Are you struggling with early U.S. census records? If you’ve ever researched ancestors in pre-1850 U.S. censuses—or pre-1870 for formerly enslaved ancestors—you know the frustration. These early records list only heads of households, leaving the rest of the family unnamed. I call these censuses PIPs (Partially Identified People). Tracking your ancestors across the PIP census decades can feel impossible.
PIPs
The PASSED Method: The Systematic Conquest of PIP Censuses
I felt reasonably smart as I began my genealogy education. Not MENSA smart, mind you, but at least a bit above average. My ego took a bashing though, when I first hit the infamous roadblock—the PIP censuses (often inappropriately labeled “pre-1850”) that only name the head of household with a string of tally numbers. It mystified me that anyone found them useful. An old spreadsheet had bested me until the PASSED Method emerged, made viable by an alignment tool I call the 90-60 Census Workbook.