| By constitutional requirement, the Federal Government of the United States conducts an enumeration of the nation every ten years. Since the first census in 1790, the returns from these censuses have become an invaluable source of information for genalogists. This collection of census records contains a vast amount of information on millions of Americans. It was not until 1850 that the Federal Census began listing every person by name; before that time only Heads of Household were listed by name. |