1880 Census Notes:

The 1880 Census was the first to show the relationship to head of household
for each family member listed.    And it was also the first to show
the place of birth for each person's parents.

In the summer of 2001, the Mormon Church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints- also known as LDS)
released a project that was nearly 20 years in the making.   Done by volunteers and members of the church, this was a complete transcription of the 1880 census listing every person who appeared on the census.   This new transcription was published on a set of 56 CD Disks and sold for $49 plus shipping of $6.   

With this set of CDs, you could search the whole country - not just by state or county - for your ancestor.    You could search by first name only or by last name only, by giving an approximate age, gender and place of birth.   This meant that odd spellings of a name still allowed you to find the one you sought even when you weren't sure how the name was spelled
by the census taker.    Libraries across the country, along with individual genealogists, purchased
this set of CDs and continue to use it today.

With the growth and popularity of genealogy research on the Internet, the Mormon church soon had this entire transcription uploaded to their webpage.   To search the online database of the 1880 census, you had to enter both a first and last name. But the new online version provided even better access to this transcription of the 1880 census.

 Now the LDS Church has put its entire 1881 Canada and 1881 British Census database online, as well as the 1880 United States transcription at  http://www.familysearch.org/.     

When you access their home page, see the blue "Search" Button to the lower left.   
Just to the right of that you will see "Advanced Search".    Click on that.  
The page that comes up will have a list of items on the left. 

Click on "Census"-  for searching the United States 1880 Census.
 
  In the next screen, be sure to designate whether you are searching in the 
United States, Canada or Britain.  
Follow their directions, enter names (first and last) and other data (if you know it).   
This 1880 census transcription is searchable by the whole country.  
It is not necessary to know the section of the country in order to find someone
on this census transcription.   Notes by Shirley D. Webb

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