Analyzing census records before 1850 can be a problem for many genealogists, especially those who have not done much work in these records that list only heads of household. In a four part series on our website, we analyze 1800-1850 census entries for a resident of Bedford County, Pennslyvania, showing how to compare/contrast the entries and reach a reasonable conclusion as to how many children Thomas Chaney likely had.
Also included are the assumptions we made and a discussion of when those assumptions may need to be changed.
The series of articles (and links to the actual census images) can be viewed on our site. And if anyone is related to Thomas, fire off an email to me-he's my 4th great-grandfather.
