Family Tutor: Soundex Card

1.	Soundex code
2.	State
3.	Name of head of household
4.	Volume and Enumeration District
5.	Sheet and line number
6.	Color
7.	Age
8.	Birthplace
9.	Citizenship status
10.	County and State
11.	Street
12.	House number
13.	Name of others in household
14.	Relationship to head of household
15.	Age
16.	Birthplace
17.	Citizenship status of others in household

Soundex Card
1920 Census

Soundex Card

The 1880, 1900, 1910, and 1920 census schedules have been indexed using a soundex system.

A soundex is a phonetic index in which last names are grouped by how they sound rather than the way they are spelled. For example, Smit, Smith, Smyth, and Smythe share a common sound.

Soundex cards are arranged by soundex code and then alphabetically by given names.

The soundex coding system is easy to use:
1 = b,p,f,v
2 = c,s,k,g,j,q,x,z
3 = d,t
4 = l
5 = m,n
6 = r

Coding rules:

The letters a,e,i,o,u,y,w, and h are not coded.
The first letter of a surname is not coded.
Every soundex number must be a three-digit code.
Double consonants should be treated as one letter.
Names with two consecutive consonants that share the same code number shold be treated as one.

Instructions:

Write down the surname to be coded.
Re-write the surname leaving out all vowels (except when the firsletter of the surname is a vowel) and the letters h, w, and y.
Write down the first letter and the next three consonants of the letters remaining.
Write the first letter of the four remaining consonants, followed by the code number of thre three letters remaining.

Examples:

Typical coding
Stoltenberg
S-T-L-T-N-B-G
S-T-L-T
S343

If less than three letters remain, enter the number "0" to make a three digit number after the initial letter.
Ott
O-T-T
O-T-T
O300

When the first letter of the surname is a vowel, it becomes the soundex code.
Applebaum
A-P-P-L-B-M
A-P-L-B
A141

Double consonants appearing together should be treated as one letter.
Lloyd
L-L-D
L400

Satterfield
S-T-T-R-F-L-D
S-T-R-F
S361

Names with two consecutive consonants that share the same code number should be treated as one letter.
Mickelson
M-C-K-L-S-N
M-CK-L-S
S242

For an in-depth discussion of how to use a census soundex see Loretto Dennis Szucs' "Research in Census Records" in The Source: a Guidebook of American Genealogy. Loretto Dennis Szucs and Sandra Hargreaves Luebking, eds., Rev. ed. Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1997: 103-148.