Reverse census search

[chrisdamato]

Is it possible to run a search for census records based only on an address? I have the address of an ancestor and know they were living there in a certain year. However, I cannot find there records when searching by names only. It would be great to just input the address in NYC in 1900 and get the actual census for that particular address.

[jo123]

Hi Chris,

I had a similar question in a similar post:

http://www.italiangenealogy.com/Forums/ ... tml#102103

Nuccia responded with reference to this website

http://www.stevemorse.org/census/index.html

It says "You can locate someone in that census either by name or by address". However I couldn't figure out how to do it. I'm not sure what the ED's numbers are exactly. Let me know if you figure it out.

Hope this helps.

Josie

[jwazevedo]

The Steve Morse website that Josie referenced has some street indexes for larger cities. (The boroughs of NYC qualify!) You can pick out the street of interest, and the site will show the list of Enumeration Districts (ED) for that street. Click on the ED, and you can view the census pages. BUT, the site links to images on Ancestry.com (mostly), so if you don't have a subscription to that service, you can't view the image. So, though it's a great concept, it's of less use than we might wish.

Good luck,
Jerry

[johnnyonthespot]

Yes, once you have determined the enumeration district, you can scan through the pages of that census searching for individual persons/families. That is how I found both the 1920 and 1930 censuses for my mother's family as in both cases the names were so badly mangled that I never would have found them by searching the indexes. Thank goodness my mother is still living and remembered the name of the road they lived on in their relatively small town.

The problems are many. Eumeration districts are identified by bordering streets and or natural objects (mostly rivers/canals/lakes) and even with a good map it can be difficult to determine which ED a particular address falls into.

Worse, I have seen censuses in which the census taker forgot (?) to note the street names on the forms.

[oilman19]

When I lost track of my relatives after the 1920 census, Carmine found them (name change and all) in the 1930 census by using the ED. I still haven't figured out how he did it.
Hi Carmine
So, I guess it can be done and he knows how to do it.

Jim

[chrisdamato]

I was able to figure it out. Unfortunately, the people I was looking for were not living at that address for the 1910 census. They must have moved there sometime between 1910 and 1911. Now I need to get a hold of a city directory from 1911.

[johnnyonthespot]

I was able to figure it out. Unfortunately, the people I was looking for were not living at that address for the 1910 census. They must have moved there sometime between 1910 and 1911. Now I need to get a hold of a city directory from 1911.

From what I can see, immigrants often moved around within a small radius of just a few blocks - especially in New York City's "Little Italy" neighborhood and New Jersey's Italian districts. Even though you didn't find them at the same address, try taking some time to scan through the entire ED; you may find them yet.

[chrisdamato]

I'll do that.