Tennessee Census

United States > U.S. Census > Tennessee > Census

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 Tennessee indexes and images

Template:Census Online Tennessee

Federal population schedules

Microfilm images

Indexes: fiche, film, or book

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

Federal non-population schedules

Online indexes and images

Online Federal Non-Population Schedules for Tennessee
		Free			Free at Some Libraries (usually with library card)			Pay
Year	Type	Record Search	Census Bureau	Google Book	Heritage Quest	Ancestry FHL	Ancestry Library	Ancestry Home
1890	Veterans	-	-	-	-	Link	Link	Link
1880	Mortality	-	-	-	-	Link	Link	Link
1870	Mortality	-	-	-	-	Lost	Lost	Lost
1860	Slave owner	-	-	-	Link^[1]	Link	Link	Link
1860	Mortality	-	-	-	-	Link	Link	Link
1850	Slave owner	Link	-	-	Link^[1]	Link	Link	Link
1850	Mortality	Link	-	-	-	Link	Link	Link
1840	Pensioners	-	BookLink	BookLink	-	Link	Link	Link

Microfilm images

1890 Veterans United States Census Office. 11th Census, 1890. Schedules Enumerating Union Veterans and Widows of Union Veterans of the Civil War. National Archives Microfilm Publications, M0123. Washington, DC: National Archives, 1948 (Family History Library films 338254–57). Some Confederate veterans are included.
1857 Agricultural. Marshall County, Tennessee Agricultural schedule, 1857. Nashville, Tennessee: State Library and Archives (Family History Library film 977522). This record is arranged by districts within Marshall County and then alphabetically by surname.

Indexes: fiche, film, or book

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

State, territorial, and colonial censuses

Tennessee state, territorial, and colonial census schedules^[2]^[3]

Exact Date

Population Schedules

1865, 1869, 1897

County of Shelby: Memphis^[4]

1891

Exist: enumeration of 21 years and older of male citizens of Tennessee.^[5]

1833

County of Hardin

1787-1791 McGhee, Lucy Kate. Partial Census of 1787 to 1791 of Tennessee as Taken from the North Carolina Land Grants. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1990. (Family History Library films 1728882 item 4: parts 1 and 2; 1683130 item 3: part 3).
1770-1790 Fulcher, Richard C. 1770–1790 Census of the Cumberland Settlements: Davidson, Sumner and Tennessee Counties (in what is now Tennessee). Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing, 1987. (Family History Library book 976.8 X2f.)

Existing and lost censuses

For a list of available and missing Tennessee 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

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 HeritageQuest has slave owner schedule images only.
↑ Ann S. Lainhart, State Census Records (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1992), 104.
↑ 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), 60.
↑ Joe Bledsoe, Memphis, Tennessee Census, 1865, 1869, 1897 (Nashville, Tenn.: Tennessee State Library and Archives, [19--])[[Template:Bledso]].
↑ Reed, Sue S. Enumeration of Male Inhabitants of Twenty-one Years of Age and Upward, Citizens of Tennessee, January 1, 1891, as Provided for by an Act of General Assembly of Tennessee, Passed January 15, 1891, and Approved January 22, 1891. Houston, Texas: S.S. Reed, 1989. ([[[:Template:ReedSS]]]). Each of the eight volumes in the record is individually indexed for the counties listed. All counties not included in this work are on microfilm at the Tennessee State Library and Archives.

Template:Stub

[HQSlave-1] 1.0 ^1.1 HeritageQuest has slave owner schedule images only.

[2] Ann S. Lainhart, State Census Records (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1992), 104.

[3] 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), 60.

[4] Joe Bledsoe, Memphis, Tennessee Census, 1865, 1869, 1897 (Nashville, Tenn.: Tennessee State Library and Archives, [19--])[[Template:Bledso]].

[5] Reed, Sue S. Enumeration of Male Inhabitants of Twenty-one Years of Age and Upward, Citizens of Tennessee, January 1, 1891, as Provided for by an Act of General Assembly of Tennessee, Passed January 15, 1891, and Approved January 22, 1891. Houston, Texas: S.S. Reed, 1989. ([[[:Template:ReedSS]]]). Each of the eight volumes in the record is individually indexed for the counties listed. All counties not included in this work are on microfilm at the Tennessee State Library and Archives.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]