by Katie Huynh
Quick Summary
Have a bit of free time? Curious about your family history? You can easily jump right into census records to start your genealogy research today.
Due to Minnesota’s stay-at-home order, you may have more time on your hands. Why not spend that time researching your family history? U.S. Census records are a great place to start finding family members who lived in the United States. They can provide a lot of information, such as a person’s birthplace, birth dates, occupation, where they lived, and more.
The census been taken every ten years in the U.S. since 1790 and every one through 1940 is available for free online. Privacy laws - or the 72 year rule - determine when records can be released. Here are some useful tips and tricks for searching the U.S. Census.
Trivia fact: A 1921 fire destroyed much of the 1890 census records so that only fragments of that census are available. You can read more about this event here.
If you have ancestors who lived in Minnesota, the Minnesota Historical Society’s Minnesota People Record Search is a great place to search the state’s census, along with other vital records, for free. Find information on using this database here.
And while researching your family in the census, don’t forget to fill out your census for 2020. Your descendants a hundred years from now may want to discover you.
Happy researching!
