Nevada posts census records online

LAS VEGAS -- Looking for an ancestor, or maybe researching the history of Goldfield?

Now your job is easier thanks to the state's Cultural Affairs Department, which has made Nevada's oldest census records available to anyone with a computer and Internet access.

"This database is extremely important for researchers, genealogists and anyone interested in the history of the West," said Ron James, state historic preservation director.

Records include details of the estimated 310,000 people who lived in Nevada from 1860 to 1920 -- everything from names and ages to occupations and birthplaces.

The only data missing are from the 1890 census. That year's information was destroyed in a warehouse fire, James said.

Besides facts and figures, the information provides a glimpse of what life was like in Nevada more than 100 years ago, when miners were more common than doctors. The data shows an influx of Chinese immigrants, including 20 who worked at a Storey County laundry. The database even has categories where people could indicate they suffered from such ailments as "idiotic" or "insane."

"There is a tremendous potential for developing community histories, profiles of houses and treatment of all sorts of aspects of our past," James said.

The historic preservation office worked with Ken Fleiss, an associate professor of anthropology at University of Nevada, Reno, for about 10 years to compile the data and enter it into a computer. The Legislature helped fund the project.

Officials with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members often conduct genealogical research as part of their religious rites, praised the new database.

"We're very, very pleased with all of the records that are available through the census or otherwise that allow people to do their genealogical research," said Ashley Hall, director of public affairs for the Mormon Church. "For LDS people it's very important."

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On the Net:

State Historic Preservation Office, http://dmla.clan.lib.nv.us/docs/shpo/NVCENSUS/