US Records · Census by year
Every federal census from 1900 to 1950 asked foreign-born people something different. Knowing which census asked what tells you where to look for the year of arrival, the citizenship status, the language and the parents’ birthplaces.
The census questions compared
| Census | Most useful questions for Polish immigrants |
|---|---|
| 1900 | Month and year of birth, year of immigration, years in the US, naturalization status, children born and living |
| 1910 | Year of immigration, naturalization status, mother tongue, years married, children born and living |
| 1920 | Year of immigration, naturalization status and year naturalized, mother tongue of the person and both parents |
| 1930 | Year of immigration, naturalization status, language spoken at home before coming to the US, age at first marriage, veteran status |
| 1940 | Citizenship, residence in 1935, education; supplementary questions on the parents’ birthplaces and mother tongue for two people per page |
| 1950 | Whether a foreign-born person was naturalized; sample-line questions on the parents’ birthplaces and schooling |
Birthplaces: Russia, Austria, Germany or Poland
Before 1918 there was no Polish state, and the answer depended on the enumerator. In 1910 enumerators were instructed to write Austria-Poland, Germany-Poland or Russia-Poland for people born in the Polish lands, which is why the 1910 census is often the best clue to the partition. From 1920 many are simply recorded as born in Poland. See our guide to the partitions of Poland.
Naturalization codes
| Code | Meaning | What to look for |
|---|---|---|
| Al | Alien | Alien registration in 1940 if still living |
| Pa | First papers filed | A declaration of intention in a local or federal court |
| Na | Naturalized | The petition and certificate, and the federal C-file |
The 1890 gap
The 1890 census was almost entirely destroyed after a fire in 1921. For immigrants who arrived in the 1880s, state censuses, city directories and church records fill the gap between 1880 and 1900.
State censuses
New York (1905, 1915, 1925), New Jersey (1905, 1915), Wisconsin, Minnesota and several other states took their own censuses in the years between. They often give the same citizenship details and catch families who moved between federal censuses.
Answers were given by whoever opened the door, sometimes a neighbor or a child. Compare every census before trusting any single year of arrival or birth.
How we can help
Census research is the first step of Ancestral Village Identification and Immigration & Passenger Records: it dates the arrival and points to the naturalization.