Family History Tips--Part 43

Exploring other Cryptic Markings in U.S. Census Records—Indian Codes 

by Brenna Corbit, Technical Services Librarian

For the last few months we looked at various codes on the U.S. Census records that pertained to occupations, languages, and nativities. Today, I would like to venture into a territory very little known to me—American Indian genealogy. Except for a student who I helped with his Afro-Indian genealogy in Long Island, New York, and who turned out to be descended from a 19th century chief, I have no other experience.

Looking at American Indians in U.S. Censuses is not much different than any other ethnic research in terms of civil records, but it does have its own peculiarities. I will use the examples of the Lone Elk family of Corson County, South Dakota (Image A), and the Spotted Crow family of Caddo County, Oklahoma (Image B) to illustrate a few differences and the use of number codes. 

According to the 1930 Instructions to Enumerators, it was assumed that the parentage of American Indians was the United States. Thus, column 19 is used to determine the person’s “degree of Indian blood, as ‘full blood’ or ‘mixed blood,’” and column 20 determined the “tribe to which the Indian belongs” (174.a, p. 29), rather than listing parental nativity. Thus, in the Lone Elk family (Image A), column 19 lists each individual as “full blood,” and column 20 lists their tribal affiliation as “Sioux.” But in the Spotted Crow family, we see some confusion on the enumerator’s part in not following the instruction booklet. 

In Image B of the Spotted Crow family, columns 19 and 20 are being used for parental nativity and the blood and tribe of the individual. Thus, Thomas, the head of the family, is born in South Dakota, as well as his parents. But in column 20 “Sioux” is squeezed in above his mother’s state of nativity, which is Thomas’ tribal affiliation. The enumerator followed suit with the rest of the Indians in his designated area.

Let us now examine those numbers codes. Last time we were looking at the codes in columns A-C to determine nativity and language, but for American Indians only column A is used. Thus,
the Lone Elk family is #68 (South Dakota), except for the mother who is listed as #88 (Montana). Thomas Spotted Crow is listed as #68 (South Dakota) and the rest of his family is #86 (Oklahoma). I introduced you to these codes last time when we looked at Morse’s “Deciphering Language & Nativity Codes Appended to 1930 Census in One Step.” https://stevemorse.org/census/abc.html

Turning to the numbers referring only to American Indians becomes a bit tricky. In the Lone Elk, and Spotted Crow families we see the numbers from column A repeated in the column 18, the nativity of the individual. And in column 19 we see another number. In the case of John Lone Elk, the number 74-5 translates to “Brule Sioux” according to Morse’s “Deciphering Indian Codes Appended to 1930 Census in One Step”(Image C). https://stevemorse.org/census/indians.html Likewise Thomas Spotted Crow is listed as 74-6 (Brule Sioux), and the rest of his family is 16-6 (Chiricahua Apache). Interestingly, the enumerator, yes the one not following instructions, repeats these numbers is column 21.


I have yet to determine the meaning of the appended hyphenated numbers in 74-6, 16-6, and 74-5. Stephen Morse explains that the hyphenated number determines “blood,” code 4 for mixed and code 5 for full blood. Thus, 74-5 would agree that the Lone Elk family is “full blood,” but what does the 6 mean for the Spotted Crow family? If the enumerator wasn’t following the directions to a T, perhaps he also erred on the hyphenated numbers. Needless to say, John W. Radley, the enumerator for that region, was probably not recalled to enumerate the 1940 U.S. Census!

Next time, we will look at one more set of numbers codes, but in a source other than census records—Pennsylvania Death Certificates.

Family History Tips--Part 42

Exploring other Cryptic Markings in U.S. Census Records—Language and Nativity

by Brenna Corbit, Technical Services Librarian

Last time we looked at Stephen Morse’s One Step for deciphering occupation codes in the 1910-1930 U.S. Censuses. Over the last couple of weeks they have been a valuable aid since several occupations in the census records were illegible. If you did use Morse’s site, you may have noticed additional One Steps for other census codes. This week we will look at “Deciphering Language & Nativity Codes Appended to 1930 Census in One Step”

To demonstrate the use of this utility, I will use the example of Benjamin Zweiben and his wife of an illegible name living in Manhattan in 1930 (Image A). Column 18 indicates their places of birth. It looks like Austria crossed out. Across the top I can make out Poland, but underneath the word looks like “Golnia,” the same place of nativity for both of their parents. Lastly, column 21 states their spoken language as Yiddish. So, what or where is Golina? To solve this mystery, I can refer to the numbers and letters in columns A, B, and C—“35, 14, and V.” 

Turning to the One Step page (Image B), we find two drop-down lists and one chart, Columns A-C corresponding to the same in the 1930 U.S. Census. Column A will help you to determine the spoken language. Thus, 35 represents Hebrew/Yiddish, as we can easily make out in the census image. If Benjamin and his wife were born in the U.S., you could also determine the state of birth by number code. 

Turning to Column B (Image C), I drop down to country code 14 is written in the corresponding census column, and find Poland along with a breakdown of place names in said country. The closest I can determine for “Golina” is Galicia. Looking back at the census image, I can now make out the name. 

The last column on the census image is C, which states V. In the One Step (Image D), we can see that V designates “Non-Citizen.” 

Over the many years of searching thousands of miles of microfilm and digitized records, I have grown accustomed to deciphering illegible writing, but I do meet my challenges. In the above example, I already figured that “Golina” was probably Galicia, but if I were a novice family historian, I may not have known about this region in southeastern Poland. Family history is part of political history, so hop on over to your library and read up on your ancestors’ historical backgrounds. 

Keep in mind, spellings of provinces, cities, towns and villages can vary, especially in a country like Poland with its 1000 years of constant border changes. Moreover, many of our ancestors were illiterate. It was not always possible for them to spell their places of birth, and the census taker would do her best to record the oral communication. 

You know who to contact if you get stuck out on a limb. Next time we will look at another Stephen Morse One Step—Indian Codes used in the 1930 Census.