On 04/06/2013 11:30, roy.stockdill@btinternet.com wrote: > Here's a thought that struck me only yesterday when I was doing some research > in the US censuses..... > > People often complain in this country that the census questions get more and > more intrusive every decade, though whether there will ever be another one > seems to be up in the air at the moment. > > However, I was doing some research in the US censuses in connection with the > latest subject for my Famous family trees blog at Findmypast (a UK celebrity > with an American connection) and looked at the censuses from 1840 to 1940 > online. > > Looking at the census for Brooklyn in 1870, I suddenly noticed that there were > two columns (8 and 9) headed "Value of Real Estate" and "Value of Personal > Estate". The person I was looking at said they had real estate worth 10,000 > dollars and personal estate of 3,000 dollars, which I imagine was quite a lot > in 1870. Whether the question about personal estate related to furniture, > household effects, etc, or actual cash was not clear. Checking further, I > discovered the same questions about real and personal estate values were asked > in 1860 also but in 1850 only the question about real estate value appeared. > > The questions about the value of real and personal estate appear to have > disappeared by the census of 1880 - perhaps too many people objected to being > asked such personal questions. I find it interesting that in America, the land > of liberty and dislike of government interference, such questions could ever > have appeared in a census at all. > > Someone may prove me wrong but I don't recall any UK census asking a question > about property values and certainly not how much money you had in the bank. I > can imagine the outcry if they did! > > -- > Roy Stockdill > Genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer > Famous family trees blog: http://blog.findmypast.co.uk/tag/roy-stockdill/ > > "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, > and that is not being talked about." > OSCAR WILDE > > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to GENBRIT-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > *Not in the 1921 or 1931 **UK**census.* *Example schedules may be viewed here-* *1931* *http://tinyurl.com/ljrhqzx* ** *1921* *http://tinyurl.com/mccfktz* ** *The Online Historical Reports website is a mine of information * http://www.histpop.org/ohpr/servlet/Show?page=Home cheers Guy