Cynthia Cocker wrote: > > Does anyone have the 1890 and 1900 Mason County census records? Sorry, Cynthia--the 1890 census does not exist. It was destroyed by fire on 10 Jan 1921, in the basement of the Commerce Building. A total of 8,919 volumes were destroyed by fire, smoke and water damage, of which 7,957 were from the 1910 census. The census schedules of 1790-1820 and 1850-1870 were stored on the fifth floor of the Commerce Building, and were spared. Included in the damaged volumes were schedules from 1830, 1840, 1880, 1900 and 1910. Beyond-salvage fragments of the 1890 census were finally destroyed in 1935. In 1942, the National Archives acquired a damaged bundle of surviving Illinois schedules as part of a shipment of records found during a Census Bureau move. At the time, they were believed to be the only surviving fragments. In 1953, the Archives accessioned an additional set of fragments, from Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas and the District of Columbia. They have been microfilmed as National Archives Microfilm Publication M407 (3 rolls). A corresponding index of 6,160 names is available as National Archives Microfilm Publication M496 (2 rolls). Both can be viewed at NARA, the regional archives, and several other repositories. Julie, endlessly sorting out dead relatives.....