The US Census & My Previous Homes

This week’s blogging prompt from Amy Johnson Crow’s “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” series is “Close to Home.”  In light of the 2020 United States Census officially starting yesterday, I was thinking about my homes during the past census years and where I was at when the census came. Let me document this now for my descendants (and anyone else who may be looking for me in the future) – ha!.  So.. where was I in the past census years? So far, I will have appeared in 4 different census records. 

• 2010: We were living in the same part of Nashville, TN we do now. We’ve not lived here in this suburb all 10 of these past years, but we left and came back. I believe I was the one to complete our household information. 
• 2000: I was living in Rockville, Maryland outside of Washington DC as I had a fellowship at the National Library of Medicine. This is the first census where I was the head of my own household and I was living alone. I remember filling out the form when it came to me!
• 1990: I was a teenager and living with my mother, brother, and sister in Charlotte, North Carolina. I also remember when the forms came to the house and I think my mother let me fill them out. This was well before I had any interest in family history – I guess I just like filling out forms – ha!
• 1980: I would have been 4 years old so I obviously do not remember this one 😂. During this census, my parents were living in Greensboro, NC after having moved there just a year before from New York.

Excellent! Hmm.. now I’m curious and may start ordering my own census records. Since census records are closed for 72 years they are not publicly available, but can be ordered for yourself. The current cost is $65 –  yikes! But, I could get them and document myself – leaving one less thing for my descendants to worry about. 🙂