If you are excited that Ancestry.com is offering free access to the 1940 Census through 2013, then that’s great. This weekend, there is even more Census related genealogy goodness to be excited about. Ancestry.com is allowing free access to twenty five additional databases through September third. If you have a little bit of spare time this holiday weekend, why not check out some of the following databases on Ancestry.com for free.
The databases included in this particular free access opportunity include Federal Census information from 1790 to 1940, 1850 and 1860 Slave Schedules, a fragment of the 1890 Census (the original data was lost in a fire), 1890 Veterans Schedules, Federal Census Non Population Schedules, and more. This is a vast collection of records. It is also a great opportunity to learn more about any ancestors that you had living in the United States from 1790 to 1940.
In case you are not sure what information you can get from Census records like the ones that are now available for free access, read on. You can find out where your ancestors were located in a particular year. You can also find out how they were related to the head of the household, as well as the names and ages of all other people in the household at that time. This can lead you to relatives that you did not know about, among other things. Census takers asked questions about the occupations of adult members of the household, so that can turn up some interesting information. Since many families lived close to other relatives, searching in pages near one relative may turn up other family groups that are related to them, and to you in some way. The ages listed in the census can help you to calculate birth dates, and the location could point you in the direction of where to look for marriage or death information. See if you can carve out a little time this weekend and see what you can find in the Ancestry.com Census Collection.
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