Here is an article on the Soundex that I found interesting. One of the things I did not
know was that for the 1880 census, the Soundex did not include "all" families.
It was only for households with children 10 years old and younger.
dale
"An Outstanding Tutorial on the U.S. Federal Census"
by Judy Hanna Green
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
WHAT IS THE SOUNDEX?
The Soundex is a system begun during Franklin Roosevelt's
presidency. His administration wanted to put many people to
work in government programs. One of these programs was the
WPA (Works Projects Administration), which employed people
to do many projects for the government including organizing
the Soundex.
These workers each took the census records, one county at a time,
and wrote out a filing card for each household, naming all people
listed in the census. Included on the card are: name, age, location,
birthday and relationship to head of household for every person
in every household. Not all information on the original census is
given, but enough to identify the members of each household.
Every surname was given a code (see Soundex code). These codes
give numerical value to each letter of the alphabet.
The workers began with the 1900 census and listed each household
in the entire United States on a separate file card. This system
enables us to look at one surname in a whole state and find the
exact locality of all persons in the state with that surname. Then
we can go to the census records for that county, find the page listed
in the Soundex and view all of the information collected by the
census taker. No longer is it necessary to spend hours and hours
looking at every entry, county by county to find the right entry.
Census records from 1880, 1900 and 1910 have been soundexed
as of 1995. Others records will be processed in the future.
-------------------------------------------
SOUNDEX CODING GUIDE
-------------------------------------------
1 = B P F V
2 = C S K G J Q X Z
3 = D T
4 = L
5 = M N
6 = R
Disregard the letters A E I O U W Y H
-- Additional Rules: --
If your name has a prefix like Van, Von, De, Di, Le or La - code
it both with and without the prefix. It might be listed under either
code. (Mc and Mac are not considered prefixes.)
If your surname has double letters, they should be treated as
one letter. Example: Lloyd. The second L should be slashed out.
In the name Herring, the second R should be slashed out.
Your surname may have different letters side-by-side which have
the same coding number. Example: Hamner. (5 is the number for
both M & N.) These letters should be treated as one letter and
the N should be slashed out. Another example: Jackson. (2 is the
number for C, K and S.) The K and S should be slashed. This rule
applies when the letters are at the beginning of the surname, also.
Example: Pfister. Both P and F are in the #1 category, therefore
the letter F should be slashed out.
-The 1880 census is Soundexed only for households with children
10 years old and younger. So if a couple had no children, had
children who were all 11 years old or older, were newly married or
very old, they will not be found in the 1880 Soundex. You will need
to search for them in the actual county and state where they resided.
-The 1910 census has a Soundex (or Miracode, which is similar to
Soundex) for only 21 states. They are: Alabama, Arkansas,
California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana,
Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma,
Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and
West Virginia.
If you are looking for a family in a state not listed above, you will
need to know the city or county where they lived and search the
regular census records for that area.
-The 1920 census is Soundexed for ALL states. It's a great place
to begin a search, since it is the most recent Soundex we have and it
includes all households.