Census Records
Notes:
1. The state of Tennessee was not created until 1796. In May of 1790 when the first census was taken , the area that became Bedford County was Indian Lands.
2. Bedford County was not created until 1807. At the time of the 1800 census, Bedford County was in what was then Indian Lands.
3. Federal censuses for 1790 for all counties in the area that became Tennessee are LOST for all counties. The 1800 Federal Census for all Tennessee counties was lost. The 1810 Federal Census for all Tennessee counties EXCEPT Rutherford and some of Grainger was lost.
4. The 1820 Federal Census for Bedford County does exist and is the earliest available Federal Census for Bedford County, but the census for all counties of the marshal’s district of East Tennessee were lost.
5. All federal censuses since the 1820 census for Bedford County do exist except for the 1890 Census which was lost.
6. In 1890, a special census of UNION veterans of the Civil War was taken. The Tennessee list survived and have been published as the 1890 Civil War Veterans Census by Sistler and Associates. Remember, this was primarily a listing of UNION veterans. Thus your ancestor may have been alive at that time but may not appear in that census.
For important information about the censuses, please click here.
For those listed in the 1890 Union Veterans Census click here.
For the 1860 census of Rover, click here.
For Doctors listed in the 1880 Bedford Co. TN Census, clck here.
In addition, there is the 1891 enumeration of male inhabitants, of twenty-one years of age and upward as of January 1, 1891 for Bedford County.
There is also a 1900 Federal population census for Bedford County published by the National Archives.
Check library catalogs for availability and possibility of interlibrary loan. Your nearest LDS Family History Center can also assist you in ordering microfilms of soundex indexes and census.
Census records in the USGenWeb Archives
Published ResourcesA listing of the 1837 Tennessee Volunteers and the 1840 and 1880 Census is available for purchase from Mountain Press and from Sistler and Associates.
1820 & 1850 Federal Census Indexes (sorted by name), Bedford County, TN
1940 Census for Bedford County, TN – Glen Reynolds
Kathryn Hopkins reports the following websites that have posted transcribed Bedford County census records for 1820 (including an index) and 1860 (only Rover):
Census Links web site ( http://www.censuslinks.com/ )
ftp://ftp.us-census.org/pub/usgenweb/census/tn/bedford/1820/
USGENWEB projects web site
http://www.us-census.org/states/tennessee/b-tn.htm#Bedford
Census online web site (includes 1860 Rover and 1820 index)
http://www.census-online.com/links/TN/Bedford/
SK Publications has census records for Bedford County.