1950 CENSUS SPECIAL COUNT OF NATIVE AMERICANS : INDIAN RESERVATON SCHEDULE

 Those of you who are interested in tracing your Native American ancestry may find that the 1950 census is helpful to you because there was a special INDIAN RESERVATION SCHEDULE on April 1, 1950.The enumerators wrote out the information on Native Americans on the regular census forms. THEN THEY ALSO FILLED OUT THE INDIAN RESERVATION SCHEDULE. 

1950 was not that long ago - only 72 years. Which means that some of the Native Americans counted on this census may be your parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents.

Some people want to know if they have Native American heritage because they wish to claim some government benefits and become members of a tribe.  Now, exploring this, I've always been told that tribes already know who the members are and how important it is to be 'card carrying' and even how important it is for a woman to have a baby on the reservation in order to be recognized by a tribe. When I've written to tribes to ask for their help so that a person who believes they do have a right to be part of a tribe can be acknowledged, I never get an answer.

I once belonged to a Native American interest group and some of the people there told stories that there were rumors in their family that a certain grandparent or great grandparent was Native American but then they also were warned that person did not want to talk about it. 

I've also encountered on old census families that were counted who had some children listed as White and some Black - because of their darker skin. When I saw family photos of those children it was clear to me that they were not African-American.  What was going on?  It was thought that it was better to be listed as Black than Native American, prejudices being what they were in some parts of the country.

DNA tests are often proving that Native American rumors are also often not true when African-American's get tested. That I heard out of the mouth of the famous Louis Henry Gates. What is going on? I guess just the opposite.  Some people thought having Native American ancestry was a plus

Let's look at this opportunity to learn more.

THIS IS THE LINK TO THE FORM USED HISTORY HUB (NARA) GOV FORM P8 1950 CENSUS

They want to know if that person HAS PARTICIPATED IN ANY INDIAN 'CEREMONIES' in 1949!

They want to know if the house they live in is made of logs or brick!

What is the blood quotient!

What languages are spoken?

AND WHAT OTHER NAME IS USED!

Obviously, the answers depended on some cooperation...

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UPDATE posted March 25, 2021 :  On April 27th the NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF THE UNITED STATES WILL POST A VIDEO ON USING THE P8 Indian Reservation Schedule of the 1950 Federal United States Census on YOUTUBE.  This is a free mini class and is part of a series of videos to watch. 

UPDATE April 3, 2022  I spent about an hour looking at this special census yesterday.  Here is my commentary: On the main search page, there is a special search feature to look into this census. The cards will come up by reservation that was counted, so you will see reservation names. It will be helpful if you know the name of a reservation. It would also have been helpful if the census bureau or NARA had listed the tribal name(s) aligned with each reservation.  However, with the internet we can do a little extra research.

There is also an option to search by state.  I suppose this is because some reservations spanned states borders that one sees on maps. Of course, you can start out with surnames if you have them.  I checked three reservations, which to my surprise, had very few families listed.  In each case I saw what I would consider to be English or American names - not surnames or given names that would stick out as "Indian." This made me wonder if some families had been missed. 

I know from previous experience with "Indian counts" that some families did not trust the government and managed to avoid being counted. This has come up for people of Native American ancestry now who would like to prove tribal affiliations for government an also casino benefits or shares.  I do wonder if that is what happened in some cases during this 1950 census. If some families were simply not cooperative.  Another thing that might have happened is that the enumerators did not know where on a reservation to look for or find families. This happened in every census in rural areas.

One sample I looked at had every family member speaking English only.  However, the question about participation in Indian Ceremonies in the previous year had them all participating...

I WILL POST A BIT MORE ABOUT THE 1950 NATIVE AMERICAN SITUATION SOON.

1950 CENSUS UPDATE - WHAT THE U.S. CENSUS BUREAU HAS TO SAY ABOUT COVERAGE - INCLUDES GUAM, AMERICAN SAMOA, PUERTO RICO, VIRGIN ISLANDS

APRIL 1 2022 is the official release date or the United States 1950 census. I know we are all just yearning for that day.  But because the numbers of people counted is tremendously more than the 1940 census, what really can we expect?

Here is what the official U.S. Census page has to say:

CENSUS GOV - UNITED STATES CENSUS BUREAU - INCLUDED INFO ON PAST CENSUS

EXCERPT: The 1950 census encompassed the continental United States, the territories of Alaska and Hawaii, American Samoa, the Canal Zone, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands of the United States, and some of the smaller island territories.

Americans aboard were enumerated for the first time in 1950...

A new survey on residential financing...

TWO MORE YEARS FROM TODAY'S DATE : THE 1950 CENSUS

STEVE MORSE and JOEL WEINTRAUB on the 1950 CENSUS - YOU WON'T FIND NAMES!

