Quote Originally Posted by Bike Chick View Post
Census information is also very helpful for geneological purposes. After several decades (70 years I believe), data from the census is released to the public. Our family has used it as a very reliable resource to track down family members to trace our ancestry.
Of course reliability is relative with the older census info. I had a fleeting moment when researching my family, where I went from being 1/4 Swedish, to being 1/4 Dutch. I actually gasped, and then a stranger doing research also, asked me why. When I told her, she looked at the info and pointed out that my grandfather was a boarder in the home, and so likely the door-to-door survey was answered by the wife of the owner of the house, who knew he wasn't from the US, but didn't really know where he was from. It was also a shock when the 1880 census listed my great-grandmother as "bedridden" and "insane".

I love the census as a genealogical resource! I sure wish the 1890 one had survived, it is vital to 2 of the 4 branches of my ancestry.