Statewide Records that exist for Wisconsin 1820, 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1890 (fragment, see below), 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930.

  There are Industry and Agriculture Schedules (lists do not exist for all counties for each year) availible for the years 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880. The Mortality Schedules for the years 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880. Union Veterans Schedules were conducted in 1890. Census of surviving Union veterans of the Civil War or their widows, listing service information, any service-connected disability, and current address.

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 All federal census schedules, for all states, are at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. The society also has original state copy manuscripts of the 1850, 1860, and 1870 federal census for Wisconsin. Every-name indexes to the state copies of the 1850, 1860 and 1870 censuses, on microfilm, are available on interlibrary loan from that repository. There may be variations between the state and federal copies of the federal population censuses. Mortality schedules are indexed and available on interlibrary loan, except for the 1880, which is microfilmed, not indexed, and noncirculating. The 1820–70 censuses for Wisconsin were indexed by the WPA, listing each individual within the state in a given census year.

Territorial and State

When the territorial government of Wisconsin was established on 20 April 1836, it provided that an enumeration of the inhabitants of the several counties in the territory be taken by the sheriffs and sent to the governor before the election. This first Wisconsin census did not have preprinted forms. The sheriffs wrote the names of heads of white families with number of persons in each family divided by sex and age in four groups. The sheriff of Crawford County regrouped his constituents who were deaf and dumb, or blind, and included tables of aliens and “slaves and coloured.” Some heads of households on this census appear to have unusually large families. It appears, for example, that in Brown County, Daniel Whitney's “family” of forty-nine included his workmen in sawmills, lumber camps, and at the Helena shot-tower.

Wisconsin territorial and state census original schedules, with a few exceptions, are in the State Archives at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Microfilm copies are available in the microforms reading room, on interlibrary loan, and for purchase. They include the following:

• 1836 (AISI index): Names only head of household, plus numeric listing of household; published in Wisconsin Historical Collections 13 (1895): 247–70.
• 1838 (AISI index): Includes name of master, mistress, steward, overseer, or other principal person; name of head of family and numeric listing of household; extant only for certain counties.
• 1842 (AISI index): Similar to 1838.
• 1846: Includes name of head of family; numeric listing of household by sex and color; some counties missing.
• 1847: Same as 1846; some counties missing.
• 1855 (AISI index): Similar to 1847, plus number of deaf and dumb, blind, or insane; includes number of individuals in each household of foreign birth; Kewaunee County not included.
• 1865: Listing same as 1855; schedules apparently destroyed at an unknown date; some schedules survived at the county level (Dunn, Green, Jackson, Kewaunee, Ozaukee, and Sheboygan).
• 1875: Listing similar to 1865.
• 1885: Listing similar to 1865, plus some additional information on number of foreign-born persons and a special enumeration of “Soldiers and Sailors of the Late War.”
• 1895: Same as 1885, including veterans' schedules.
• 1905: Includes name of each individual, relationship to head of household, color or race, sex, age at last birthday, marital status, place of birth, place of birth of parents, occupation, number of months employed, whether home or farm is owned or rented; also includes veterans' enumeration; indexed, by county, on microfilm.

A very complete listing of Wisconsin Territorial and State Censuses is in James P. Danky, Genealogical Research: An Introduction to the Resources of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin (Madison, Wis.: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1986).

Local census enumerations were taken between 1848 and 1959, ordered for qualification as a municipality by the state. Copies were required to be kept by the county register of deeds and the village or city clerk. Some of these censuses have been found in circuit court files.

Evidence of migration to Wisconsin through the upper Great Lakes may be found in Donna Valley Russell, Michigan censuses, 1710-1830, under the French, British, and Americans (Detroit, Mich.: Detroit Society for Genealogical Research, 1982). Canadian voyageurs may be found in the same author's Michigan Voyageurs, From the Notary Book of Samuel Abbott, Mackinac Island 1807–1817 (Detroit, Mich.: Detroit Society for Genealogical Research, 1982).

City directories for urban areas may help fill the gaps where census records are nonexistent. The State Historical Society of Wisconsin has an extensive collection that includes directories for Milwaukee as early as 1846 and several cities for the 1850s. Local libraries, historical societies, and the Area Research Centers network may have directories for their specific locales.