72 years of privacy for census was determined long ago when 72 years was one long life.  I sometimes wonder if this will be changed as our lifespans increase.

You can read the entire paper put out by these two gentlemen who have helped genealogists get through databases such as ship records and past census.

When the 1950 is first released you'll have to search page by page through Enumeration Districts until the massive undertaking of listing by name - indexing - happens.

The U.S. population after World War II was BOOMING (as in Baby Boomer) so while I have no doubt it eventually will be done, you may not want to wait another two to four years.

I remember when the 1940 came out.  I headed for my nearest Family History Center of the Latter Day Saints and I sat there for hours searching certain records in New Jersey... And what I proved weeks into it was that the first-generation immigrants and their children were no longer living where they had been in 1930, no longer in ethnic ghettos but out to the suburbs, even to other counties and states, some in old age homes.

I imagine the 1950 will show this movement into suburbs and other counties and states even more so. So many GI's got houses on the GI bill which afforded them small homes in the burbs!

C 2020  Ancestry Worship - Genealogy BlogSpot

Click on the tab  Genealogy Help - 1950 Census to bring up the series!

THREE MORE YEARS TILL THE RELEASE OF THE 1950 CENSUS

It's not too soon to learn a bit about this census, the seventeen United States Census, which will include the BABY BOOM generation. It will be released April 1, 2020. Work has already begun on the project to index it.  Here's some information!  STEVE MORSE 1950 CENSUS PROJECT UPDATE

UPDATE July 2019.  The release without indexing.  You'll be able to locate the ENUMERATION DISTRICT of ancestors who you may already know of from the 1940 to get to images prior to Indexing.

Click on the tab  Genealogy Help - 1950 Census to bring up the series!

CENSUS WORKERS for the 2020 CENSUS

I got a call from a friend, asking me if I was going to apply to be a census worker for the 2020 census or volunteer for the 1950 census project. These projects are going to be a HUGE endeavor, the 2020 many times more HUGE than the 2010.  The population expanded rapidly. It was the post World War II baby boom. Suburbs were being built and Americans were expanding out from living in cities. GI's were using the low interest mortgage rates for veterans to be home owners.  Stay at home moms were financially possible. Some of us are going to read this 1950 census in 2020 (or thereafter) and just wish we were living back in the day.

Genealogists get very excited about census and census is called "The backbone of American genealogy."

I have such memories of the 2010 reveal. The NATIONAL ARCHIVES SITE was not functioning completely or well for a while as people rushed to use it. Of course other database owners attempted to have theirs up better and faster.  Indexing lagged behind. Some pages were missing or out of order. I used the National Archives site at a few libraries including my local LDS Family History Center to get in there with my list of people who had not appeared on 1940.

These mix ups and frustrations one also experienced when the Ellis Island ship manifests site first went up.  I remember finding ways to get what I needed, ways to mine the data.  

I spent hours reading 1940 census pages one after another because they were not indexed yet with mixed results. I still wish I were turning microfilm rather than clicking the mouse till I need a forefinger joint replacement. 

I've learned a bit about the data on census and why looking at the name of the census taker can be a good thing. For instance I noticed German surnames of census takers associated with assignments of going into Polish and Hungarian neighborhoods. The language the census taker speaks may reflect the spelling of the surnames.

So pre-2010 of course I applied to be a census worker.  I took a class and the test and got an A.  Soon I got a call asking if I speak Spanish.  I do not.  I didn't get the job.  They wanted people to be in their own neighborhoods and mine at the time probably had a significant percentage of Spanish speakers. I met the man who did get the job.  He was frustrated.  He said that he had to go back to a building three times because he was having trouble being let in. People were not answering their doors. After three tries his supervisor would go with him and then would make the building manager let them in. Overall they thought they were encountering illegal residents who did not want to be on census or talk to anyone governmental. Probably true.

So I suspect in our political climate (i.e "Build the Wall") that the 2020 census next year will be fraught with such issues.  WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF CENSUS.  It's a statistical analysis that helps our government understand the population and these statistics are often cited when our officials are looking for causes or funding.

Although I do not believe in the past the census information was shared with the INS (or equivalent) people who are not citizens may worry.

Think of the past census, say taken of those Ellis Island immigrants in which census takers asked people if they were citizens, if they were aliens, if they were in process, and what year they were naturalized.  There is a historical precedent for asking residents about their immigration status. Sometimes when I cannot find people who left a ship on a census I wonder if they hid out for the same reasons as the people do in recent history.

C 2019  All Rights Reserved  including Internet and International Rights.  This post has been edited and expanded July 2019