I've found circumstances that make the date of the enumerator visit more important than the official date; an example from my notes:
"Sarah Elizabeth was counted twice in 1870: once at her grandparents' (Robert & Sarah Milling) house and again at home. Based on Eliza, age 12, at that house on 25 June (DALLAS > PLANTERSVILLE PCT Series: M593 Roll: 14 Page: 555) and Eliza, age 12, at the home of Mary Milling {her mother} on 15 June (DALLAS > WOODLAWN PCT Series: M593 Roll: 14 Page: 798)." If you don't know that Robert & Sarah had two daughters-in-law named Mary and that each had a daughter who was called "Eliza" (about 2 years difference in their ages), you might not place which "Eliza" was counted twice. The other "Eliza" was counted at home with her mother (living next door to Robert & Sarah) on 25 June. Typical of genealogy research - something that took hours to determine can be typed in less than a minute ;-) John > Just completed the "Events & Chronologies" (V.1,#5) Training CD and > came across an interesting question. When recording the DATE of the > Federal census (USA) - should you put the date the enumerator visited > the house? _or_ should you use the record the "Official" Date - > since every form states that is what should be recorded? Official > Dates are: > Thnaks > Keith Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup@legacyfamilytree.com/ Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp