Enumerator

From 1790 through 1870 the count was made by assistant marshals working under the U.S. marshals. The 1880 law put supervisors of the census in charge, and each supervisor chose enumerators, one for each enumeration district. Enumerators were supposed to live in the district they counted.

The enumerator had to visit every dwelling in person and could not send a deputy. If nobody was home, the law allowed him to take the answers from the nearest neighbors, which is one reason ages and birthplaces can be wrong. On the 1940 schedule the heading reads "Enumerated by me on" followed by the date he started the sheet.