The U.S. Census, 1850-1870, for Worcester County in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is contained in 24 oversize volumes. The federal government established six schedules of inquiry to be used for census returns in 1850 and 1860 (see contents list). All but Schedule #2 (slave inhabitants) can be found in these volumes. The five schedules are grouped by town or city. The only important changes instituted in the 1860 census returns were in Schedule #1 (free inhabitants), which required that the "profession, occupation or trade of each person, male and female, over 15 years of age" be listed, instead of only males, as was the case in the 1850 census; and that a separate return be made for real and personal estate, instead of just real estate. The census records for 1870 were entered on five remodeled schedules of inquiry (see contents list), while the earlier Schedule #2 was omitted.
