Alabama State Census database is now available on Ancestry.com

  • Posted by
  • May 13, 2009

We are so excited to announce that the Alabama State Census , 1820 – 1866 record collection is now live!  This is the second record collection indexed through the World Archives Project to go live on Ancestry.com. Thanks to your efforts, 478,375 names are now indexed and searchable for free on Ancestry.com.

A little about the database:
This database contains state censuses from Alabama for the years 1820, 1850, 1855, and 1866. Each of these censuses recorded the names of the heads of household and the number of other household inhabitants according to gender and age categories. Some years also included race categories and distinguished between individuals who were free and slave.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this project, and keep up the great work!

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May 13th, 2009
18 Responses
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Reader Comments

Comment Number:
1
Written by:
Cornelis1822
Posted on:
May 13, 2009 at 12:33 pm

Congratulations to everyone who worked on this project.(I didn’t)
Great job all.

Comment Number:
2
Written by:
Elaine
Posted on:
May 13, 2009 at 12:43 pm

Does this mean that the keyers get to see these records for free.I havnt worked on these ones.

Comment Number:
3
Written by:
Kath Tait
Posted on:
May 13, 2009 at 3:37 pm

Hi just tried, no you do not get to see the records only the index. You have to have the gold package to look at these records if you are in the UK.

Comment Number:
4
Written by:
Elaine
Posted on:
May 14, 2009 at 7:54 am

Well done everyone who worked on them, but I think it a bit unfair that we have to be gold members. I thought if you were keying you got to see the records whether or not you worked on that particular set.

Comment Number:
5
Written by:
Becki
Posted on:
May 14, 2009 at 9:24 am

Hmm..I know you can see the Wisconsin Mortality schedules. Maybe they forgot to do something to these to make them viewable to WAP volunteers?

Comment Number:
6
Written by:
Jeralyn Taylor
Posted on:
May 14, 2009 at 1:56 pm

Well, I’ve been waiting for this! I live in Alabama, and am researching my late husband’s family. I loved keying the Alabama Census, and ran across some of his ancestors, while doing so!

Comment Number:
7
Written by:
Judy Holzwart
Posted on:
May 14, 2009 at 6:35 pm

Well done keyers!

Comment Number:
8
Written by:
Anne Astling
Posted on:
May 15, 2009 at 4:43 am

Congratulations to all the keyers for a good job.
Sadly I too am one of those who cannot see the records – I do feel I was misled as to what benefits I would get as a keyer and think this should be made clearer. I am not in a position financially to subscribe to the worldwide deluxe membership, and the understanding that I would be able to access records volunteers had keyed in was a major attraction for me.
Please think again Ancestry!

Comment Number:
9
Written by:
Judith
Posted on:
May 17, 2009 at 10:50 am

This is why I stick to keying in UK collections!There is no incentive to keying in records for collections to which you have not subscribed

Comment Number:
10
Written by:
mphilips
Posted on:
May 18, 2009 at 2:50 pm

Elaine, Kath, Beki and all-

Searching and viewing indexes keyed by World Archives Project volunteers are free to everyone. Viewing the images, however, requires a membership (for these Alabama records you need U.S. Deluxe if you are in the U.S., and World Deluxe if you are outside the U.S.).

Active contributors (those who key 900 or more records in a rolling 90 day period) can view the images for AWAP-keyed databases for free.

I hope this helps clear things up for you!

Comment Number:
11
Written by:
Bob Douglas
Posted on:
May 19, 2009 at 1:19 pm

Well I am an active contributor.
Last 90 days
1249 records keyed

I can access the index but not the images.

I don’t think the access has beeen sorted out yet

Bob

Comment Number:
12
Written by:
Becki
Posted on:
May 19, 2009 at 1:40 pm

No, that doesn’t clear anything up. I can see the WAP indexed Wisconsin Mortality Schedules but not the Alabama Census. I just tried it again and it says I need to pay.

And just for the record…my last 90 days…

2286 Records keyed
1347 Records arbitrated

Comment Number:
13
Written by:
mphilips
Posted on:
May 20, 2009 at 9:27 am

Bob and Beki-

You are right- there was a technical glitch that was preventing active contributors from viewing the Alabama Census images. Thanks for helping to point this out. It is now fixed and you should have access.

Comment Number:
14
Written by:
Becki
Posted on:
May 20, 2009 at 2:53 pm

Yes! It does work! Thanks so much! Can’t wait to peruse!

Comment Number:
15
Written by:
Suzanne D.
Posted on:
May 21, 2009 at 1:13 am

I found who I thought was an ancestor on page 20 of the Alabama State Census for Baldwin County in 1820. The only problem was that I didn’t know why he was in Baldwin County instead of a county closer to Autauga/Coosa (where he had been before and after 1820).

I noticed that on page 4 of the Baldwin census, the population is tallied up at the end with the statement that there were 1,589 residents in Baldwin County. The next page shows a whole new record, written by a different census taker and starting out at zero. The record has a slightly different format (an extra field), and no field headers. The last page shows the population as 5,549, but there is no county written there.

It appears that there are two completely different census records in the 26-page Baldwin collection. Does anyone know if the second record is still Baldwin, or if perhaps it is a different county (which would explain my ancestor being there)?

Comment Number:
16
Written by:
Suzie
Posted on:
May 21, 2009 at 6:07 pm

Let see what is going to happen

Comment Number:
17
Written by:
Suzanne D.
Posted on:
May 22, 2009 at 2:36 pm

I contacted Nancy Dupree of the Alabama Department of Archives and History, and she said that the second part of Ancestry’s Baldwin record is actually Conecuh County. So I think Ancestry.com is going to change it soon.