Washington Census

United States U.S. Census Washington 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 Washington indexes and images[edit | edit source]

Federal population schedules[edit | edit source]

Microfilm images[edit | edit source]

**Federal Census Microfilms Available from the Family History Library**
1940 N/A	1910	1870
1930	1900 and Soundex	1860
1920 and Soundex	1880 and Soundex

**Federal Census Microfilms Available from the National Archives**
1940 N/A	1910 T624	1870 M593
1930 T626	1900 T623 and Soundex T1077	1860 M653
1920 T625 and Soundex M1593	1880 T9 and Soundex T777

Indexes: fiche, film, or book[edit | edit source]

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

Federal non-population schedules[edit | edit source]

Online indexes and images[edit | edit source]

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

Microfilm images[edit | edit source]

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

1860-1870-1880 Mortality

1900 Washington State Prisoner Records

Schedules of Industry and Agriculture

Indexes: fiche, film, or book[edit | edit source]

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

State and territorial censuses[edit | edit source]

Washington took censuses in the years between the federal censuses, the dates are listed below. State census records may have columns that were different or more unusual than those found on federal censuses. The responses and years of coverage may give additional information on the family.

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, the Family History Library (beginning with Family History Library film 1841781) and ancestry.com The years included:

1854, 1856, 1857, 1860, 1861, 1871, 1873, 1875, 1877-1879, 1880, 1881, 1883, 1885, 1887, 1890-1892, 1898, 1907.

Existing and lost censuses[edit | edit source]

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

Why use a census?[edit | edit source]

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[edit | edit source]

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

Sources and footnotes[edit | edit source]

↑ Ann S. Lainhart, State Census Records (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1992)[[Template:Lainha]], 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:Washington-stub

[Lainh-1] Ann S. Lainhart, State Census Records (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1992)[[Template:Lainha]], 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.

[1]

[2]