Census Records
Census records list valuable historical and genealogical information such as: names of individuals and their family members, their occupations, number of years married, whether they are U.S. citizens, and much more. The earlier censuses do not give as much information as the later ones.
The Special Collections Department has censuses on microfilm for 1820-1930 for northeastern Wisconsin and a scattering of other counties. The Federal Census was taken every 10 years, so we have the years 1820, 1830, 1840, etc., with one exception. We do not have the 1890 Federal Census, which was destroyed by fire. However, for 1890 we do have a special edition entitled "Civil War Veterans and Their Widows," which can be useful if the individual (or the spouse) served in the Civil War. We have state censuses for the years 1836 to 1905. We also have a few censuses for Michigan.
Federal census information is considered confidential for seventy-two years. Therefore, any census after 1930 is not open to the public. Occasionally individuals need information from the closed censuses for legal purposes (social security, passport, etc.). In these instances individuals may obtain a census request form from the Census Bureau.
The microfilm censuses are arranged chronologically in the microfilm cabinets in the Archives Reading Room. Many census reels consist of more than one county. The counties appear alphabetically on the reel. Within a county, the cities, towns, or villages appear roughly in alphabetical order, but this is not always the case. A guide has been prepared that lists the contents of each reel of the federal census in the order of appearance on the microfilm. The guide also lists where census information can be found for city jails, poor houses, orphanages, etc. This guide is in a notebook in the Archives Reading Room. Within a city, town, or village the individual entries are not in any particular order.
The Special Collections Department also has Indian Census Rolls for the Menominee, Oneida, Stockbridge, and Munsee tribes for the years 1885-1942. The Indian Census Rolls have several years on one reel. The records are arranged alphabetically by tribe, thereunder chronologically, and thereunder approximately alphabetically by surname. These census rolls are not comprehensive because only people registered with a tribe were counted. The Indian Census Rolls have information on names, relationships, place of residence, and so on.
In addition to the microfilm censuses, we have three sets of original census records which are not on microfilm. For Brown County, we have the original handwritten federal census for the years 1830, 1850, 1860, and 1870. These censuses also include mortality schedules (1850, 1860, 1870); agriculture and manufacturing schedule (1860, 1870); and social statistics schedule (1860). An index to the years 1850, 1860, and 1870 is in the card catalog in the Archives Reading Room. For Brown County we also have the original state censuses for the years 1855, 1875, and 1905. For Door County we have the original state census for 1855. This is only for the towns of Washington and Gibraltar.
Some of the censuses are indexed in books. Check the Cofrin Library Catalog for these books by doing a keyword-boolean search (census AND indexes AND Wisconsin). These are shelved in the book stacks of the department by call number.