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This article is part of a continuing series looking at each federal census individually. Please read the others in the archives of this column. The 1870 U. S. Census was the Ninth Decennial Census. This census is probably the single most important census for genealogists conducting research on African-American families

So appreciate your articles; I will use them to educate myself more thoroughly and may refer others to this knowledge source, as well.

This column previously addressed the importance of the 1870 U. S. census in African-American research. As noted in that article, this was the first federal census after the end of the Civil War, and therefore the first record group to record personal information about former slaves nationwide. It was not, however, the earliest record group to do so in many localities. Many similar record groups were created that provide information about former slaves between 1865 and 1870.

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?

When the 1860 federal census was collected and enumerated, slavery was still legal within most of the states south of the Mason-Dixon line. The 1860 federal census enumerated only free people of color in its population schedule; slaves were enumerated namelessly on a separate schedule, identified only by slave owner, age, gender, and color.

This site uses a database containing genealogical information on emigrants from the Dutch province of Drenthe, which was compiled by researcher Arend Everts from Hoogeveen. He searched the 1840-1930 census records of all towns in this province and several towns in the provinces of Groningen and Overijssel for 'departed persons'. The data was then checked against information from the archives of Pella, Iowa, Holland, Michigan and Grand Rapids, Michigan. In addition to the emigrant indexes (passenger lists 1820-1880 and American census records 1850-1870) published by Robert Swieringa, 'Emigrants from Drenthe' aims to be a handy resource for genealogical research.