People Living in Non-Traditional Homes Described in U.S. Census Records

When searching for ancestors in United States Census records, you may find them residing in a location other than a traditional family home. Since 1888, many U.S. Veterans have made their home at the Ohio Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home, now known as the Ohio Veterans Home. Below is a portion of the 1910 Census Page for this Home, in Perkins Township, Erie County, Ohio. In these listings, you find the person’s name, place of birth, and occupation, and information about where their parents were born.

For many years, the Children’s Home provided a home for children in Erie County whose parents could not adequately provide for them.

Census records enumerated in 1910, 1920, 1930 and 1940 list the residents of the Erie County Children’s Home on the day of the enumeration. Some of the residents of the Home are listed below in the 1920 U.S. Census. Listings include staff members, as well as the names of  the children for whom they cared.

In 1930, Sheriff John W. Taylor and his family lived at the Erie County Jail, which now is a part of the Sandusky Library. The Census shows John W. Parker, occupation Sheriff, along with his wife and three children. The names of the prisoners residing at the Erie County Jail at the time of the 1930 Census enumeration are provided on the next page.

Other types of facilities that included in the U.S. Census are hospitals, mental institutions, boarding schools, county homes, convents and monasteries, just to name a few. Don’t give up on finding your ancestor in the Census, if they do not turn where you expect to find them. In nineteenth century census records, teenagers and young adults often worked as farm hands or domestic employees, and were enumerated with the families who provided them with a home.