1900 Census

 Native American Nations |                     

Native American research around the 20th century was buoyed by the inclusion of all Native Americans in the 1900 census. Whether enumerated within the Indian Territory, or enumerated on the many reservations spread out across the United States, Native Americans were finally being counted. This provides the researcher a great and mostly unused tool in the search for their Native American ancestors. Finding these Native Americans has gotten a lot easier with Ancestry's recent indexing of the 1900 census. While the index is complete, it's not perfect. The writing of some enumerators was poor, and the quality of some census pages is lacking. Be prepared to browse their census images keeping the following tips in mind:

1. Most Indian schedules were added to the end of county listings. For some states however, the Indian schedules were added to the end of the state.

2. A non-Indian MAY be enumerated on the Indian schedule, if they are detached from their family and living with an Indian family.

3. A Native American MAY be enumerated on the general population schedule, if they are detached from their Indian family and living with a white, or black family.

4. For their own personal reasons, many Native Americans failed to claim their heritage during the 1900 census... they ended up enumerated as white or black. As well, some whites and blacks listed themselves as Indian, when they were in fact, not. While the 1900 census in and of itself does not prove or disprove your Native American history, it can add yet one more fact in favor, or not in favor of that claim. Good luck!

These census forms will help you keep track of the census information you find online: Free Census Forms.

The 1900 census provides a view at the turn of the 20th century unlike any other American resource. The census covers almost 75 million people, and while not everyone is always enumerated, the census provides a snapshot of history like nothing else.

Information Found Within the 1900 Census

• Name of each person.
• Name of the county, parish, township, town, or city where the family resides
• Age
• Sex
• Color (Race)
• Birthplace
• Whether married in the last year
• Profession, occupation, or trade of each person over 15 years of age
• Value of Real Estate
• Whether deaf, blind, dumb, insane, idiotic, pauper, or criminal
• Whether able to speak or speak English
• Whether the person attended school within the previous year
• Birthplace of father and mother

Native American Nations