Daily AncestorPrecinct
Precinct on a census heading means an election or justice district used as the county division, common in the South and West instead of a township.
The 1900 instructions say that in the South and far West county divisions were usually called districts or precincts. The surviving 1890 pages for Texas, for example, include Pct. No. 5 in Hood County and Justice Pct. No. 6 in Ellis County, a justice of the peace precinct.
From 1900 the enumerator was to write both the name and the class, such as Austin precinct or Precinct 10. Many precincts were numbered rather than named, so note the number and the county together.
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Precinct." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/census-terms/precinct. Last checked 2026-10-03.