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LESSON ONE
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Assignment : U.S. Family Census History Form This Lesson will cover:
Read Chapter One in Digging Deeper (the new textbook for this course published in July of 2011) before starting this lesson. The purpose of Chapter One and this lesson is to enlighten you about the many hidden clues available in the pre-1850 United States Federal Census records which can provide the answers you might be seeking such as why are there errors on the federal census records? 
Samples of each census between 1790 and 1840 are available in Chapter One. Also, print a copy of the U. S. Family Census History Form found as a link above beside the word "Assignment." This is a four page document that is usually printed on a ledger size paper so that everything is on one page, but it will print out on four individual pages for you. Once this information has been studied thoroughly, it is a good idea to visit a local genealogy society, Family History Center, the Family History Library, or a regional archives and actually view a sample of each of these census records in person. In fact the ultimate objective is to locate one of these census records that belongs to the one family you will use as a case study throughout this course. Depending on the state and the enumerator, there are wide ranges of legibility in these records. It is a wonder in some cases, that so much information can be found from what appears to be nothing but statistics. Review the eleven reasons for searching these pre-1850 census records as indicated in Chapter One. These are important to memorize. If you cannot think of them, read the information in Digging Deeper until you know them well.
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