Over the last six months, this column has discussed the "Anatomy" of the federal census for the years from 1870-1930, not including the mostly-destroyed 1890 census. In this series of articles, each column of the census questionnaire was examined, and clues that will aid your research were discussed. If you have missed any of these articles, you can read them again using the links below:
Anatomy of the 1930 federal census
Anatomy of the 1920 federal census
Anatomy of the 1910 federal census
Anatomy of the 1900 federal census
Anatomy of the 1880 federal census
Anatomy of the 1870 federal census
In a discussion concerning the federal census as evidence for genealogical research, however, one must also consider the question: are census records reliable sources?
Many Civil War veterans and their widows or other dependents received pensions from the U. S. government for their support. For those researchers whose ancestors received pensions for service, these files are arguably the single richest record group in terms of information contained within them.
Taking their inspiration from National Novel Writing Month ("NaNoWriMo"), which challenges its members to write a complete novel in a month, a group of bloggers has issued the "NaBloPoMo" challenge - for bloggers to post at least once every day during the entire month of November.
There is a social website dedicated to the site, providing inspiration and promotion opportunities for members' blogs.
Visit the site (http://www.nablopomo.com/) for more
information.