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Noble County Census  
My index records  include all members of the family except in those instances when faded copies made transcription impossible.  Those entries are listed as "illegible".  Census takers didn’t always use the same spelling as families intended.  As a research aid, spellings used by today's families were used wherever they could be identified, causing a difference from the actual written record. Italics denote the change.  Some of the handwriting may have been misinterpreted; and corrections to misinterpretations are welcomed.

Federal Census
The first federal census was in 1790; however, Noble County, Indiana wasn't organized until 1836, making its first census in 1840.  This census included names of heads of households and number, age and sex of occupants.  In 1850 and 1860 all family members were listed, in addition to age, sex, color, occupation of each male over fifteen, place of birth, and special conditions, such as deafness, etc.  Additional information was included in each succeeding census; however, most of the 1890 census was destroyed by fire.  The most recent, 1930, was made available to the public in 2002.

Many libraries maintain copies of local county census records on microfilm.  The genealogical library in Fort Wayne, Indiana, has all census records for the United States, as well as some for Canada, in their repository.  There are online commercial genealogical sites who provide census records for viewing by their members.  Volunteers who will research census records are:

Commercially prepared indexes quite often include misspelled names because of difficulty in transcription of poor handwriting of unfamiliar names.  An example:  John Bender was listed as John Dender, leaving that family to never be found under "Bender".  Therefore, the name you are searching may be included in the census even though it does not appear in an index.

Soundex System
The Soundex indexing system was used in 1880 for households with a child age 10 or under and in 1900 and subsequent years in a few other state census records.  It is basically simple despite its complicated appearance.  The surname is indexed by using the initial letter; the letter is followed by three numerical digits based on the consonants that follow the surname initial.  Consonants that sound somewhat alike are drawn together under one numeric code.  Example: The letters b, p, f and v may sound alike or be confused by the hearer and they are given the same number in the Soundex system.  Vowels plus y, w and h are not coded.  The codes are as follows:

Zeros are added when this is no code number.  A name such as Lee would be coded L000.  Key letters or equivalents appearing together without separating vowels or noncoded letters are coded as one digit.  A name such as Barrett would be B630.  This index is helpful when the place of residence is unknown.

Enumeration of Male Inhabitants over the age of 21 - Swan Township, Noble County - 1901

Links to Other Sites 
 1850 Noble County Census transcription by Judy Newland
         Perry Township - Pages 186A through 196B
        Perry, York and Elkhart Townships - Pages 197A through 210B
        Elkhart, Sparta and Washington Townships - Pages 211A through 224A
        Washington and Noble Townships - Pages 224B through 236B
        Noble, Green and Jefferson Townships - Pages 237A through 251A
        Jefferson, Orange and Wayne Townships - Pages 251B through 266A
        Wayne and Swan Townships - Pages 266B through 279A
        Swan and Allen Townships - Pages 279B through 292A             

         Indiana Census Records - Census Online

         1860 United States Census - by Familysearch

         1870 United States Census - by Familysearch

         1880 United States, 1881 British, and the 1881Canadian Census Online - by Familysearch

         1900 United States Census - by Familysearch

Noble Notes: A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.- Greek proverb