Community Chat

[RainCityGirl]

On 1/12/2015 Ms X said:

On 1/12/2015 RainCityGirl said:

On 1/12/2015 Ms X said:

On 1/12/2015 RainCityGirl said:

On 1/12/2015 Ms X said:

On 1/12/2015 terrier3 said:

On 1/12/2015 Ms X said:

The "Question Authority" generation has turned into the Do As I Say OR ELSE Brigade. God help those who will not answer any and every question the federal government asks on the long and intrusive census. They are dismissed as paranoid, etc. Never mind that the info is available elsewhere. Never mind that they ask some weird questions that leave most wondering why they want to know about that. Never mind that one poster claims the feds sell some of the census info they get. We must comply. In full. Every question no matter how strange. Big Brother Is Our Friend, don'cha know!

The Founding Fathers started the census..I doubt they even considered that people would refuse to participate,

The refusal, based on groundless fears and people's strange notions of "freedom, is the new phenomenon.

It is true that the census is in our Constitution, but it directs only a count of the population. It does not direct the feds to send out these very detailed questionnaires to each household. Did you think it did?

Obviously times have changed since the Constitution was written which is why new interpretations come about in the Supreme Court. In my genealogical research, I have found more than just the early count of people: there is land owned, boarders, occupation, education level achieved, etc., and that is from the 1800's. Times change; population characteristics change, needs change, AND the census changes. Numerous reasons have been given for these changes, but apparently that's not good enough. It's NOT a conspiracy and it's not done to inconvenience you. Demographics is a huge study that indicates trends, movement, changes, and regional needs which can only benefit the people involved. It's just not that big of deal to take some time once every ten years to provide useful information, and it has transpired from inception till now through all administrations.

Rain City Girl: No one has said the census is "a conspiracy" except you and a few others who want to discredit those who object to today's census. You can write all you want, but it doesn't change the fact that the Founding Fathers to which terrier referred designed the census to count the population.

Opposing opinions should be respected by certain people on this board instead of prompting browbeating and false characterizations of what people think in a feeble attempt to gain the upper hand in a discussion. It's always a certain few who start with the personal attacks and mischaracterization of others' views. They simply cannot tolerate a difference of opinion or engage in RESPECTFUL debate.

I'm sorry if you feel there was browbeating intended. I was mostly reacting to comments more than thinking it was brow beating. Perhaps I shouldn't have used the words conspiracy or inconvenience in my response. People DO act as if it's such an imposition or that the government is trying to glean information for unsavory purposes. You can't deny that. AND, you can't deny that change is constant throughout history. What I have observed in genealogical research on census forms is a fact. Whatever it was on the first census, it changed to additional factual data on later ones. That's all I meant. But you're right; you have a perfect right to complain about the whole process if you so choose. In the scheme of things, it's probably the last thing within our national policies that I would worry about, but that's just me. Sorry that I offended you. I will try to be more careful next time.

I appreciate your very gracious and classy clarification, Rain City Girl! Can you explain how the federal census helps you do genealogical research? I thought it was supposed to be confidential as to a specific person's answers. I don't mind local censuses over the years when I've lived in various places because they simply sought confirmation about who lived at the specific address. That's a far cry from the federal census. I did return it in 2010, but only filled out the number of occupants.

It doesn't become public accessible for 20 or 30 years and a release is done for an individual decade every ten years. Even though you do not know WHO submitted the information, you are allowed to see the compiled answers. There are columns on the census results which tell you what was asked. I was able to find out if my ancestors could read or write, where they were born and where their parents were born, the ages of everyone in the household. In some cases the actual town in a country of origin was given for birthplace, though not always. That depended on the census taker. I found out whether land was owned or leased, how many were living in the household, including hired hands, in laws, grandparents and parents living with the landowner, livestock owned, real estate taxes paid, etc. It all depended on the state where the census was taken. Originally, I had to rely on hunches and guesses as I started researching without the benefit of the Internet. I am lucky enough to live a mile from the National Archives. Most of their info in on microfiche. It was a long drawn out process. But then the Internet emerged and it made information so much more accessible. From there came the Gen Forums where you could contact others in your family tree and share individual census info, including individual state census reports if possible. Then came the social security death indices and war records. From this internet opportunity, I met a relative in Canada who not only had my great great grandfather's Civil War information, but he sent me a picture of my great great grand father and his great great grandfather in their Civil War uniforms. That was priceless. Still and all, as I've followed them through the decades, I have discovered the most information from the actual census charts themselves. It's all very exciting and fulfilling. I would be very sad if it returned only to population count and nothing more.