Daily AncestorBeat
Beat on a census heading means a numbered county division in Mississippi and Alabama, used where other states had townships.
The 1900 instructions note that county divisions were called beats in Mississippi, and the 1880 instructions list beat among the civil divisions made into enumeration districts. Alabama used beats too: the only surviving 1890 pages for Alabama are Perryville Beat No. 11 and Severe Beat No. 8 in Perry County.
Beats are usually numbered, as Beat No. 5, so note the number and the county together.
As seen in a recordHeading of a Mississippi or Alabama census page, 1900 to 1940
Township or other division of county: Beat No. 5
Sources
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Beat." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/census-terms/beat. Last checked 2026-10-03.