General Information about the 1890 Veterans Schedule - US Federal Census

Census Date: 2 June 1890

On 2 June 1890, the Bureau of the Census began taking the 11th decennial census of the United States. It determined the residential population of the United States to be 62,979,766 — an increase of 25.5 percent over the 50,189,209 persons enumerated during the 1880 U S Census. The data was tabulated by machine for the first time.

All responses were to reflect the individual's status as of 2 June 1890, even if the status had changed between 2 June and the day of enumeration (i.e. children born after 2 June should not be listed, and people who died after 2 June should be included in the count). It is not known if every census taker adhered to this policy.

Unfortunately, most of the 1890 General Population Census records were destroyed in a fire in the basement of the Commerce Building in Washington DC in 1921. Fragments of the U S Population Schedule exist only for the states of Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota, and Texas, and the District of Columbia.

The U S Pension Office requested a special enumeration during the 1890 Census to help Union veterans locate comrades to testify in pension claims and to determine the number of survivors and widows for pension legislation. (Some congressmen also thought it scientifically useful to know the effect of various types of military service upon veterans' longevity.) To assist in the enumeration, the Pension Office prepared a list of veterans' names and addresses from their files and from available military records held by the U.S. War Department. Often confused with the 1890 census, and more often overlooked or misjudged as useless, are nearly 75,000 special 1890 Veteran Schedules enumerating Union veterans and widows of Union veterans.

Nearly all of the 1890 Veteran Schedules for the states of Alabama through Kansas and approximately half of those for Kentucky appear to have been destroyed before transfer of the remaining schedules to the National Archives in 1943. Fragments for some of these states were accessioned by the National Archives as bundle 198.

Question 2 on the General Population Schedules inquired whether the subject had been "a soldier, sailor, or marine during the civil war (United States or Confederate) or widow of such person." Enumerators were instructed to write "Sol" for soldier, "Sail" for sailor, and "Ma" for marine, with "U.S." or "Conf." in parentheses, for example, Sol (U.S.) or Sail (Conf.). The letter "W" was added to these designations if the enumerated was a widow. According to enumeration instructions, if the veteran or widow responded "yes" to Union service, the enumerator produced the veterans schedule, marked the family number from the general population schedule, and proceeded to ask additional service-related questions.

The upper half of each page on the Veterans Schedules lists name, rank, company, regiment or vessel, date of enlistment, date of discharge, and length of service. The lower half contains the post office address, any disability incurred in the service, and general remarks. The question on disability was included because many veterans claimed pensions, under an 1862 act, based on service-related disabilities. The "General Remarks" column usually provides the most colorful, anecdotal, and meaningful information on the schedules.

Although the special enumeration was intended only for Union veterans of the Civil War and their widows, enumerators nevertheless often listed veterans and widows of earlier wars as well as Confedederate veterans. Veterans of the War of 1812 are sometimes listed, and there are especially numerous entries for Mexican War veterans.

Listings for widows can also provide telling insights to the veteran's service, her life or remarriage, even their relationship. Enumerators were instructed to list the widow's name above the name of the deceased veteran and fill out the record of his service during the war but list her present post office. Remarried widows were listed in this manner with their new surname. Dependent mothers are also sometimes listed.

Enumerators often noted the battle or circumstances in which a death or disability had been incurred.

At the completion of the 1890 Census enumeration, the Special Veteran Schedules were returned with a preliminary count of 1,099,668 Union survivors and 163,176 widows. A large number of schedules were found to be incomplete, and many veterans had been overlooked. The Census Bureau sent thousands of letters and published inquiries in hundreds of newspapers hoping to acquire missing data. As appropriate, corrections and additions were made to the Veteran Schedules.

The initial work of examining, verifying, and classifying the information was suspended in June 1891, awaiting congressional appropriation for publication of the veterans' volumes. During that same period, anticipating the publication, the bureau began transcribing information from the schedules onto a printed card for each surviving veteran or widow, later to be arranged by state and organization. No fewer than 304,607 cards were completed before this work was also halted. These cards do not seem to be extant, nor does there appear to be a final record of their disposition. Some cards may have been placed in individual service files.

The veterans' publication seemed doomed. Adequate funding was not available, many considered other census work more pressing, and searches for information in the manuscript veterans schedules were cumbersome and costly. in 1894 Congress authorized their transfer to the Commissioner of Pensions for use in the Pension Office and transferred them "shortly thereafter." The schedules were arranged and stored in bundles, generally alphabetically by name of state or territory, and numbered sequentially. In 1930 legal custody of the schedules passed from the Pension Office to the newly formed Veterans Administration, where they remained until accessioned by the National Archives in 1943 as part of Record Group 15. Clearly these schedules were maintained apart from the population schedules and used for different purposes in a different location. Moreover, no reporting from the fires of 1896 or 1921 mention these schedules among the damaged series. It seems nearly impossible they were involved in the Commerce Building fire in 1921.

The extant Veteran Schedules are available for part of Kentucky through Wyoming, Lincoln Post #3 in Washington, DC, and selected US vessels and navy yards. The schedules are generally arranged by state and county and thereunder generally by town or post office address. The bundle containing schedules for Oklahoma and Indian Territories are arranged by enumeration districts. Although veterans schedules from the states of Alabama through Kentucky (part) are not known to be extant, bundle 198 on roll 118, "Washington, DC, and Miscellaneous," also contains some schedules for California (Alcatraz), Connecticut (Fort Trumbull, Hartford County Hospital, and U S Naval Station), Delaware (Delaware State Hospital for the Insane), Florida (Fort Barrancas and St Francis Barracks), Idaho (Boise Barracks and Fort Sherman), Illinois (Cook County and Henderson County), Indiana (Warrick County and White County), and Kansas (Barton County). All of the accessioned schedules have been microfilmed and are available as National Archives Microfilm Publication M123 (118 rolls).

The following columns describe the data as transcribed from the 1890 Veterans Schedule and compiled here: