CensusTools

Free Genealogy Spreadsheets!

Archive Census, Cemetery and Manifest Data

Welcome to CensusTools!

Background

I have been researching my family history for over 30 years, compiling the usual stacks of records, photos, extracts etc. I have used Family Tree Maker for years and my intention is to eventually publish my family history and archive my complete research on CD for posterity.

To that end I often tried to enter extracted census data into the FTM notes text editor. The results were always abysmal because it was so hard to make column data display properly. So in early 2001 I decided to try to make a spreadsheet that would to the job for me. Soon I had completed my first census spreadsheet.

Huge Response

When I was done I realized that other researchers might benefit from my creation, so I posted an offer at ROOTS-L and a couple of other e-mail lists. The response was overwhelming. Within a week I was e-mailing dozens of spreadsheets every day. Hotmail even suspended my account on a couple of occasions when I hit their unadvertised limits for outgoing mail.

CensusTools is Born

The demand was getting too much for me to handle via e-mail so I created a simple website at Rootsweb. It worked but it wasn't a long-term solution so I bought the censustools.com domain and started my own website. Along the way I created more spreadsheets, offering them all as free downloads.

Today I offer over 40 spreadsheets for census, cemetery and passenger manifest data. All the downloads are free.