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The 1890 census was begun on 1 June 1890. The enumeration was to be completed within thirty days, or two weeks for communities with populations of more than 10,000.

Questions Asked in the 1890 Census

• The surviving 1890 schedules provide the address
• Number of families in the house
• Number of persons in the house, and number of persons in the family.
• Individuals are listed by name
• Whether a soldier, sailor, or marine during the Civil War; and whether Union or Confederate
• Whether the widow of a veteran
• Relationship to head of family
• Whether white, black, mulatto, quadroon, octoroon, Chinese, Japanese, or Indian
• Sex
• Age
• Marital status
• Whether married during the year
• If a mother, number of children and number living
• Place of birth of the individual and his or her father and mother
• If foreign born, how many years in the United States
• Whether naturalized or in the process of naturalization
• Profession, trade, or occupation
• Months unemployed during census year
• Ability to read and write
• Ability to speak English; if not, language or dialect spoken
• Whether suffering from acute or chronic disease (if so, name of disease and length of time afflicted)
• Whether defective in mind, sight, hearing, or speech; or whether crippled, maimed, or deformed (with name of defect)
• Whether a prisoner, convict, homeless child, or pauper
• Whether the home is rented or owned by the head or a member of the family (if so, whether mortgaged)
• If the head of family was a farmer, if he or a family member rented or owned the farm; and, if mortgaged, the post office address of the owner

Other Significant Facts About the 1890 Census
Most of the original 1890 population schedules were destroyed or badly damaged by a fire in the Commerce Department in 1921. Records enumerating only 6,160 individuals—less than one percent of the schedules—survived.

Research Tips for the 1890 Census
Because it is well known that the 1890 census records were destroyed by fire, few researchers think to check the index to the remaining schedules.

Special 1890 schedules enumerating Union veterans and widows of Union veterans of the Civil War are sometimes useful as a substitute for the missing 1890 population schedules.

The information above is an excerpt from The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy, edited by Loretto D. Szucs and Sandra H. Luebking, Chapter 5, “Research in Census Records,” by Loretto D. Szucs (page 116).