Trace your family tree

If you're thinking about reaching into your family's past, the best place to start is the United States Census. The Census is a government-organized survey of the population of the United States that happens every ten years. Information like age, place of residence, occupation, and education are types of information collected in most censuses. The Census can help you track the migration of your ancestors and learn about who they were.

To locate a record, first look up the name of the person you want to find in a Census index. The most useful indexes are electronic, like Ancestry Library Edition, because you can search for a person based on more than just a name, making your search more successful. This online index will show you the image of the page of the Census where the person's name appears. Or, you can use the roll and page number provided by the index to look at the microfilm images produced by the National Archives and Records Administration.

Once you've located a person in the U. S. Census, you can use that information to find parents or siblings, or as a lead to sources at county or municpal levels. The Census may sound dull, but it can reveal all sorts of interesting things about your family's past.

Citation for 1910 Kansas Census:
United States, Bureau of the Census. (1993). Population schedules of the thirteenth census of the United States, 1910, Kansas. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration.