This is particularly helpful since census takers often guessed at the spelling of a person's surname. Most census records after 1870 are accompanied by a set of Soundex reels which serve as an index to the census records. The letters a, e, i, o, u, y, h and w are never coded.
Double letters count only once.
Consonants having the same code and which are not separated by a vowel should be coded only once. The Soundex system requires four and only four digits, so drop all remaining codable letters after the fourth one. If, however, you have less than four codable letters left, add zeros to make up. The name is now ready to code. S643 The Perqs Within a code group, heads of households are listed alphabetically by first name.