Source Information

Ancestry.com. Nebraska, State Census, 1885 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2002.
Original data: National Archives and Records Administration. Schedules of the Nebraska State Census of 1885. M352. RG 29. 56 rolls. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.

About Nebraska, State Census, 1885

This database contains information from the 1885 Nebraska State Census. It includes all of the counties that existed at the time, with the exception of Blaine County. Information listed includes:

  • Name of every member of the household
  • Race
  • Gender
  • Age
  • Birthplace
  • Location (town, county, state)
  • Enumeration district number
  • Date the census was taken
  • Census page number

Microfilmed copies of this census are held at the Nebraska State Historical Society and the National Archives. The 1890 U.S. Federal Census was damaged and destroyed by fire in 1921. Less than 1 percent of the schedules are available for research today. Because of this problem, the 1885 Nebraska State Census has become a highly valuable source as it provides a wealth of information that would otherwise be found in the Federal Census.

About State Censuses:

An act of 3 March 1879 provided that any state could take an interdecennial census with partial reimbursement by the federal government. Colorado, Florida, Nebraska, and the territories of Dakota and New Mexico returned schedules to the secretary of the interior. The 1885 census is useful for locating data about individuals who were living on rapidly growing frontiers: Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nebraska, Florida, and North and South Dakota.

Taken from "Research in Census Records," The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy, by Loretto Dennis Szucs. Ed. Loretto Dennis Szucs and Sandra Hargreaves Luebking (Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1997).