Notice – November 9, 2023 I’ve stopped doing daily updates of the first census of famous people. From now on, I will occasionally post things I find interesting. This will include, among other things, posts on British TV shows, baseball information, jokes, and something I call half-life where I look at where a famous person was at the halfway point of their life. A half-life on John F. Kennedy will be posted immediately after this post.
I understand that people who subscribe to the newsletter to receive the first census of famous people may now receive something they are not interested in. I apologize and ask that you unsubscribe if this newsletter is no longer for you
Famous People and Their First Census will choose a famous person every day, on their birthday, and post their census page from the first census to record that person. I’ll also include a brief biography of the person.
As I am doing my research, the term “First Census” has morphed from my original thought of the first census undertaken after the birth of the subject to the first census I can find which lists the subject. This is especially true of anyone born in the 1880s because the 1890 US Census was destroyed in a fire in 1921.
Most of the subjects of this site are Americans born between 1800 and 1950. The 1950 census is the latest to be released to the public. The 1960 won’t be released until 2032. The reason most are Americans is simply because the U.S. census is the one I have the best access to through Ancestry.com. I’ve had a little luck finding some Canadian records.
My lack of language skills rules out the non-English speaking world.
I would love to have the UK represented. Their records are in great shape as I’ve found while doing my own family tree, but they only provide a summary of the census, not a copy of the actual paperwork. So, no Beatles, Edward VIII, or Winston Churchill.
I’ll do a very short write-up of each person’s life, providing a Wikipedia link for the full story, and then discuss what I see on the census. For example:
The 1900 Census of Camden, New Jersey shows my grandfather Roland on line 6, with his name spelled as Rowland. As you look at various census reports, it’s easy to see that spelling was not an important requirement for census takers.
Clicking on the census will open it in a larger view.
The great majority of my information comes from:
- Ancestry.com
- Onthisday.com
- Wikipedia.org
- PICRYL.com (public domain photos)
- Youtube.com
Thanks to Nancy for proofreading and many corrections.
I hope you enjoy the site and please click subscribe to get a notification of each day’s post.
Famous People and Their First Census 