Daily AncestorR.I.
In a census birthplace column, R.I. is the abbreviation for Rhode Island.
R.I. is an older abbreviation of Rhode Island, used long before the two letter postal codes. Census takers were allowed to abbreviate state names in the place of birth column, so abbreviated state names are common in the birthplace column of nineteenth century census pages.
R.I. is the standard form. Many Rhode Island records are kept by town rather than county, so the birthplace is a starting point for town records.
As seen in a recordBirthplace column of the 1850 census
Thos. Reed, 45, R.I.
Sources
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "R.I.." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/abbreviations/ri. Last checked 2026-10-01.