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1890 Census: The Meaning of the Hollerith Card Codes

Viewed from today, the 1890 census contained quite a few oddities. It was the first, and only, census that attempted to count the number of Civil War veterans who were still living.

Another notable difference was the governments approach to race, especially for Blacks. When asking about race, the government used W for caucasion, B for Negro, Mu for Mulatto (one black parent and one white parent), Qd for Quadroon (one black grandparent and three white grandparents) and Oc for Octoroon (one black great-grandparent and seven white great-grandparents). That category system was never used again in the US Census. The government also counted Indians, In, but not all Indians. The Census only counted "civilized Indians" and that was defined as those Indians who payed taxes!

The level of education that we see nowadays was not common in 1890. The census taker had codings for those who could read, those who could write and those who could do both.



Hollerith Card: This is a reader card which showed the coding for each potential punched hole.
Hollerith Card: This is a reader card which showed the coding for each potential punched hole.


Hollerith Card: This is a color-coded key for the meaning of the codes used on the 1890 Hollerith Card.
Hollerith Card: We have color-coded this example card so that you can decipher what the codes meant. See the chart below and match the colors or the field codes.
  • You can see the two letter Occupation Codes here. How many of these occupations are gone due to technological advances?
  • You can see the two letter Birthplace codes here. There were only 42 states in 1890. We were a country of immigrants then and some of the foriegn countries no longer exist.



 

Field 1

Civil War Veterans

CM, CL, CS      Marine, Sailor, Soldier

UM, UL, US     Marine, Sailor, Soldier

Confederate Army

United States Army

Field 2

Relationship (family)

Hd   Head of Household

Wf   Wife

Mb  Member of family

O     Other

Field 3

Race

Jp    Japanese

Ch   Chinese

B     Negro

W    White

In     Civilized Indian (taxpaying)

Mu   Mulatto

Qd    Quadroon

Oc     Octoroon

Field 4

Gender

Male or Female

 

Field 5 & 6

Your Age

Combination of numbers

Un     Unknown

0        if under 1 year old

Mo     # of months if a baby

Field 7

Conjugal Condition

Dv      Divorced

Un      Unknown

Wd     Widow/Widower

Sg       Single

Mr      Married more than 1 year

CY       Married this year

               (in the Census Year)

Field 8

# of Children born

Up to 19 children

 

Field 9

# of Children alive

Up to 19 children

 

Field 10 & 11

Your birthplace

Combination of upper case letters

and lower case letters

St      birth was in state of residence

Un     Unknown

Field 12

Mother’s  birthplace

Two Letter Country Codes

 

Field 13

Father’s  birthplace

Two Letter Country Codes

 

Field 14

# of years in the US

 

 

Field 15

Citizenship for Foreign-born

Al      Alien

Na     Naturalized citizen

Pa      First Papers submitted

Un     Unknown

Field 16 & 17

Occupation

Combination of upper case letters  and lower case letters

NG    Not Gainfully employed or

          in School

Field 18

Unemployed

1-12  Months unemployed

 

Oc

O

Field 19

Education

OK     Can read and write

W      Can read but not write

R        Can write but not read

-------------OR-----------

1-9    Number of months in school

0        Not in school

Field 20

Language Spoken

Un     Understand English?

En      English

Ot       Other

Ft       Father’s language

Mt      Mother’s language

 

Field 21

Tenure

Fh       Farm Hired (Rented)

FM      Farm Owned (w/ mortgage)

Ff       Farm owned Free and clear

X         Does not apply

Hh      Home Hired (Rented)

Hf       Home owned Free and clear

Hm     Home Owned (w/ mortgage)

 

Far Left Side

Location

State, county, city,  local divisions and

Enumerator District