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New York City authorities and residents were astonished and indignant. When the census-takers slogged through the dense city in the summer of 1890, they didn't miss a few residents, they missed thousands.

After reviewing the population statistics released by the Census Bureau, New Yorkers concluded that the city had far more residents than the census count of 1.5 million. They decided to take matters into their own hands and conduct a recount.

In late September 1890, a cadre of New York City police officers, handpicked for census-taking duties based on their general intelligence and attention to detail, fanned out across the city, with notebooks in hand, to count the populace again.

In a little more than two weeks, the police officers tallied over 1.7 million residents. The new count gave the local authorities fodder for wrangling with Washington about the population statistics.

But, for genealogists today, the important byproducts of the recount are the nearly 900 notebooks used by the officers to scribble down names, addresses, and ages of New York City residents.

Any time you have a contemporary record that names the who, when, and where regarding our ancestors, it's an important find. Genealogists, though, are downright ravenous when it comes to records from 1890.

Since nearly all of the 1890 federal census was consumed by a 1921 fire and its watery aftermath, family history researchers struggle to locate their kin in that 20-year black hole between 1880 and 1900.

The New York City police census, which included Manhattan and the West Bronx, is just dandy if that's where your ancestors lived. What about the other 59 million inhabitants scattered across the American landscape?

Here are some resources for spotting your ancestors in 1890:

1. The 1890 Census — Population schedules enumerating about 6,000 people still exist. Check those first and see if you can count yourself among the incredibly lucky.

2. The 1890 Special Veterans' Census — During this census year, veterans and their widows were enumerated on a special schedule. Apparently not victim to the same smoky fate as the population schedule, these schedules can help pinpoint your ancestral veterans. Unfortunately, only schedules for states beginning with the letters L-W are known to exist, along with half of Kentucky.

3. The California 1890 Great Register of Voters — California was particularly ambitious about gathering information about its registered voters, requesting information about age, birthplace, occupation, naturalization information and physical characteristics.

Volunteers have compiled data on over 300,000 Californians who were on the voter rolls in 1890. This can help you find your male ancestors only; women still weren't allowed to vote in 1890.

4. State Census Records — Many states conducted their own censuses. Particularly useful are those from 1885 and 1895. Iowa, Colorado, Minnesota, Kansas, New Jersey, Oregon, South Dakota and Wisconsin are a few of the states with census records taken around 1890.

5. General Census Substitutes — Many genealogical societies and others have published books as 1890 census substitutes. Some of the sources used include: tax lists, city directories and voter registrations.

Check the Family History Library catalog to find 1890 census substitutes. You can also review the two volume book by William Dollarhide, "Census Substitutes & State Census Records" familyrootspublishing.com.