To begin, you must know a person's name. It is helpful if you know the first name of the head of the house, otherwise it can be a difficult task to find who you are looking for. You need to know what state and sometimes what county the individuals lived in. This will also be helpful in locating them. A specific census must then be chosen to search.
Many different ones are available.
Finding an ancestor as a child with their parents can be thrilling. Remember, the census allows us to see people in the time frame in which they lived. You can find Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes, Gen. George Custer and many others, as children with their parents and as adults. To test your abilities, look up some famous people and see what you find. There were different types of censuses.