Census records now on Internet

Thursday, July 3, 2003 | 11:23 a.m.

The state's Cultural Affairs Department has made genealogical research more convenient.

Nevada's census records from 1860 to 1920 are now available online on the department's website, available day and night on any personal computer with Internet access.

Nevada is the first state to have all of its federal manuscript census data available electronically, Ron James, state historic preservation director, said Wednesday.

"This database is extremely important for researchers, genealogists and anyone interested in the history of the West," he said.

Almost all of the old information is available, James said. The 1890 census is missing because that year's information burned in a warehouse fire.

More than the dry reading usually packed behind a U.S. Census title, the historical records include details about 310,000 people who lived in Nevada in those past decades, everything from their names and ages at the time of the census to their occupations, places of birth and places where their parents were born.

It even lists such details as whether people said they had any ailments. In listing their ailments, some people checked they were "idiotic" or "insane."

The new online records were welcomed by officials of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members often conduct genealogical research as part of their religious rites.

"We're very, very pleased with all of the records that are available through the census or otherwise that allow people to do their genealogical research," said Ashley Hall, director of public affairs for the Mormon Church. At LDS temples, church members are able to baptize ancestors into the church, he said.

"For LDS people it's very important," he said. As a result, "The church has the largest genealogical history database in the world, and we share it."

In Las Vegas, Mormon Church records are available to the public at the Family History Center, 509 S. 9th St., near Clark Avenue, he said. Computers available at the center have Internet access, so the newly posted census records will be available there as well, Hall said.

The state website can search information based on names, ages, profession, address, place of birth, parents' place of birth and primary language.

It can give the information on individuals or provide averages of various factors.

Also available is how many months a person worked in the past year. One telling detail from the 1880 records show about 20 workers worked at a laundry in Storey County -- all born in China.

That section of the census showed 1880 was a tough economic year, with many of those listed reporting they had been off work anywhere from three to six months.

It's an example of how "there is a tremendous potential for developing community histories, profiles of houses and treatment of all sorts of aspects of our past" with the data, James said.

The historic preservation office worked with University of Nevada, Reno anthropology Associate Professor Ken Fliess for about 10 years to compile the data.

The original records were handwritten and had to be entered into the computer. It showed some dramatic trends.

"The state's population has grown and declined more dramatically than in most if not all states," Fliess said. The comprehensive encoding of this information creates "remarkable opportunity for research."

But those wanting to plumb the recently released 1930 census will have to rely on the old-fashioned method, by hand.

Adding the 1930 census data to the database would be a major undertaking, James said, because it is coded differently than the other handwritten documents.

The Legislature provided seed money for census online project, and Fliess donated a great deal of his time as did Gnomen Inc., a Nevada-based data management firm, James said.

Sun reporter

Jean Reid Norman contributed to this story.