One additional point is that old census records can be invaluable in tracing family ancestry. Many old census records are now available online through for-profit internet services who took the time to scan them in and index them.
Indeed. I’ve found quite a few ancestor records in the 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930 censuses. And I’ll be ready to comb though the 1940 census when it becomes public in 2012.
The Wolf