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1885 Minnesota Census Search Tips


This page describes the search screen options and search results for KinSource's 1885 Census Database. Click on a link to see information about a specific search option or search result.

SEARCH SCREEN OPTIONS
  First Name: Last Name:  
  Sort By: Use Soundex on Last Name?:
  Clear Button Search Button  
 
RESULTS SCREEN
  Page Numbers Previous Previous 10 Pages
  Back Next Next 10 Pages
  New Search Individual Person Results
 
HOUSEHOLD SCREEN
  Page Numbers Previous Previous 10 Pages
  Back Next Next 10 Pages
  New Search Individual Person Results

SEARCH SCREEN OPTIONS

The initial search screen offers the following options that can be used to find a person in the 1885 Minnesota census.

First Name:

You may search on a person's first name. Enter the first name in the text entry box to the right of the drop-down selection list. There are four options that you can choose from in the drop-down list associated with the first name. They are as follows:

Starts With If you select this option, the search will return any person whose first name starts with the letters that you have specified. This is the default option and is usually a good option to use when the first name was prone to being misspelled. If you can't find the person by specifying the first few letters of the first name, try specifying the first initial only, since many people were listed in these records under their first initial. The only problem with specifying a first initial is the large number of records that may be returned, so part of the last name should be included in the last name field. Example: Entering 'Em' will return names such as Emma, Emily and Emelia. If you think that the household was headed by a widow, and you can't find her under her first name, try entering her husband's first name. Some women were listed under their husband's first name or initials.
Ends With If you select this option, the search will return any person whose first name ends with the letters that you have specified. This option is useful when the first name was prone to misspelling in the first few characters. Example: Entering 'beth' will return names such as Beth, Elizabeth, Elizebeth and Elizibeth.
Is Exactly If you select this option, the search will return any person whose first name exactly matches the name that you have typed in. This might be a good option to choose if you know the exact name, but be aware that census records are notorious for misspelled names. If you can't find the name using this option, try one of the other options.
Contains If you select this option, the search will return any person whose first name contains the letters that you have typed in. This option is useful if you have failed to find the name using the other options and there are some distinctive combinations of letters contained in the first name. Example: Entering 'gust' will return names such as August, Gustav, Gustave, Gustaf, Augustus, Augusta, and Augustine.

Last Name:

You may search on a person's last name. Enter the last name in the text entry boxes to the right of the drop-down selection list. There are four options that you can choose from in the drop-down list associated with the last name. They are as follows:

Starts With If you select this option, the search will return any person whose last name starts with the letters that you have specified. This is the default option and is usually a good option to use when the last name was prone to being misspelled. Example: Entering 'John' will return last names such as John, Johnson, Johnsen, and Johnston.
Ends With If you select this option, the search will return any person whose first name ends with the letters that you have specified. This option is useful when the last name was prone to misspelling in the first few characters. Example: Entering 'ski' will return names such as that Dombroski, Jankowski and Rosinski, that end with the letters 'ski'.
Is Exactly If you select this option, the search will return any person whose last name exactly matches the name that you have typed in. This might be a good option to choose if you know the exact name, but be aware that census records are notorious for misspelled names. If you can't find the name using this option, try one of the other options. If you elect to do a Soundex search (see below), you must select this option for last name, and you must enter a last name.
Contains If you select this option, the search will return any person whose last name contains the letters that you have typed in. This option is useful if you have failed to find the name using the other options and there are some distinctive combinations of letters contained in the last name.

Sort By:

You may choose one of two ways to sort the list of results from your search: alphabetically by first name or alphabetically by last name. The search will default to sorting alphabetically by last name.

Use Soundex on Last Name?:

This option will let you do a Soundex search on the person's last name. Both Standard and Extended Soundex codes have been generated for all last names in this database. The purpose of Soundex codes is to attempt to group together names that sound-alike such that misspellings by the census taker can be eliminated. If a Soundex search is requested, a Soundex code will be created for the last name that you have entered. The search will then match the Soundex code for your entered name to all last names. All last names that have a Soundex code that match the created code will be returned in the search results. The three choices for this option are:

No Selection of this option will not invoke a Soundex search. This option is the default.
Yes Selection of this option will invoke a standard Soundex code search. The standard Soundex code is a 4 character code which uses the first character of the last name as the first character of the Soundex code. The next 3 characters are numerical values that represent like-sounding characters in the name. If you select this option, the Is Exactly option must be selected for Last Name.
Extended Selection of this option will invoke an extended Soundex code search. The extended Soundex code is a 4 character code where all 4 Soundex characters are given numerical values that represent like-sounding characters in the name. Selection of this option is useful for last names where the first character tends to be misspelled. If you select this option, the Is Exactly option must be selected for Last Name.

Clear Button

Clicking on the Clear Button will return the selections on the page to the original settings when you first entered the page.

