1900 US Census Riverside precinct 7,

Riverside, California

My Swedish ancestors settled in California in the late 1800s, which caused me to wonder if they had settled near other Swedish immigrants. Using pages 7a to 9a of the 7th precinct in Riverside, Riverside, California of the 1900 US census, the area that my ancestors lived in. Resulted in 256 entries, included whole families, of which 25 people were born in Sweden with 15 total males and ten were naturalized. Swedish home ownership was reported by 13 individuals, most were heads of household. Home ownership was broken down as follows: eight lived on farms; two owned them free and clear, three had mortgages, and two rented the farm with one unreported ownership. The remaining five Swedes lived in homes, three owned and two rented mortgage status was not recorded. The number of children with parents born in Sweden was 29 total with all but three having both parents from Sweden.

I next wanted to know how many residents were children of both parents born in the United States and how many people were born in California? Of the 256 people 158 had parents born in the US while 86 residents were born in California. Of the 86 born in California only six had parents that were also born in California. The data showed the previous two decades were a time of growth, through migration, for California. The previous chart shows how many were born by region for those in the Riverside, Riverside, California area. As expected the greatest number were born in the southwest region which included California. What surprised me was the number of parents born in Sweden is second to those born in the northeastern region of the United States which included New England and many of the mid-Atlantic states. The following two birthplace percentage charts, first for the person and second parental, provide a clearer representation of the birthplaces of the population. The expectation that the Southwest, which included California, was the place where most births occurred was met. However, the data for parent’s birthplace was unexpected being highest in the Northeastern U.S. and Sweden.

The focus of this study was Swedes in California in the 1900s. The results showed that of the residents in the 1900 US census that lived in Riverside precinct 7, Riverside, California; 10% were born in Sweden and 20% had Swedish roots.  

By using the relational database rather than a spreadsheet I could quickly identify several data points for the 1900 US Census record from Riverside, California to determine how many Swedes, their home ownership, and immigration. This proved that California was an area Swedes immigrated to when they left their home country.