Military Clues in the U.S. Census

 

Military Clues in the U.S. Census

Jean M. Hoffman, CG^®

 Service in the military generates records, sometimes in great quantity. Army and Navy experience can be life-altering, possibly also opening up financial opportunities and leading to new lands. Military, pension and bounty land records may have a wealth of genealogically important information. We need to know whether to look for our ancestors in military records and for which era. There are some helpful clues in U.S. federal census schedules.

 1840

The 1840 census was the last one to name only the head of household, but there was one exception. An additional question asked for names and ages of “Pensioners for Revolutionary or Military Services.” Pensioners included veterans or their widows.[1] By this late date any surviving Revolutionary War veterans would have been quite elderly. Whether veteran or widow, the pensioner was often other than the head of household. The reverse side of the main census page contains tallies of slaves, of occupations, names of pensioners and more. When viewing microfilm, scroll up to find the matching line from the main page. Count down the page, as the lines are not numbered. Online, you need to advance to the next page image in some cases but go back in others. Ancestry.com has indexed both names. A quick finding aid is available for free at https://www.census.gov/library/publications/1841/dec/1840d.html or https://www.newhorizonsgenealogicalservices.com/1840-census-of-pensioners.htm.

 If you find a pensioner’s name, you will want to locate corresponding military records and pension files. The combination of names can also help to establish family connections. For example, Lydia Brigham headed a household in Hampden Township, Geauga County, Ohio. In her household was 87-year-old pensioner Daniel Morgan.[2] Some family relationship may exist between them. He appears to be her father according to a Brigham family history.[3]

 1890

A special non-populations schedule was created for Union veterans or their widows as part of the 1890 census. Though the population schedules were destroyed, this special census is available for the states alphabetically from Kentucky (partial) through Wyoming plus Washington, DC, and Indian territories. The states earlier in the alphabet were destroyed prior to being transferred to the National Archives.

Special schedules in 1890 listed surviving veterans of the Civil War Union forces or their widows. The veteran’s name is listed even with a widow’s entry. Rank, unit of service, dates and length of service fill the top of the form. Below is the post office and may be information on disabilities or other remarks that sometimes prove very interesting. Some Confederate or earlier war veterans were also recorded. NARA microfilm series M123 with images available at online sites.

1910

Addressing elderly veterans once again, the census in 1910 included a Civil War question for all males over fifty and born in the U.S. or immigrants who arrived before 1865. They were asked if they were survivors of the Union or Confederate army or navy. Column 30 was coded for them with UA for Union Army, UN for Union Navy, CA for Confederate Army and CN for Confederate Navy.[4] Not every survivor is properly coded and those who were are easily overlooked. Columns 30-32 on the right edge of the page were overwritten with a hyphenated series of numbers. They were written at the census bureau and have no relationship to the underlying data as in the example.[5]

 

World War	WW
Spanish-American War	SP
Civil War	Civ
Philippine insurrection	Phil
Boxer rebellion	Box
Mexican expedition	Mex

1930

The 1930 census covers a broader span of military engagements for veterans of varying ages. Columns 30 and 31 are labeled “Veterans.” The question, for males 21 and over, was whether they were veterans of the U.S. military or naval forces mobilized for any war or expedition and if yes, for which war or expedition. Codes provided to enumerators were:

 The first three categories were considered wars and anyone in military service during them (1917-1921, 1898-1902, and 1861-1866, respectively) would be counted. To be counted for the expeditions, a service member must actually have taken part in one of them. For example, veterans of the Mexican expedition must have been in Mexico or Mexican waters during the expedition.[6]

Because large numbers served in World War I only about ten years earlier, the code “WW” occurs frequently. Henry L. Hixenbaugh is an example from a slightly earlier period. He was a resident of southwestern Iowa and his 1930 census entry is coded in columns 30 and 31 with “yes” and “Mex.”[7]

  Iowa National Guard units were called up for Mexican Border Service in late June 1916, trained about a month at Fort Dodge near Des Moines, then were transported by train to the Mexican border near Brownsville, Texas. Guard units were entrusted with securing the Mexican border while regular troops pursued the insurgents with Pancho Villa. In December 1916 and January 1917, the Iowa Battalion, consisting primarily of three regiments of infantry, returned home. Henry served as a cook in Company M, 3rd Infantry, a unit from his hometown of Red Oak in Montgomery County, Iowa.[8] His service was easily found following the lead in the census.

 1940

The pages of the 1940 U.S. census have forty lines. Two of them or five percent of the population, were designated for an additional set of questions. The extra questions included whether the person was a veteran of the U.S. military forces, or the wife, widow, or under-18-year-old child of a veteran. If the person was the child of a veteran an additional question asked whether the father was dead. The war or military service was to be coded with “W” for World War I; “S” for the Spanish-American War, the Philippine insurrection, or Boxer Rebellion; “SW” for both the Spanish-American War and World War I; “R” for peacetime service only; or “Ot” for any other war or expedition.[9] You can only hope a family member was one of those asked the additional questions.

 An earlier version of this article was published in the WRHS Genealogy Bulletin, 30:3 (Fall 2011).

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[1] Claire Prechtel-Kluskens, "Clues in Census Records, 1790-1840," The Record, Vol. 4, No. 5 (May 1998); adapted online (http://www.archives.gov/research/census/1790-1840.html : accessed 17 February 2024.)

[2] 1840 U.S. census, Geauga County, Ohio, Hampden Township, p. 176, line 14, Lydia Brigham; digital images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/2631263:8057 : accessed 17 February 2024); NARA M704, roll 395, imaged from FHL microfilm 0,020,165.

[3] W. I. Tyler Brigham, The History of the Brigham Family: a Record of Several Thousand Descendants of Thomas Brigham the Emigrant, 1603-1653 (New York: Grafton Press, 1907), 257.

[4] "Clues in Census Records, 1850-1930," The Record, Vol. 4, No. 3 (January 1998); adapted online (http://www.archives.gov/research/census/1850-1930.html : accessed 17 February 2024.)

[5] 1910 U.S. census, Carroll County, Illinois, population schedule, Savanna City, Ward 1, ED 11, sheet 7B, dwelling 180, family 187, John Hoffman; digital images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/4285135:7884 : accessed 17 February 2024); NARA T624, roll 232, imaged from FHL microfilm 1,374,245.

[6] “1930 Census: Enumerator Instructions,” in Steven Ruggles, J. Trent Alexander, Katie Genadek, Ronald Goeken, Matthew B. Schroeder, and Matthew Sobek. Integrated Public Use Microdata Series: Version 5.0 database, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota (https://usa.ipums.org/usa/voliii/inst1930.shtml : accessed 17 February 2024).

[7] 1930 U.S. census, Montgomery County, Iowa, population schedule, Red Oak City, Ward 1, ED 69-12, sheet 2B, dwelling 49, family 51, Henry L. Hixenbaugh; digital images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/29523450:6224 : accessed 17 February 2024); from NARA T626, roll 670.

[8] Dick Dreyer, Iowa Troops in Mexican Border Service, 1916 - 1917, digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/iowatroopsinmexi00drey/page/n95/mode/2up : accessed 17 February 2024), images 96-7. Previously published in hard copy (Iowa City, Iowa: Dick Dreyer).

[9] National Archives, “1940 Census Records” (http://www.archives.gov/research/census/1940/ : accessed 17 February 2024.)