Washington Census

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Tips

If at first you don't find a name, try again under another spelling.
Photocopy each ancestor's census. Identify where you found it.
Look for an ancestor in every census during her or his lifetime.
On the family group record show each person's census listings.
Study others in the same household, neighbors, and anyone with the similar names nearby on the census in community context.

For a list of the exact date of each federal census, click here.

Online Washington indexes and images

Template:Census Online Washington

Federal population schedules

Microfilm images

Indexes: fiche, film, or book

For a list of microform and book indexes for the population schedules of Washington, click here

Federal non-population schedules

Online indexes and images

Online Federal Non-Population Schedules for Washington
		Free	Free at Some Libraries (usually with library card)			Pay
Year	Type	Record Search	Heritage Quest	Ancestry FHL	Ancestry Library	Ancestry Home
1890	Veterans	-	-	Link	Link	Link
1880	Defective	-	-	Link	Link	Link
1880	Mortality	-	-	Link	Link	Link
1870	Mortality	-	-	Link	Link	Link
1860	Mortality	-	-	Link	Link	Link
1850	Mortality (as part of Oregon Territory)	Link	-	Link	Link	Link

Microfilm images

The mortality schedules for 1860 to 1880 are available at the DAR Library in Washington D.C. and at the Washington State Library.

Indexes: fiche, film, or book

For a list of microform and book indexes for the non-population schedules of Washington, click here.

State, territorial, and colonial censuses

Washington state, territorial, and colonial censuses^[1]^[2]

No statewide state census was taken, but many county censuses were taken at different years from 1856 to 1898.

1898

County of Garfield

1892

Counties of Douglas, Garfield, King, Klickitat, Mason, Pierce, Stevens, Thurston, and Walla Walla

1891

County of Jefferson

1889

Counties of Adams, Asotin, Clallam, Columbia, Garfield, Island, Jefferson, King, Kitsap, Kittitas, Klickitat, Lincoln, Mason, Pierce, San Juan, Snohomish, Thurston, Whatcom, and Whitman

1887

Counties of Adams, Asotin, Clallam, Clark, Columbia, Cowlitz, Douglas, Franklin, Garfield, Island, Jefferson, King, Kitsap, Kittitas, Klickitat, Lewis, Lincoln, Mason, Pacific, Pierce, San Juan, Skagit, Skamania, Snohomish, Spokane, Stevens, Thurston, Wahkiakum, Walla Walla, Whatcom, Whitman, and Yakima

1885

Counties of Adams, Asotin, Chehalis, Clallam, Clark, Columbia, Cowlitz, Douglas, Franklin, Garfield, Island, Jefferson, King, Kitsap, Kittitas, Klickitat, Lewis, Lincoln, Mason, Pacific, Pierce, San Juan, Skagit, Skamania, Snohomish, Spokane, Stevens, Thurston, Wahkiakum, Walla Walla, Whatcom, Whitman, and Yakima

1883

Counties of Clallam, Clark, Columbia, Cowlitz, Garfield, Island, Jefferson, King, Kitsap, Klickitat, Lewis, Mason, Pacific, Pierce, Snohomish, Thurston, Whitman, and Yakima

1881

Counties of Jefferson, King, and Thurston

1880

Counties of Jefferson, King, and Thurston

1879

Counties of Jefferson, King, Mason, Pierce, and Thurston

1878

Counties of Jefferson, Mason, Pierce, Stevens, and Thurston

1877

Counties of Jefferson and Thurston

1875

County of Thurston

1874

County of Jefferson

1873

County of Thurston

1871

Counties of Chehalis, Clallam, Clark, Cowlitz, Island, Jefferson, King, Kitsap, Klickitat, Lewis, Mason, Pierce, Skamania, Stevens, Thurston, Whatcom, and Yakima

1860

Counties of Chehalis, Clallam, Clark, Island, Jefferson, Kitsap, Lewis, Skamania, and Whatcom

1858

County of Chehalis

1857

Counties of Clallam, Clark, Island, Kitsap, Lewis, Mason, Pierce, and Wahkiakum

1856

County of King

These partial censuses are available at the Washington State Library and the Family History Library (beginning with Family History Library film 1841781). The years included:

1854, 1857, 1861, 1871, 1875, 1877-1879, 1881, 1883, 1885, 1887, 1890-1892, 1907.

Existing and lost censuses

For a list of available and missing Washington censuses, click here.

Why use a census?

A well-indexed census is one of the easiest ways to locate where an ancestor's family lived and when they lived there. You can also use censuses to follow the changes in a family over time, and identify neighbors. These and other clues provided by censuses are important because they help find additional kinds of records about the family.

More about censuses

Click here for additional details about how to use censuses, such as:

Sources and footnotes

↑ Ann S. Lainhart, State Census Records (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1992)[[FS Catalog book 973 X2Lai ]], 109-12.
↑ Henry J. Dubester, State Censuses: An Annotated Bibliography of Censuses of Population Taken After the Year 1790 by States and Territories of the United States (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1948)[[Template:Dubes]], 62.

Template:Stub

[Lainh-1] Ann S. Lainhart, State Census Records (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1992)[[FS Catalog book 973 X2Lai ]], 109-12.

[Dubes-2] Henry J. Dubester, State Censuses: An Annotated Bibliography of Censuses of Population Taken After the Year 1790 by States and Territories of the United States (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1948)[[Template:Dubes]], 62.

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