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Greetings subscribers! We thought that sending a newsletter might be helpful in using Census Trail with greater success plus keeping you updated on our progress.

This has been a very busy year. We started our Website in January, 2004 with about 30,000 names in our data base. We now have approximately 80,000! A higher percent of our time has been spent with New Jersey because it is missing more census records than any other state; 1790-1820. But, we feel we have made significant progress with other states as well.

The following table indicates a portion of our progress. (Please note that some individuals have more than one entry. Duplicate names were not taken into account when computing the percent of heads of household.)

OUR CURRENT PROGRESS

For a complete list, click here.

We thought you might enjoy seeing some of the fascinating names we encountered while entering data. You can find them on the website.

Hard Ware

Parsons Porch

Barns Burns

Rice Price

Howell Powell

Butter Turner

Cotton Rails

Owen Bowen

Hugh Pugh

David Much Morehouse

Much of our work the past year has been with legislative petitions. They are a very underused record source because they are so difficult to access.

LEGISLATIVE PETITIONS

Petitions to the governor, legislature, etc., were an important way for individuals to communicate with their government regarding issues that were very essential to them. Their influence in making changes throughout our history has contributed to making our society what it is today. They are an essential link in our legislative and judicial history. In these early petitions one can trace the growing desire for democracy. In fact they are one of the most visible manifestations of democracy in practice. It is fascinating to view the changes in the reasons for submitting petitions over time.

Because petitions represent the feelings of one or more individuals, they provide a window into the soul of the petitioners that illuminates the historical landscape. Many aspects of the human condition are addressed in some form by these important documents. The names listed with the petition can be used as a census of inhabitants for a particular locality. Often it is possible to determine useful information about individual persons from these records. They also can help compensate for lost or destroyed county records. Petitions are original records that contain historical background about our culture and society.

Unfortunately, petitions are among the most inaccessible and underused records because there are so many, they are often difficult and time-consuming to read, and are usually housed only in the state archives or other repository in their un-microfilmed condition.

To help resolve this problem, we have abstracted the content of many petitions and indexed the names of the petitioners. A brief context of the petition is provided with each name. Generally, we have not included those petitions with fewer than 10-12 names.

Click Click here for further information about petitions and their usefulness in genealogical research.

Sometimes the names were very difficult to decipher or the documents themselves were damaged. To read how we handled those situations, select Problem Name Entry Guidelines.

For help in finding the unusual variety of spellings of names on our website, click Using the Wildcard.

Thank you for your patience and support this past year. We value your feedback about how we can improve the website. Please tell your friends about us.

Best wishes for a prosperous year and great successful with your research.

Your friends at Censustrail