Coming Soon...The Move to Indianapolis
Although there are no surviving Census records for 1890, it is believed William Smith’s family, minus Allen, continued to reside in Cicero, IN until nearly the end of the decade. The 1890 Census would have been helpful as sometime between 1889 and 1891, William and family moved to Indianapolis.
I'll be adding information from after 1890 soon. William and Mary moved the entire family to Indianapolis. Their lives were very interesting in Indy as well! Stay tuned...
The 1890 Census
The Eleventh Census of the United States, taken in June 1890, unfortunately no longer exists. Destroyed by a fire in 1921, outcries from the loss prompted the formation of The National Archives in 1935. Of all the decennial population census schedules, perhaps none might have been more critical to studies of immigration, industrialization, westward migration, and characteristics of the general population than the 1890 Census.
The 1890 census schedules differed from previous ones in several ways. For the first time, enumerators prepared a separate schedule for each family. The schedule contained expanded inquiries relating to race (white, black, mulatto, quadroon, octoroon, Chinese, Japanese, or Indian), home ownership, ability to speak English, immigration, and naturalization. Enumerators asked married women for the number of children born and the number living at the time of the census to determine fecundity. The 1890 schedules also included a question relating to Civil War service.