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Step 1
Visit genealogy sites (see Resources below), which provide access to online census records. Some of these websites are subscription-based, and are free. These websites have digitized several of the Federal Census databases, which you can then use for your genealogy research.
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Step 2
Collect the information that you will need on your family member or members. Take into account their marital status, as well as whether they resided in their own home or their parents' home. Ask your relatives for this information, and peruse any available family records like marriage certificates or birth certificates.
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Step 3
Decide whether to conduct your search within a specific census, or whether you will search all censuses at the same time. For example, you can choose to search the 1880 United States Census, 1881 Canadian Census or 1881 British Isles. You may do a search targeting a particular family member, or you may search for a head of household.
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Step 4
Do a basic or advanced search on the website. Begin from the most recent census year and work backwards. If the last name is a common one, enter information into the additional fields to improve your results. Use both first and last names for more accurate results. Married women will usually be found by their married name rather than maiden name.
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Step 5
Narrow down your search results if you want or need additional information. In addition to selecting a specific census to search, you can also enter:*Birth year or birth year range*Race/ethnic origin*Census state or province
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Step 6
Use the website's "Use Exact Spelling" search feature if you want to use a middle name or middle initials in your search. Typically, census records will ignore these. Using this feature, the search function will look up your family member's name exactly as entered. However, you may not be able to list birth year, race or state.
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Step 7
Go through the search results to find and review records with information relevant to the family member or members. When you find a record you want to use, download the actual census web page if possible. It is worth the small fee you may have to pay for this download. You can zoom in to read the handwritten notes of the census officers.
