Cuyahoga County OHGenWeb

Census

Census records are a valuable tool to genealogists. You can learn your ancestor's address, age, occupation, whether they were married and for how long, when they came to the United States, where they were born, among other things. You also learn family groupings, relationships, and can also see neighbors. Because immigrants who came to the United States tended to settle near each other, pay particular attention to the neighbors in the various census years, because you just might learn that they are relatives.

The 1950 census was released on April 1, 2022. There are images at Ancestry, FamilySearch, MyHeritage, and the National Archives site. One of the easiest ways to search if you have an address is to use SteveMorse.org to locate the ED maps. Then go to the NARA site at https://1950census.archives.gov/ The OCR index of names is not always correct, so you can just look for the ED and go through the pages of that ED. At the point where you find it, you can help others by transcribing your family and maybe the whole page.

The FamilySearch volunteers indexed their 1950 census.

There is no extant federal census for Northeast Ohio for 1790, 1800, 1810, or 1890. There are no slave schedules because Ohio was never a slave state. There was no official state census taken in Ohio, but there were quadrennial enumerations of eligible voters, although we are unaware of any extant for Cuyahoga County. 1950 is the most recent census schedule open to the public due to a 72 year privacy rule.

A full run of federal census, population and non-population schedules, is available to 1930 on microfilm at Western Reserve Historical Society Library, Fairview Park Library, and Cleveland Public Library. Additionally, there are census helps such as Enumeration District finders, ED maps, Soundex (phonetic index), book indexes, etc. 1940 and 1950 censuses were released digitally.

Census logo thanks to wikipedia; 1920 census image from microfilm.

CENSUS ARTICLES

• Tech Tips from FamilySearch (off-site)
• An overview of the census on Ancestry.com (off-site)
• CyndisList.com (off-site)

ONLINE RESOURCES FOR CUYAHOGA COUNTY

Population Census Schedules

• USGenWeb Census Project for Cuyahoga County - 1820, 1830, 1850, and 1900 (off-site)
• 1900 Census Index Project by the Greater Cleveland Genealogical Society (off-site)
• Ancestry 1940 Census (off-site)
• National Archives 1940 Census (off-site)
• Linkpendium Census Page for Cuyahoga County (off-site)
• HeritageQuest Online - free for card holders at Cuyahoga County Library, Cleveland Public Library and other libraries. In 2015 Heritage Quest began using the Ancestry data, images, and search system. It now has all the federal census for Cuyahoga County (except 1950) as well as the extant non-population schedules. Go to: www.cuyahogalibrary.org/ and click on "research", then Electronic Resources A-Z", then "Genealogy", then "Heritage Quest." Enter your library card number and password when asked. Or, you can do the same at Cleveland Public Library's website at www.cpl.org. If you can't find who you are looking for with a surname search because the surname is misspelled, you can just enter their first name, an age range, and place of birth. Play around with this - you can do any number of different combinations.
• FamilySearch.org - scroll down to U.S. for their holdings from 1790-1940. This site is free. And was doubly indexed and arbitrated. (off-site)
• Ancestry.com - Ancestry has all the census population schedules, the 1870 and 1880 industrial and agricultural schedules and the 1860 and 1880 mortality schedules for Cuyahoga County. (Search the catalog for nonpopulation.) Index is free, and the 1940 census is available free as well. This site allows correction of index entires by users. Ancestry Library Edition is available in most local libraries on site. (off-site)
• FindMyPast.com Census Search --This paid site has all the US federal census, but offers the 1940 census for free to all. (off-site)
• There are other sites which offer the census including Internet Archive .

  Non-Population Census Schedules

  When the census takers came around, certain answers to their questions would require another set of questions to be asked. Called Non-Population Schedules, they provide a variety of very valuable information on the lives of our ancestors.

  1850 - 1880 - Agriculture (names of owners, agents, managers. Acreage of land, value of farm, machinery and livestock, staples produced, value of animals slaughtered)
  1850, 1860 and 1880 - Mortality (for people who died the year prior to the census)
  1820, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880 - Industry/Manufactures (Info about manufacturing, mining, fishing, mercantile, commercial, and businesses. Lists name of each corporation, company, individual and a description of the business, capital invested, value of resources used, yearly production, number of individuals hired)
  1850-1860 - Slave Schedules -- none for Ohio since this was not a slave state.
  1880 - Dependents, Delinquents & Defective Classes (List name of the insane, idiots, deaf mutes, blind, paupers, indigent persons, homeless children, and prisoners, along with their race, age, gender, residence, and sometimes medical information.)
  1840 - Veteran Schedules - Lists on the second page of the population schedule any Revolutionary War Veteran living in the household by name and age. 1890 - Union Veterans and Widows - Occasionally Confederates and some from other wars were included.
  Other years had many schedules, but they have been lost or destroyed.

  Non-Population Census records are not as plentiful online as the population census.

• Ancestry article about the Non-Population Census Schedules (off-site)
• National Archives has a great article about the non-population schedules. (off-site)
• Ancestry.com has 1850, 1870 and 1880 agricultural and industrial schedules, and the 1890 veteran schedules for Cuyahoga County, and the second pages for the 1840 census are imaged with the first page, but not indexed. (off-site)
• FamilySearch has the 1850 Mortality Schedule and the 1840 and 1890 Veteran Schedules. (off-site)

Search Techniques

• SteveMorse.org has many useful tools for census searching. He has Enumeration District finders, one-step search engines with various criteria, and census searching aids.