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Researching the National Archives’ vast collections of materials, such as - Censuses, Ship Passenger Lists, Military Records, Military Pension files, Muster Rolls for Civil War Soldiers, Ship Passenger Lists, Enlistment Registers, Census Records of families, etc. are available at the National or Regional Archives nearest you

This is provided as a guide for searching available Federal Census Records, note many States (not all) also had a "Midterm Census) e.g. 1885, 1895 etc.

1790-1840 has only Head of Household name - all others enumerated by gender & age

1850-1860 has name, age, sex, occupation, birthplace, for each free person in household

1870 has name, age, sex, occupation, birthplace, whether parents foreign born for each person in household

1880 has name, sex, age, relation to Head of Household, marital status, occupation, birthplace, father place of birth, mother place of birth for each person in household

1890 No Census available; a fire in 1921 burned all but 6,200 records (Alphabetized on microfilmed index cards) Note: New York City had a 1890 Police Census that is available on microfilm. This Census is listed by address not by name. You must have the address first to find the record.

1900 has name, relation to Head of Household, sex, month/year of birth, age, marital status, number of years married, number of children, place of birth, place of birth of mother/father, year of immigration to U.S., naturalization, occupation, education for each person in household

Available Soundex

1910 has name, relation to Head of Household, sex, age, marital status, number of years married, number of children, place of birth, place of birth of mother/father, year of immigration to U.S., naturalization, native language, occupation, education, home ownership for each person in household

Note: Census Year 1910 - Soundex available only for the following states: AL, AR, CA, FL, GA, IL, KS, KY, LA, MI, MS, MO, NC, OH, OK, PA, SC, TN, TX, VA, WV

1920 has name, relation to Head of Household, sex, age, marital status, year of immigration to U.S., naturalization and year, education, place of birth and native language of this person, the father of this person and mother of this person, ability to speak English, occupation each person in household. Available Soundex

1930 census will not be available until 2003 from the information I have received

Census Records are available at most Major Libraries if you lived in the State you are searching, on occasion you can find surrounding States records also available. For out of the area census you can find them (You may need to order them in advance at a minimum fee) at you local Family History Center, Church of the Latter Day Saints, the number is available in your phone book

Vary by State and location

This is a good site for information on Naturalization Records.

http://www.nara.gov/genealogy/natural.html

Passenger Lists: There are perhaps hundred of thousands of ships that had arrived 1700-1900 searching is a difficult and time consuming task

A good place to located passenger Information are for Naturalization Records. Some Naturalization Papers will list the Date and Ship and Port of Arrival

Researching to locate a family member's Will, Birth Certificates, Marriage Licenses, Death Records, Deeds of Property, etc., the answers to these questions lie at the state, county, or local level

For Marriage Certificates and the information contained therein, write to the County Government as many counties have Marriage Certificates as far back as when the counties were formed.

For Deeds and Wills, try the appropriate county courthouse as it may have records of deeds or wills

For Birth and Death Records, the States did not maintain birth and death records until at least around 1890 (when it became a requirement). Church records usually have them before that time.

Newspaper Archives: This is a good place to look where available if you have a date of death. Often you will find more information than you will on the death record. Death records and in some areas Obituary Information if available. This is where you will find Place of Internment, Relatives and address of the deceased.

City Directories: Many Cities have Directories available (similar to our phone books) for early years. Generally persons listed in these Directories are 18 years of age or older.

Social Security Death Index: This started in 1937 so generally speaking persons who were working or joining the work force after this date will be listed. Caution that all persons listed are not necessarily dead, some persons are simply receiving a benefit. By the same token not all persons are listed, some did not either live long enough or had no claim to collect a benefit. Available on the Magner Clan Page

Cemetery Records: In most case you will need to know the date of death to obtain these records directly from the cemetery. Often the cemeteries are very large and the personnel do not have the time to drop everything and look up records for you that may span many possible years. Do you home work from other sources than request a look up. Often cemeteries will charge a look up fee that varies by location. Some cemeteries will furnish a five-year each way look up and again there is usual a fee involved. Some cemeteries provide look-ups free if you have the date.

Researching in Ireland in my opinion should only be started when the exact location is known along with a ton of additional confirmed information. Records are sometimes available but difficult to access, dates often vary as does accuracy. There are various reasons for the in-accuracy of Irish records which I will not go into here My personal experience has steered me away from paid searchers by Public and or Private research abroad.

Griffith’s Index is available on the Magner clan Page

This in my opinion has opened the Genealogy Market 1,000 fold in recent years. It is a boon business. There are countless sources of free information available what is required is for you to learn how to search. Beware also there are also many scams out there

This is a touchy area at best. Often the Immigrant did not know how to spell or speak the English language, again at times the Purser or Census taker lacked the skills required for penmanship or word association. I have looked at some that the penmanship was so fancy and defined I had a difficult time reading it. [I have also found areas of records that I would have choked the writer in despair.] Check for various spelling combinations or ‘Close" spelling. Magner, Magnier, Magnor, Magna, Magnus etc. Many names have been permanently changed due "the spelling at the Dock"

Magner Soundex M256