1870 Census Records

Answers to the 1870 census records questions were to be based on the status of households on June 1, 1870.

Column	Question
1	dwelling house numbered in order of visitation
2	family numbered in order of visitation
3	name of every person whose usual place of abode on June 1, 1870 was in this family
4	age at last birthday. If under 1 year, give months in fraction e.g., 8/12
5	sex (male(M), female(F))
6	color (white (W), black (B), mulatto (M), Chinese (C), or Indian (I))
7	profession, occupation, or trade of each person, male or female
8	value of real estate owned
9	value of personal estate
10	place of birth, naming the state, territory, or country
11	if foreign-born, is father foreign-born
12	if foreign-born, is mother foreign-born
13	if born within the year, state month (Jan, etc.)
14	if married within the year, state month (Jan, etc.)
15	attended school within the year
16	cannot read
17	cannot write
18	whether deaf and dumb, blind, insane, idiotic, pauper, or convict
19	male citizen of the United States of 21 years of age or older
20	male citizen of the United States of 21 years of age or older where right to vote is denied or abridged on grounds other than rebellion or crime

Instructions for enumerators:

Numbers 7, 16, and 17 are not to be asked for infants.
Numbers 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 19, and 20 are to recorded (if answered positively) merely by an affirmative mark as /.

To save an Adobe Acrobat copy of the 1870 census questions click here

My mother and her father about 1912 when she was 4 years old