All heads of household and people in the household with different surnames are indexed. We encountered the usual problems which make indexing difficult—the enumerators’ handwriting, the enumerators’ spelling, and the quality of the microfilm. Always check alternate spellings, especially phonetic ones. Sometimes a duplicate entry was made for the same person. These entries, in italics, are alternate spellings or known corrections. This was not done for every questionable entry, but when the words would not alphabetize closely together. Question marks have been used for unreadable letters and to indicate that an interpretation is questionable.

 

Searching and Viewing with Adobe Acrobat Reader:

The index for each year is an Adobe Acrobat (pdf) file. You can download the free Reader here. Using the find function, enter the name in the search box (“last name” “first name” -- for example, naugle martha). It is also advisable to browse the pages. Use the scroll bar to move quickly to the desired part of the alphabet.

 

Race and Nationality Codes:

 1885 & 1895 W=White, C=Colored, For.=Foreign Bor

1905 & 1915 W=White, C or B=Black, Ch or Chin=Chinese, Jap or Jp=Japanese

 

Information in each census:

1885 and 1895: Name of every person, Sex, Race, whether Native or Foreign-Born (German, Irish, or Other),Age    Category

1905 and 1915: Name of every person, race, sex, month and year of birth, age, marital status, birthplace (state or country) of individual and parents, number of years in U.S., citizenship status, occupation, whether literate or fluent in English and whether home is owned or rented. Sometimes streets and house numbers are recorded.

 

Viewing the census:

The index should not be used as a substitute for viewing the actual enumeration sheet. To find the proper page requires year of census, roll number, civil unit, enumeration district (if given), and page number. The State Censuses for Bergen County are available on microfilm at Ridgewood Public Library, Morristown and Morris Township Library, New Jersey State Library, and the New Jersey State Archives.

They are also available from Family History Centers located throughout the world. Search the library catalog of the Family History Library by film number to view the specific towns on each reel.

1885 FHL US/CAN Film 865500
1895 FHL US/CAN Films 888645-888646
1905 FHL US/CAN Films 1688588-1688589
1915 FHL US/CAN Films 1465503-1465507

 

Townships and boroughs are arranged on the microfilm in alphabetic order by the name of the town (ignoring “Borough of” etc.) It is important to note the following cases of finding towns where you would not expect them:

1895

Midland Park Borough (found under Franklin Township, Borough of Midland Park)
Glen Rock Borough (found under Ridgewood Township, Borough of Glen Rock)
Saddle River Borough (found after Orvil Twsp, Borough of Allendale)
Allendale (found under Orvil Twsp., Borough of Allendale)

1905

Orvil Borough found under Orvil Township, Orvil Borough

1915

Orvil Township and Village of Ridgewood (film is in reverse alphabetic order)