Daily AncestorPartner
Partner in a census relationship column meant an unrelated person who shared a home with the head as an equal, such as two men keeping house together.
From 1910 the instructions said that when two or more persons shared a common abode as partners, the enumerator should write head for one and partner for the others. The 1940 and 1950 instructions add that the partners were not related by blood or marriage.
It marks a shared household of equals: not a relative, and not a paying boarder or lodger. In 1950 partner is listed among the terms for people not related to the head.
As seen in a recordRelationship column of the 1910 to 1950 census
Lindqvist, Olof | Head | Hagstrom, Nils | Partner
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Partner." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/census-terms/partner. Last checked 2026-10-03.