Search Button

Clicking on the Search Button will initiate a search of the database using the selections that you have made on the page. An initial verification of the entered search values is done before submitting the request. If one of these verifications fails, a message box will be displayed explaining the error. You will need to click on the OK button and change the search values that have been entered before initiating the search again.


RESULTS SCREEN

Page Numbers

The search results are divided into 10 results per page. Up to 10 page numbers are displayed on the top and bottom of the search screen. The current page number is displayed in larger type and is not an active link. The other pages are displayed as an active link. You can click on any of these links to go to that page.

Previous

The Previous link will appear if there is more than 1 page of results returned for your search and you are currently past the first page. Clicking on this link will show the previous page of results.

Previous 10 Pages

The Previous 10 Pages link will appear if there are more than 10 pages returned for your search and you are currently past the first 10 pages. Clicking on this link will show links to the previous 10 pages.

Back

The Back link performs the normal function of backing up one screen.

Next

The Next link will appear if there is more than 1 page of results returned for your search and you are not yet to the last page. Clicking on this link will show the next page of results.

Next 10 Pages

The Next 10 Pages link will appear if there are more than 10 pages to your search and this page shows results prior to the last 10 pages. Clicking on this link will show links to the next 10 pages.

New Search

The New Search link displays the original Search page, allowing you to initiate a new search.

Individual Person Results

The Results Screen displays up to 10 people per page that have matched your search criteria. Each entry shows a summary of information for the person as follows:

Sex F=Female, M=Male, [blank]=information not given
Age This field usually gives the age of the person in years. For children under one year of age, the age was sometimes given in fractions such as 1/12 for a 1 month old baby or as a value of 0 (zero) for an infant less than one year old. If the field is blank, no age was listed.
Birthplace This field gives the birthplace of the person as recorded in the census. In some cases, it appears that the census takers recorded birthplaces (and sexes) on the wrong line (one line up or down). In cases where this appeared to be true, the possibly correct birthplace is included in brackets [].
County This field gives the county where this entry occurs.
Area This field gives the area within the county where this entry occurs. Generally, this is a city, town, village or township.
Subarea This field gives a subdivision of the area within the county where this entry occurs. Generally, this is a ward. In cases where there is no subdivision, this field displays 'none'.
Schedule Cities, towns and townships with large populations divided the enumeration into smaller groupings. These smaller groupings were given a unique schedule number. This field gives the number of the schedule where this person occurs. If this field says '0', there was no schedule number assigned to the area, usually because the number of people was small.
Page This field gives the page number within the schedule where the person occurs.
Household This field gives the household number assigned to the household by the census taker. In general, these numbers should be unique within a schedule, but census takers made errors when recording these numbers, so sometimes there are duplicate or missing household numbers. When locating a person in the actual census records, locate the page number and then locate the household number on that page.
View Household This link will display the household screen showing all members of the household in which this person was enumerated.

HOUSEHOLD SCREEN

The Household Screen displays all individuals listed in the selected household. Up to 20 names are displayed per page.

Page Numbers

The search results are divided into 20 results per page. Up to 10 page numbers are displayed on the top and bottom of the search screen. The current page number is displayed in larger type and is not an active link. The other pages are displayed as an active link. You can click on any of these links to go to that page.

Previous

The Previous link will appear if there is more than 1 page of results returned for your search and you are currently past the first page. Clicking on this link will show the previous page of results.

Previous 10 Pages

The Previous 10 Pages link will appear if there are more than 10 pages returned for your search and you are currently past the first 10 pages. Clicking on this link will show links to the previous 10 pages.

Back

The Back link performs the normal function of backing up one screen.

Next

The Next link will appear if there is more than 1 page of results returned for your search and you are not yet to the last page. Clicking on this link will show the next page of results.

Next 10 Pages

The Next 10 pages link will appear if there are more than 10 pages to your search and this page shows results prior to the last 10 pages. Clicking on this link will show links to the next 10 pages.

New Search

The New Search link displays the original Search page, allowing you to initiate a new search.

Individual Person Results

The Results Screen displays up to 20 people per page. The original person from the Results page is displayed in red. Each entry shows a summary of information for the person as follows:

Sex F=female, M=Male, [blank]=information not given
Age This field usually gives the age of the person in years. For children under one year of age, the age was sometimes given in fractions such as 1/12 for a 1 month old baby or as a value of 0 (zero) for an infant less than one year old. If the field is blank, no age was listed.
Race This field lists a person's race. W=White, B=full blood negroes, M=Mulattoes (mixed with negroes), I=full blood Indian, H=half-breeds (mixed white and Indian)
Birthplace This field gives the birthplace of the person as recorded in the census. In some cases, it appears that the census takers recorded birthplaces (and sexes) on the wrong line (one line up or down). In cases where this appeared to be true, the possibly correct birthplace is included in brackets [].
Page This field gives the page number within the schedule where the person occurs.


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