Daily AncestorThe 1810 U.S. Census
The 1810 census, dated August 6, 1810, asks the same questions as 1800, but many states' pages are lost, so check what survives before you search.
The third census began on Monday, August 6, 1810. The law required an actual visit to every dwelling or to the head of every family. The questions about people did not change from 1800.
A second law that year asked the same assistants to gather facts on manufacturing, but nobody told them which questions to ask. The notes they made vary widely and sometimes appear right on the population pages, such as a count of a family's looms, sheep, or yards of cloth.
The questions, column by column
| Name of head of family | The only person named. |
|---|---|
| Free white males in five age groups | Under 10, 10 to 15, 16 to 25, 26 to 44, and 45 and up. Follow the same household into 1820 and watch the children move up a group. |
| Free white females in the same five groups | Ages are ranges, not birth years. |
| All other free persons, except Indians not taxed | Free people of color in the household. |
| Slaves | A number only. |
New this census
- No new population questions.
- A first, loosely run attempt to count manufactures.
Watch out for
- No schedules survive for the District of Columbia, Georgia, Indiana Territory, Michigan Territory, Mississippi, New Jersey, Ohio, most of Tennessee, or Illinois Territory apart from Randolph County.
- Maine was part of Massachusetts.
- Ages are as of August 6, 1810, even when the visit came later. In Salem, Massachusetts, the count ran from August 6 to August 29.
Other schedules
- No separate schedules about people. Manufacturing details, where recorded, are mostly notes on the population pages.
Where to see it
- Microfilm M252 (71 rolls). FamilySearch (free with an account) and Ancestry (free on computers at National Archives facilities) both index it and show the images.
- The National Archives Catalog has a typescript of Randolph County, Illinois Territory, and the Salem, Massachusetts, pages that came back to the Archives in 2021.