In the United States,  census records are our main source of information.
Because the United States is a relatively young country, most states did not
require registration of Vital Record until much later than Great Brittian, and 
most other European countries.  Because of this we rely heavily upon the existing
enumeration schedules from census records.

Unfortunately, this information is not complete, because people were missed, and records
have been destroyed.  Also, many times information given to the enumerators was inaccurate.
Many times ages and name spellings are in error.  

The majority census records exist from 1790 to present, with the exception of the 1890 census,
of which only twelve rolls survive.

Also lacking, are records from Virginia (missing 1790, most of 1800), 
Tennesse(missing 1800, and most of 1810,) and Georgia
(missing 1790, 1800, and 1810, for most counties.) 

Many county rolls for other states also do not survive to present day.

Census information was not always very accurate, but not just because of incorrect
information.

The earlies census records are not very detailed. They just give the name of the 
head of household, and a general break down of the ages of individuals living 
in the household.

Check soon for a guide to information given on the census for each year.
 

I plan to include census records and index of census reords for POPE 
on this site.  

I would like to eventually have as many transcriptions of original records
as possible.

If anyone has census information, or would like to volunteer to copy a 
county(or state, for those that are really ambitious,) for a certain year, 
or years, please let me know, and send it on in.

The more submissions I recieve, the better this site will be.  

 jdhaydon@aol.com