Federal censuses for the State of New Hampshire began
in 1790 and continued to be taken every ten years thereafter. Except
for the 1890 census, which was mostly destroyed, they are currently
available through 1920. All except the 1870 and 1910 enumerations are
indexed in at least one format.
For the provincial period,
enumerations exist for the years 1732, 1744, 1767, and 1776. All are
available at the New Hampshire Records and Archives, and, except for
1732, appear in the multivolume set of New Hampshire Provincial and
State Papers, copies of which are available at many libraries throughout
the state.
The 1800 census does not include the following towns
in Rockingham County: Atkinson, Greenland, Hampton, Hampton Falls,
Londonderry, Northampton, Pelham, Plaistow, Salem, Seabrook, Stratham,
and Windham. In Strafford County the 1800 census is missing for the
towns of Alton, Barnstead, Brookfield, Effingham, Gilmanton, Middleton,
New Durham, Ossipee, Tuftonboro, Wakefield, and Wolfeboro. Fortunately,
researchers now have access to contemporaneous information for residents
of all of these Strafford County towns except Barnstead and Gilmanton.
The source of this information is the 1798 direct tax list, which I
discovered among the uncatalogued holdings of the Wolfeboro Historical
Society. This list provides not only the occupant of the property but
also the name and residence of the owner of the property, if the owner
is not the occupant. This book, entitled 1798 Direct Tax, New Hampshire
District #13, was published in 1989 by Heritage Books and is currently
out of print. It is available in many libraries in the State of New
Hampshire, including the New Hampshire Historical Society, New Hampshire
State Library, Wolfeboro Public Library, New Durham Public Library, and
the New Hampshire State Archives. It is also available at the NEHGS
library. The original schedule has been given to the New Hampshire State
Archives for safe keeping. At this point, it is the only known
surviving 1798 direct tax list for any section of New Hampshire.
All
of the 1820 census records for Grafton County and parts of Rockingham
(Gosport, Greenland, New Castle, Newington, Portsmouth, and Rye) were
lost. Only Center Harbor, Gilford, Moultonborough, New Hampton, and
Sanbornton records are available for Strafford County for that year.
The division of Records Management and Archives for the State of New
Hampshire, located on Fruit Street in Concord, N.H., has original U.S.
census schedules for 1850-1880. It also has 1840 records for Rockingham,
Merrimack, and Stafford Counties. Microfilm copies of 1800-1880
censuses, and printed copies of 1790 and 1800 censuses, plus printed
indexes to later censuses are available at the State Library on Park
Street in Concord, N.H.
The New Hampshire Historical Society,
also located on Park Street in Concord, has a photostat of the 1800
census, the published 1790 and 1800 censuses, and published indexes to
later census years. U.S. census records for New Hampshire (1800-1920)
are available from the National Archives, New England Region, 380
Trapelo Road, Waltham, MA 01254. Unfortunately, the contrast on some of
the microfilmed census records is so weak that images on many pages are
absolutely illegible. This frustrating situation, which is especially
prevalent with the 1860 census sheets, is due to the combination of
faded ink on the original documents and the inability of the camera and
the material used in filming the originals to reproduce what little
contrast survives on the written page. Fortunately the original volumes
of census records for the year 1860, the year most prone to the output
of unreadable microfilm, can be inspected by the researcher at the New
Hampshire State Archives. Although the ink on many of the pages in these
originals has faded to a faint brown the essential entries are still
readable.
The Accelerated Indexing System (AIS) Index appears to
be less accurate for the 1860 census records than it is for the 1790 to
1850 census records. Thus, if an entry cannot be found in the 1860 AIS
Index or does not locate the person on the indicated page, it is prudent
to make a page by page examination of the records of the town or city
in which the ancestor probably lived. The index to the 1880, 1900, and
1920 census records is called the Soundex.
The 1900 federal
census in particular has a number of useful features. In column 7 the
individual's month and year of birth is given. Column 10 reveals the
number of years of marriage for each married person. The number of
children born to each woman is given in column 11 -- this can help you
determine whether all children in a given family have been identified
and whether any were deceased when the census was taken. The year of
immigration to the United States is given in column 16--this might help
you locate a ship passenger arrival list. An individual's naturalization
status in given in column 18 ("Al" for alien, "Pa" for first papers,
and "Na" for naturalized). His or her parents' birthplace is indicated
in columns 14 and 15. Column 25 tells us whether the individual owned
("O") or rented ("R") the home or farm and column 26 whether the home or
farm was mortgaged ("M") or free of mortgage ("F"). These clues can
lead a researcher to a county recorder's office or equivalent agency for
records of deeds, mortgages, and property tax.
For a complete
discussion of the information provided by each federal census, the
researcher is referred to two excellent articles by Claire
Prechtel-Kluskens: