
  • M279Records of the 1820 Census of Manufactures

Nonpopulation Schedules Available Elsewhere:

The State Historical Society of Missouri has these nonpopulation censuses for Missouri:

  • Agriculture: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes: 1880
  • Industry/Manufacturing: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • Mortality: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • Social Statistics: 1850, 1860, 1870
  • M1806: Nonpopulation Census Schedules for Montana, 1870 and 1880
  • M1794: Nonpopulation Census Schedules for the District of Columbia, Montana Territory, Nevada, and Wyoming Territory, 1880: Agriculture

M1806 has been digitized and made available online through Ancestry.com.

  • T1128: Nonpopulation Census Schedules for Nebraska, 1860–1880

T1128 has been digitized and made available online through Ancestry.com.

  • M1794: Nonpopulation Census Schedules for the District of Columbia, Montana Territory, Nevada, and Wyoming Territory, 1880: Agriculture
  • M279: Records of the 1820 Census of Manufactures

Nonpopulation Schedules Available Elsewhere:

The New Hampshire State Library and New Hampshire Division of Archives & Records Management have these nonpopulation censuses for New Hampshire:

  • Agriculture: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes: 1880
  • Industry/Manufacturing: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • Social Statistics: 1850, 1860, 1870
  • M279: Records of the 1820 Census of Manufactures
  • M1810: Nonpopulation Census Schedules for New Jersey, 1850–1880: Mortality
  • A3469: Nonpopulation Census Schedules for New Jersey, 1880: Supplemental Schedules of Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes

M1810 and A3469 have been digitized and made available online through Ancestry.com.

  • M846Schedules of the New Mexico Territory Census of 1885

M846 has been digitized and made available online through Ancestry.com.

  • M1792: Manufacturing Schedules Contained in the 1810 Population Census Schedules of New York State 
  • M252: Third Census of the United States, 1810
  • M279: Records of the 1820 Census of Manufactures

M252 has been digitized and made available online through Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org.

 

Nonpopulation Schedules Available Elsewhere:

The New York State Library has these nonpopulation censuses for New York:

  • Agriculture: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes: 1880
  • Industry/Manufacturing: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • Social Statistics: 1850, 1860, 1870
  • M279: Records of the 1820 Census of Manufactures
  • M1805: Nonpopulation Census Schedules for North Carolina, 1850–1880: Mortality and Manufacturing

M1805 has been digitized and made available online through Ancestry.com.

 

Nonpopulation Schedules Available Elsewhere:

The State Archives of North Carolina has these nonpopulation censuses for North Carolina:

  • Agriculture: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes: 1880
  • Industry/Manufacturing: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • Social Statistics: 1850, 1860, 1870

Nonpopulation Schedules Available Elsewhere:

The South Dakota State Historical Society has these nonpopulation censuses for the Dakota Territory:

  • Agriculture: 1880
  • Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes: 1880
  • Industry/Manufacturing: 1880
  • Mortality: 1860, 1880
  • Social Statistics: 1870
  • M279: Records of the 1820 Census of Manufactures
  • T1159: Nonpopulation Census Schedules for Ohio, 1850–1880

T1159 has been digitized and made available online through Ancestry.com.

 

Check back soon.

Nonpopulation Schedules Available Elsewhere:

The State Library of Oregon has these nonpopulation censuses for Oregon:

  • Agriculture: 1850, 1870, 1880
  • Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes: 1880
  • Industry/Manufacturing: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • Mortality: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • Social Statistics: 1850, 1860, 1870
  • M279Records of the 1820 Census of Manufactures
  • T1138Nonpopulation Census Schedules for Pennsylvania, 1850–1880: Agriculture
  • T1157Nonpopulation Census Schedules for Pennsylvania, 1850–1860: Manufactures Schedules
  • M1796Nonpopulation Census Schedules for Pennsylvania, 1870–1880: Industry and Manufacturing
  • M1838: Nonpopulation Census Schedules for Pennsylvania, 1850–1880: Mortality
  • M597Nonpopulation Census Schedules for Pennsylvania, 1850–1880: Social Statistics and Supplemental Schedules

M1838 and M597 have been digitized and made available online through Ancestry.com.

  • M279Records of the 1820 Census of Manufactures
  • M279: Records of the 1820 Census of Manufactures

Nonpopulation Schedules Available Elsewhere:

The South Carolina Department of Archives and History has these nonpopulation censuses for South Carolina:

  • Agriculture: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes: 1880
  • Industry/Manufacturing: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • Social Statistics: 1850, 1860, 1870

Nonpopulation Schedules Available Elsewhere:

The South Dakota State Historical Society has these nonpopulation censuses for the Dakota Territory:

  • Agriculture: 1880
  • Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes: 1880
  • Mortality: 1860, 1870, 1880
  • M279Records of the 1820 Census of Manufactures
  • T655Federal Mortality Census Schedules, 1850–1880 (formerly in the custody of the Daughters of American Revolution), and Related Indexes
  • T1135Nonpopulation Census Schedules for Tennessee, 1850–1880

T655 and T1135 have been digitized and made available online through Ancestry.com.

  • T1134: Nonpopulation Census Schedules for Texas, 1850–1880

T1134 has been digitized and made available online through Ancestry.com.

  • M1807: Nonpopulation Census Schedules for Utah Territory and Vermont, 1870: Mortality

M1807 has been digitized and made available online through Ancestry.com.

  • M279: Records of the 1820 Census of Manufactures
  • M1798: Nonpopulation Census Schedules for Vermont, 1850–1870
  • M1807: Nonpopulation Census Schedules for Utah Territory and Vermont, 1870: Mortality

M1807 has been digitized and made available online through Ancestry.com.

  • M279Records of the 1820 Census of Manufactures
  • M1808: Eighth Census of the United States for the Northern District of Halifax County, Virginia, 1860: Schedules of Free Inhabitants, Slave Inhabitants, Mortality, Agriculture, Industry, and Social Statistics
  • T1132: Nonpopulation Census Schedules for Virginia, 1850–1880

M1808 and T1132 have been digitized and made available online through Ancestry.com.

  • M1891: Nonpopulation Census Schedules for the U.S. Virgin Islands, 1917 and 1930: Agriculture
  • A1154: Nonpopulation Census Schedules for Washington Territory, 1850–1880

A1154 has been digitized and made available online through Ancestry.com.

Nonpopulation Schedules Available Elsewhere:

The West Virginia Department of Archives and History has these nonpopulation censuses for West Virginia:

  • Agriculture: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes: 1880
  • Industry/Manufacturing: 1870, 1880
  • Mortality: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880

Nonpopulation Schedules Available Elsewhere:

The Wisconsin Historical Society has these nonpopulation censuses for Wisconsin:

  • Agriculture: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes: 1880
  • Industry/Manufacturing: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • Mortality: 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • Social Statistics: 1850, 1860, 1870
  • M1794: Nonpopulation Census Schedules for the District of Columbia, Montana Territory, Nevada, and Wyoming Territory, 1880: Agriculture

Additional Research

For more detailed information about nonpopulation census forms and instructions before 1900, consult:

  • Caroll D. Wright, History and Growth of the United States Census (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1900; reprinted by Johnson Reprint Corporation, New York, 1966).
  • Claire Prechtel-Kluskens, "The Nonpopulation Census Schedules," The Record, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 9 & 25 (Sept. 1995).
Top