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Questions Asked on the 1920 Census

US 1920 Census Download

 

  • PLACE OF ABODE
    •    
      • Column 1: Street, avenue, road, etc
      • Column 2: House number or farm
      • Column 3: Dwelling Number
      • Column 4: Number of family in order of visitation
      • Column 5: Name of each person whose place of abode on January 1, 1920 was in this family
  • RELATION
    •    
      • Column 6: Relationship of this person to the head of the family
  • TENURE
    •   
      • Column 7: Home owned or rented
      • Column 8: If owned, free or mortgaged
  • PERSONAL DESCRIPTION
    •   
      • Column 9: Sex
      • Column 10: Color or Race
      • Column 11: Age at last birthday
      • Column 12: Single, married, widowed or divorced
  • CITIZENSHIP
    •   
      • Column 13: Year of immigration to the United States
      • Column 14: Naturalized or alien
      • Column 15: If naturalized, year of naturalization
  • EDUCATION
    •   
      • Column 16: Attending school anytime since Sept. 1, 1919
      • Column 17: Able to read
      • Column 18: Able to write
  • NATIVITY and MOTHER TONGUE
    • Place of birth of each person and parents of each person enumerated
    • If born in United States, give state or territory
    • If foreign birth, give the place of birth, and in addition, the mother tongue
      PERSON
      • Column 19: Place of birth
      • Column 20: Mother Tongue
    • FATHER
      • Column 21: Place of Birth
      • Column 22: Mother Tongue
    • MOTHER
      • Column 23: Place of Birth
      • Column 24: Mother Tongue
  • OCCUPATION
    •     
      • Column 25: Able to speak English
      • Column 26: Trade, profession, or particular kind of work done
      • Column 27: Industry or establishment of work done
      • Column 28: Employer, salary or wage worker, or working on own account
      • Column 29: Number of farm schedule

Census Tip: Soundex: The 1920 census was the last census which was fully "soundexed". The soundexing system uses a numbering system for letters allowing a name to be indexed by the way it sounds, rather than the way it is spelled. The 1920 census was indexed by Soundex indexing before the government halted this process due to the need for employees to work in the war efforts. Unfortunately for those of us pursuing our family history, the indexing was never resumed, meaning later census years will not have Soundex indexes.

Indians were enumerated with the regular population schedules on this census. There are not any separate schedules for Indians as in the past census years.

The original 1920 census schedules were destroyed by the government so there not any originals to check if the microfilm copies are difficult to read.

Women will more often be found in the 1920 census listed as the head of household than in past census years so if you are having a difficult time locating a male ancestor, try searching for the wife as the head of household

 

 

 

1920

The 1920 census questionnaire was similar, but slightly shorter, than its counterpart from 1910. "Place of abode" replaced "dwelling house" as the general term for a person's residence. There was no separate schedule for American Indians. Enumerators collected the following information from residents, organized by column:

  1. Street of person's place of abode

    Enumerators were to write the name of the street vertically in the column, so that they only had to write it once for all of the enumerated persons living on that street
  2. House number or farm
  3. Number of dwelling house in order of visitation by enumerator
  4. Number of family in order of visitation by enumerator
  5. Name
  6. Relationship to head of family
  7. Is the person's home owned or rented?
  8. If owned, is it owned freely or mortgaged?
  9. Sex
  10. Color or race

    Enumerators were to enter "W" for White, "B" for Black, "Mu" for mulatto, "Ch" for Chinese, "Jp" for Japanese, "In" for American Indian, or "Ot" for other races.
  11. Age at last birthday
  12. Single, married, widowed, or divorced?

    Enumerators were to enter "S" for single, "Wd" for widowed, "D" for divorced, "M1" for married persons in their first marriage, and "M2" for those married persons in their second or subsequent marriage.
  13. Year of immigration to the United States
  14. Is the person naturalized or alien?
  15. If naturalized, what was the year of naturalization?
  16. Did the person attend school at any time since September 1, 1919?
  17. Can the person read?
  18. Can the person write?
  19. Person's place of birth
  20. Person's mother tongue
  21. Person's father's place of birth
  22. Person's father's mother tongue
  23. Person's mother's place of birth
  24. Person's mother's mother tongue
  25. Can the person speak English?
  26. Person's trade or profession
  27. Industry, business, or establishment in which the person works
  28. Is the person an employer, a salary or wage worker, or working on his own account?
  29. If the person is a farmer, what is the farm's identification number on the corresponding farm schedule?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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