Census Substitutes & State Census Records, Third Edition, Volume 1 – Northeastern States & U.S. Territories: by William Dollarhide; 2020; 271 pages; Softbound, 8½ x 11; ISBN 978-1-62859-284-9; Item FR0481.
In this Third Edition - Vol. 1, William Dollarhide identifies Census Substitutes, as well as State Census Records for ten (10) Northeastern states of the U.S. (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware); as well as seven (7) U.S. Territories. (Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, Panama Canal Zone (1903-1979), Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa & The Philippines (1902-1946).
The 2020 Third Edition was expanded to five volumes, each volume a region of the United States:
Volume 1 – Northeastern States: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. (10 States). U.S. Territories: Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Panama Canal Zone (1903-1979), Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, and The Philippines (1902-1946). (7 Territories). Also available as:
Volume 2 – Southeastern States: Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida. (12 States). Also available as:
Volume 3 – Northeastern States: Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota. (10 States). Also available as:
Volume 4 – Southcentral & Four Corners States: Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah. (10 States).
Volume 5 – Western / Pacific States & Nationwide Chapter: Alaska, Hawaii, California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming (9 States). Nationwide – Part 1: Maps, Descriptions, and Internet Access for the U.S. Federal Censuses, 1790-1950; and Part 2: U.S. Census Substitutes.
The Census Substitutes are those name lists derived from tax lists, directories, military lists, land ownership maps, voter registrations, and other compilations of names of residents for an entire state, portions of a state, or larger counties of a state. Thirty-eight (38) states conducted colonial, territorial, or state censuses that are extant and available for research today.
Since the Second Edition was published in 2016, millions of pages of scanned digital images of Censuses and Census Substitutes came online. The URL links were added to this Third Edition and each of the fifty states & DC has many more citations for newly added online databases and recently digitized microfilm collections. In just three years, the number went from 3,865 to a total of 8,067 hyperlinks.
Why Census Substitutes & State Census Records? There are some huge genealogy look-up sites on the Internet. The main sites all provide the means of searching for a name or a place, starting with a global search screen. They are an effective way to find someone when little is known about a person at the onset. But this Shotgun Approach can produce more names/results than you ever thought possible. A better method might be the Sniper Approach: To be more precise, start looking beyond the global search box to find specific types of records available for a certain time, i.e., look for specific Census Substitute databases. These include name lists of births, marriages, deaths & burials, lists of military units, lists of veterans, and immigrants, naturalization records, tax records, land records, probate records, misc. court records, or other databases that reveal the place of residence and much more information about a person of interest. There is no better place to find out what Censuses and Census Substitutes are available for the time and place a person lived back in time than these five volumes.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
William Dollarhide is best known as the co-author/cartographer of Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses, 1790-1920, an acclaimed best-selling title in American genealogy. He has authored dozens of genealogical guidebooks. William Dollarhide was born and raised in Seattle, lived near Salt Lake City for two decades, and now lives in Mount Vernon, Washington.
