STATE CENSUS RECORDS

Many researchers think that the federal government has sponsored all of the population censuses conducted since the ratification of the Constitution. While it is true that the federal population censuses were organized on a state-by-state basis, not every census conducted in a state (or smaller locality) was done at the behest of the U.S. Census Bureau. As a matter of fact, the states frequently executed population censuses of their own, oftentimes in the off years between the federal decennial censuses. Which states undertook their own censuses? Why did they do so? Where can you find the surviving records? You can learn the answers to these and other questions concerning state census records today, in Carolyn Barkley's article on the Genealogy and Family History Blog.