Viewed from today, the 1890 census contained quite a few oddities. It was the first, and only, census
that attempted to count the number of Civil War veterans who were still living. Another notable difference
was the governments approach to race, especially for Blacks. When asking about race, the
government used W for caucasion, B for Negro, Mu for Mulatto (one black parent and one white parent),
Qd for Quadroon (one black grandparent and three white grandparents) and Oc for Octoroon (one black great-grandparent and seven white great-grandparents).
That category system was never used again in the US Census. The government also counted Indians, In, but not all Indians.
The Census only counted "civilized Indians" and that was defined as those Indians who payed taxes!
The level of education that we see now was not common in 1890. The census taker had codings for those who could read, those who could write and those who could do both.
(Hollerith Card: This is a reader card which showed the coding for each potential punched hole.)
(Hollerith Card: This is a color-coded key for the meaning of the codes used on the 1890 Hollerith Card. See the chart below.)
|
Field 1
|
Civil War Veterans
|
CM, CL, CS
Marine, Sailor, Soldier
UM, UL, US
Marine, Sailor, Soldier
|
Confederate Army
United States Army
|
|
Field 2
|
Relationship (family)
|
Hd Head of
Household
Wf Wife
|
Mb Member of
family
O Other
|
|
Field 3
|
Race
|
Jp Japanese
Ch Chinese
B Negro
W White
|
In Civilized
Indian (taxpaying)
Mu Mulatto
Qd Quadroon
Oc Octoroon
|
|
Field 4
|
Gender
|
Male or Female
|
|
|
Field 5 & 6
|
Your Age
|
Combination of numbers
Un Unknown
|
0 if under 1
year old
Mo # of months if a baby
|
|
Field 7
|
Conjugal Condition
|
Dv Divorced
Un Unknown
Wd
Widow/Widower
Sg Single
|
Mr Married
more than 1 year
CY Married
this year
(in
the Census Year)
|
|
Field 8
|
# of Children born
|
Up to 19 children
|
|
|
Field 9
|
# of Children alive
|
Up to 19 children
|
|
|
Field 10 & 11
|
Your birthplace
|
Combination of upper case letters
and lower case letters
|
St birth was
in state of residence
Un Unknown
|
|
Field 12
|
Mother’s
birthplace
|
Two Letter Country Codes
|
|
|
Field 13
|
Father’s
birthplace
|
Two Letter Country Codes
|
|
|
Field 14
|
# of years in the US
|
|
|
|
Field 15
|
Citizenship for Foreign-born
|
Al Alien
Na Naturalized
citizen
|
Pa First
Papers submitted
Un Unknown
|
|
Field 16 & 17
|
Occupation
|
Combination of upper case letters and lower case letters
|
NG Not Gainfully
employed or
in School
|
|
Field 18
|
Unemployed
|
1-12 Months
unemployed
|
Oc
O
|
|
Field 19
|
Education
|
OK Can read and
write
W Can read but
not write
R Can write
but not read
|
-------------OR-----------
1-9 Number of
months in school
0 Not in
school
|
|
Field 20
|
Language Spoken
|
Un Understand
English?
En English
Ot Other
|
Ft Father’s
language
Mt Mother’s
language
|
|
Field 21
|
Tenure
|
Fh Farm Hired
(Rented)
FM Farm Owned
(w/ mortgage)
Ff Farm owned
Free and clear
X Does not
apply
|
Hh Home Hired
(Rented)
Hf Home owned
Free and clear
Hm Home Owned
(w/ mortgage)
|
|
Far Left Side
|
Location
|
State, county, city,
local divisions and
|
Enumerator District
|
