Family Structure as a Research Strategy

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The Household

Illustration and definition of single-family house and regular apartment house in the 1950 Instruction manual

"Illustration of Living Quarters" in Bureau of the Census, Urban & Rural Enumerator's Reference Manual, 1950 Census of the United States (Washington, DC: 1950), 74. (HathiTrust)

A “household” in the language of the census is a shared dwelling with one or more residents. The federal census has always been organized around the household and, until 1980, it emphasized the “head” of a household. Early censuses only named the head of the household and counted the other residents. The 1850 census began naming the other (non-enslaved) householders. Thirty years later, the census identified how people were related to the head of the household.

Rows vs. columns: While the columns in the US census will reveal many details about a person such as age or occupation, it is the rows that will tell you who lived in a household together. The head of the household is listed first, followed by the other members. The “Relation” or “Relationship” column will tell you how those other members were related to the head of the household.

When Is It Useful to Look at Families?

Research scenario: Imagine you have found a Veteran in the 1940 census. Now you want to take your research back to 1930. As you begin searching, you find many people with the same name—and you don’t know which result is correct. Or maybe you cannot find any good matches.

Eliminating Possibilities

Too many results: If your Veteran has a common name, your searches will return a lot of results. 
Solution: Family structure can help you rule out possibilities. Imagine you know the name of the Veteran’s father from the 1940 census, for example. You can rule out any 1930 records where the potential match had a father with a different name.

George Hutchinson Smith served in the Coast Guard and is buried at Great Lakes National Cemetery. He is here, listed as “son,” in 1940 Census Population Schedule for Grand Blanc, Michigan. Enumeration District 25-31, Sheet 4B.

View of people's names, grouped into families, in the 1940 Census.
Black and white photograph showing a census taker sitting on the front steps of a house with a woman and many children who are observing him record their answers

Expanding Your Search

No results: You might encounter this issue if the Veteran’s name was written differently in 1930 than 1940 (e.g., Robert vs. Bob). Or perhaps the platform you are searching may not have spelled the surname correctly. 
Solution: Instead of searching for the Veteran, search for their relatives listed in the 1940 census. You may even be able to perform an advanced search for all of the family members, using only first names. This kind of approach may help you unlock the puzzle.

Census Enumerator visiting a family with caption “Approximately 120,000 Enumerators Were Employed,” 1941. (National Archives)