Description

Watch video: Early Federal Census Worksheet: An Introduction (9 minutes)

Requires the desktop version of Microsoft Excel for the PC or Mac. See the Lite edition for other options.

The Early Federal Census Worksheet—a Golden Egg Genealogist power tool—is a genealogy spreadsheet application that allows the easy capture and analysis of the decennial U.S. federal census data from 1790 to 1860. Lining up data over time, it creates a visual comparison of the changing composition and geographical locations of families, including white, free nonwhite, and enslaved members of any given U.S. household. Users will be able to harness the computing power of Microsoft Excel to expand on the already valuable functions of this tool—hiding and rearranging data, adding comments, and using text formatting.

The U.S. decennial censuses were very limited for the research of all U.S. inhabitants before 1850, offering the names of only the heads of households, with mere tallies for all other household inhabitants by age ranges, sex, and ethnic origin. In 1850 and 1860, before the emancipation of U.S. enslaved persons, the census schedules rarely named them—creating additional challenges for genealogical researchers though 1860. Decade by decade the government changed what it asked census takers to track, making it very difficult to easily compare data from one census to the next. This tool works past these limitations, allowing you to see patterns that raise the essential questions and sometimes answer them.

The Early Federal Census Worksheet contains a tab labeled “Instructions,” which will guide you in the use of the product. You will find the tab along the bottom of your Excel window.

You are allowed to make as many copies of this tool as you like, for your own personal or professional research use. You may share your worksheets with others for viewing, if you are collaborating on a family history or if you are doing genealogical research for someone else. If the other party will be altering data, they will need their own copy of the tool.

As a Premium user, you will be able to download both the Premium and the Lite editions, just in case your find yourself without the desktop version of Excel on occasion. You can copy from one version to the other. If you have the desktop version of Microsoft Excel, you will be able to take full advantage of the tools in the Premium edition. If you do not have Excel physically installed on your computer, you may use the Early Federal Census Worksheet—Lite Edition with Google Sheets or Microsoft’s Excel Online, both of which are free.

While the Lite Edition does not have all of the premium features, it is a remarkable improvement over the methods most genealogists use to deal with the pre-1850 censuses and the slave schedules of 1850 and 1860. If you have a different spreadsheet application on your computer that is capable of reading Excel workbooks (containing multiple spreadsheets), you will most likely be able to use the Lite Edition with no problems.

Note on Macros and Viruses

The Premium Edition of the Early Federal Census Worksheet has been developed in the VBA programming language, using macros. Macros, when used responsibly, can eliminate repetitive tasks, simplify complex operations, prevent the inadvertent loss of data, and make your spreadsheet application all the more valuable. This worksheet uses macros to save you much time, to make it more user friendly, and to prevent the illegal use of the tool.

Unfortunately, there are developers out there who have chosen to use macros not only irresponsibly but destructively, creating what we call “malware” or malicious software. Because these despicable vandals do this, you have likely been forced to put protections on your computer that will warn you whenever you receive a file containing macros. If you download the Premium Edition, you may encounter warnings of danger, as these anti-virus and anti-malware tools have been designed to give you. And Microsoft Excel, itself, will warn you that you have loaded a file with the potential of danger.

You may choose whether to trust and use the macro-enabled Premium Edition or to use the less robust but very valuable Lite Edition, which contains no macros. I hope you will trust the more robust tool, if you have the desktop version of Excel on your computer.

I understand that you do not know if you can trust me, so let me give you what malware creators will not: my name. I am Donna Cox Baker. I designed this spreadsheet first for my own use and cannot imagine trying to process early federal censuses without it. That’s why I refined and got it ready for use by others. I own Golden Channel Publishing and the Golden Egg Genealogist blog, and am cofounder of the Beyond Kin Project, in addition to my day-job with a major southern university. I put my reputation behind this spreadsheet in assuring you that I have not built malware into the product. (This assumes you are getting the spreadsheet legally—directly from this store—and not through another party.) You can reach me at donna@publishgold.com, if you have concerns. And feel free to Google my name, if you need further reassurance that I am a real person, living a civically responsible life.

Whether you feel most comfortable with the Premium or Lite Edition, I know you will find this useful to you, and I wish you great success in its use.

Enjoy it!

Donna

Check out the Golden Egg Genealogist blog!