• Wisconsin Census, 1820-90: This database contains indexes to the Wisconsin (U.S.A.) portions of the 1820-1860 U.S. Federal Censuses as well as indexes to the 1836-1838, 1842, 1846, and 1855 State Censuses, the 1840 Pensioners Lists, the 1890 Veterans Schedules, and other early censuses. Information contained in these indexes can include name, state, county, township, year of record, and name of record set.
• Wisconsin State Censuses, 1895 and 1905: This database contains an index to the 1895 and 1905 Wisconsin state censuses. Both censuses cover all counties that existed at the time. Information listed includes: name of individual, and place of enumeration. The 1905 census also includes relationship to head of household, race, gender, age, marital status, and birthplace.

Tips for General Census Records

Excerpts From the Book "Family History Made Easy"

   There are numerous ways to determine the location in which to concentrate research for an ancestor. One of the most popular and productive is the census.
Alice Eichholz, Ph.D., In Ancestry’s Red Book: American State,County and Town Sources

    Since 1790, the U.S. government has taken a nationwide population count every ten years. Unique in scope and often surprisingly detailed, the census population schedules created from 1790 to 1920 are among the most used of records created by the federal government. Over the course of two centuries the United States has changed significantly, and so has the census. From the six basic questions asked in the 1790 census, the scope and categories of information have changed and expanded dramatically.

   Early censuses were essentially basic counts of inhabitants; but as the nation grew, so did the need for statistics that would reflect the characteristics of the people. In 1850, the focus of the census was radically broadened. Going far beyond the vague questions previously asked of heads of households, the 1850 census enumerators were instructed to ask the age, sex, color, occupation, birthplace, and other questions regarding every individual in every household. Succeeding enumerations solicited more information; by 1920, census enumerators asked twenty-nine questions of every head of household and almost as many questions of everyone else in the residence. (Only a very small segment of the 1890 census remains; a fire in the Commerce Department destroyed the vast majority of the original records for that year. Because of privacy considerations, census records less than seventy-two years old are not available to the general public; thus, the 1920 census is the most recent available to the public.)

   Few, if any, records reveal as many details about individuals and families as do the U.S. federal censuses. The population schedules are successive “snapshots” of Americans that depict where and how they were living at particular periods in the past. Once home sources and library sources have been exhausted, the census is often the best starting point for further genealogical research. Statewide indexes (see “Indexes,” below) are available for almost every census; they are logical tools for locating individuals whose precise place of residence is unknown. While some inaccuracies are to be expected in census records, they still provide some of the most fascinating and useful pieces of personal history to be found in any source. If nothing else, census records are important sources for placing individuals in specific places at specific times. Additionally, information found in the census will often point to other sources critical to complete research, such as court, land, military, immigration, naturalization, and vital records.

   The importance of census records does not diminish over time in any research project. It is always wise to return to these records as discoveries are made in other sources because, as you discover new evidence about individuals, some information that seemed unrelated or unimportant in a first look at the census may take on new importance.

   When you can’t find family, vital, or religious records, census records may be the only means of documenting the events of a person’s life. Vital registration—the official recording of births, deaths, and marriages—did not begin until around 1920 in many areas of the United States, and fires, floods and other disasters since have destroyed some official government records. When other documentation is missing, census records are frequently used by individuals who must prove their age or citizenship status (or that of their parents) for Social Security benefits, insurance, passports, and other important reasons.

How to Find Census Records
   All available federal census schedules (those made from 1790 to 1920) have been microfilmed and are available at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.; at the National Archives’ regional archives; at the Family History Library of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS church) in Salt Lake City and LDS family history centers throughout North America (see chapter 8, “The Family History Library and Its Centers”); at many large libraries; in genealogical society libraries; and through companies that lend microfilmed records. Some state and local agencies have census schedules for the state or area they serve. Generally, microfilm copies may be borrowed through interlibrary loan.

Starting With the Census
   It is usually best to begin a census search in the most recently available census records (1920) and to work from what is already known about a family. With any luck, birthplaces and other clues found in these more recent records will point to locations of earlier residence.

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