| A Little History |
| The first census of the United States was conducted in 1790 and had an official enumeration date of August 2, 1790. The area now called Indiana was then a part of the Northwest Territory, which also contained what are now Michigan and Illinois. The Northwest Territory was not included in the 1790 census. |
| On July 4, 1800 the Indiana Territory was established and was included in the 1800 census taken officially on August 4, 1800. Three Indiana counties were formed before 1808: Knox County in 1790, Clark County in 1801 and Dearborn County in 1803. Dearborn included an area from Fort Recovery, Ohio, Southwest to Madison, Indiana. All or part of today's Franklin, Union, Fayette, Wayne, Dearborn, Rush, Ohio and Switzerland counties were in Dearborn County in 1803. |
| The 1810 census was taken officially on August 6, 1810 and included the Indiana Territory, but the 1800 and 1810 schedules have been lost or destroyed. Luckily for us, the General Assembly of the Indiana Territory had ordered a census of free males 21 years of age and older to be taken in 1806-7 so they could ensure equal representation, and this enumeration does survive. It is presented below. |
| On February 1, 1811, Franklin County was formed from parts of Dearborn and Clark counties. It was Indiana's 6th county. Then in 1816, Indiana became the nineteenth state admitted into the Union and was included in the fourth US census, with the official numeration date of August 7, 1820. |
| Censuses available to the public for Franklin County are for the years 1820 through 1940, with the exception of the 1890 census which was destroyed in a warehouse fire. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, census records remain confidential for seventy-two years, making the 1940 census newly available to the public in 2012. The 1950 census will not become available until 2022. |
| Census Records on this Site (For individual township tax lists, see Township Records.) |
|
| 1807 Indiana Territory Census Name Index | |
| 1812 Franklin County Sheriff's Sale | "A true copy from the original March the 14 1812. I do certify that the within described lands was offered for sale as the law directs on Monday the 2d day of March 1812 for the taxes due theron but for want of bidders -------------together with seven dollars for advertising six times in the publick papers. March the 13th 1812"...Robert Hanna, sheriff of Franklin County. |
| 1813 Franklin County Tax List | |
| 1820 Franklin County Census Name Index | NOTE: These census index files were transcribed by several different contributors (THANKS!) and contain some variations in content. Most contain only name and census page number. The 1850 census was the first to include names of other household members besides Head of Household, but our transcriptions are HOH only. |
| 1830 Franklin County Census Name Index | |
| 1840 Franklin County Census Name Index | |
| 1850 Franklin County Census Head of Household Index | |
| 1860 Franklin County Census Head of Household Index | |
| 1870 Franklin County Census Head of Household Index | |
| 1880 Franklin County Census Every Name Index | |
USGenWeb Notice: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format for profit or other presentation without permission of the author. This notice must be included on any reproduction.