By George G. Morgan
Uncovering clues in historical records.
US censuses are family historians’ No. 1 go-to records—they’re typically the first source a genealogist turns to when researching a new family. And 20th-century population schedules contain more information and provide more clues to finding other records than previous enumerations.
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has microfilmed all existing census schedules from 1790 through 1930.
Ancestry.com
and
HeritageQuest Online have digitized these population schedules;
FamilySearch and
Footnote are in the process of digitizing and indexing them—some years are available now.