Celebrity Census

One of the most fascinating things about the United States or any other Census is that these historical documents contain the names of everyone — famous and imfamous, well known or obscure. Some people had already achieved noteriety when the census enumerator came knocking, others would become known years or even decades later — either because of their own actions of those of their descendants.

The image above is a close-up view taken from the 1880 U.S. Census for the city of Fall River (Bristol County), Massachusetts. The census records Andrew Borden as head of household, his wife Abby, two daughters and a servant. Chances are good that you already know the name of the youngest daughter — it was more than a decade before Lizzie Borden would be accused of a crime that some referred to the crime of the century.

During the past few years, we have gathered a collection of more than 320 celebrity census sheets and will be putting interesting stories about each online in the coming months. As time allows, our volunteers will add to this page each month, beginning in 2007, so check back often. Some of those to be included are:

• Every U.S. President
• Paul Revere
• Lizzie Borden
• Hector Boiardi (Chef Boyardee)
• Prescott Bush
• John F. Kennedy
• Barbara Walters
• Adolphus Busch
• Harry Houdini
• Martin Luther King
• Rosa Parks
• Medgar Evers
• The Ghiardelli Family
• Milton Hershey
• Tooth Fairy
• Easter Bunny
• and many more...

Santa Clause, Chris Kringle, Jack Frost, Frosty Snowman
and Rudolph Render Discovered in Census Records
As we once again head into the holiday season, it seems only fitting that we focus our celebrity census on the names that we so often associate with December, the winter season or the Christmas holiday. Did you ever stop and think about what these people — OK, so some may not really be people — but they must have done something during the summer months! And then there's the problem of what to tell the census enumerator when they came calling.
   » click for full story and sample images

If you have already found a celebrity census, send us an email with the year, state, county, city, and the exact spelling of the individual, as well as their claim to fame. It would be helpful to include the line number they appear on since we will verify every entry before including it on our site.