Putting together information to build your family tree is no easy task. It takes years to find the right information and to put together the true story of your family, even with the help of the Internet. There is a lot of great information out there that you can find online, though some things may still need to be hunted down in person. Some information may never be found as lost records can sometimes not be replaced. Whatever the case, know what to look for when searching. The family census can be a wealth of information to find names and dates, but also pieces of your family history.
If you are lucky, you will find a family census for each generation of your family. The problem is that some people were missed, and some states or countries took down less information than others. Remember this when you are filling out your family census. There could be a great grandchild of yours looking for his or her ancestors many years down the road, and they will be thrilled that you took the time to fill out all the information and allowed each member of your home to be counted.
Almost all family census records have the full names of everyone living in a house, but this did not always happen. Some areas only recorded the name of the head of the household and then listed others by sex and age without their names. This can be frustrating, but it can be somewhat helpful. Some did not name children, but did name the mother and other relatives in the home. The birth dates should be included, but not always. If you are lucky, you will find all names and dates, along with occupation information, which can tell you more about the lives of your ancestors.
When searching out names on family census records, remember that some people that came door to door to take information did not ask for proper spellings of names. That means they wrote down what they heard, not what the actual name may have been. This is how many families ended up lost or with new last names early on in the history of the US. Look for names that could be like the one that you know. You may find missing people with the name you sought, it might just be spelled wrong. Many family ancestry sites have tools to help you search for misspellings.
You can find out where to further search with the information that you find on family census records. In some areas, they wrote down where someone was born. If that someone was an immigrant, you can see their country of origin so you can continue your search. Without this information, you may never know where to continue to look. Immigration records are great for this, but if you find out where they came from from family census records, your search through immigration records will be quicker, or not necessary at all. Look for other meaningful tidbits on family census forms that can be just as helpful.