Daily AncestorInformant mark
The informant mark, an X with a circle around it after a name in the 1940 census, shows which person gave the enumerator the household's answers.
The 1940 instructions told enumerators to write an X with a circle around it after the name of the person who furnished the information. If a neighbor answered, the name was written in the margin instead.
The mark helps you judge the entries. A wife's answers about her husband's birthplace are often better than a lodger's, and a child or neighbor may have guessed ages.
As seen in a recordName column of the 1940 census
Fenner, Grace (X) | Wife | 36
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Informant mark." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/census-terms/informant-mark. Last checked 2026-10-03.