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Intro to Federal Census Research Quick Guide Abbreviations |
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The Soundex system began during Franklin Roosevelt's presidency when the administration formed the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The WPA, which employed people to do many things for the government, also organized the Soundex system. These indexes, based on the sound of the surname, originally were prepared to assist the Census Bureau in finding records for persons who needed official proof of age from a period before all States had a uniform system of registering births.
The workers made a filing card for each household and listed every person in the census. Information on the cards include: name, age, location, birthday and relationship to the head of household. Not all of the original census information was recorded on the cards, but enough to identify the members of each household. All surnames were coded by giving a numerical value to each letter of the alphabet. The Soundex lists the census schedule county and page of all persons with the same surname or code. The census records of 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 have been soundexed and other records will be processed in the future. The 1880 soundex (or miracode) indexes only the households with children 10 years of age or younger. The 1900, 1910 soundexes index only 21 States, mainly in the South. The 1930 census has soundex cards for the following states in their entirety: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. In addition, there are Soundex indexes for the selected counties in Kentucky and West Virginia. Only the following Kentucky counties are indexed: Bell, Floyd, Harlan, Kenton, Muhlenberg, Perry, and Pike. Only the following West Virginia counties are indexed: Fayette, Harrison, Kanawha, Logan, McDowell, Mercer, and Raleigh. Why aren't all the states Soundexed? In the late 1930s, the Work Projects Administration (WPA) prepared the Soundex cards. When the WPA closed down in the early 1940s, no more Soundex indexes were created. The Soundex is available on microfilm at the National Archives and its Regional Archives System, the LDS Family History Library, and larger public libraries throughout the county. Once you locate an ancestor in the soundex cards, you be able to make note of the enumeration district, city, county, state and page number where your ancestor is listed. Then you can order the microfilm of the original census record, to photocopy for your family history records. Researchers who cannot find a name in Soundex or in a commercial index may want to consult enumeration district (ED) descriptions and maps before undertaking the time-consuming task of examining all the schedules for a county or locality. |
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Disregard the letters: A E I O U W Y H
Surnames with a prefix of Van, Von, De, Di, Le or La should be coded both with and without the prefix. It might be listed under either code. Mc and Mac are not considered prefixes.
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