The information it gives you for free is very limited, just a person, the place at the time of census, age, and sometimes a profession. Most of the professions are as you might expect- "farmer" "domestic servant" "tin miner" and so on- and some of them are outdated as you might expect e.g. "hawker" "stone cutler" etc.

Occasionally there's one that appears to be improperly transcribed, for example I think "daisy worker" is more likely to be "dairy worker", and sometimes there's one that surprises you, for example someone who shares my surname was an "analytical chemist" in 1911, and in 1901 one of my more forward thinking ancestors was an electrical fitter's apprentice.

Occasionally, though, there are occupations that appear to be clear confusion on the part of the census taker- for example I don't think Alice X was a "farmer's son", although if she was, more power to her. Another person is described as a "planning machine" and one simply as "boy". I also enjoy the distinction of "scholar" and "at school" for some of the children.

My most interesting discovery so far is a female university student in 1911!

It WOULD be super annoying if someone was like "yeah I'm SUPER [whatever]; my family came to the US in 1750!". And if someone off the street anywhere asked me "what" I am, I mean...I'm (US) American? Unless they are specifically asking about my ethnic background? Of course I am American. I was born here, and raised in the culture here.

BUT. SOME of us, even now -- many WAY more recently than me -- have family who just got here. One of my parents was RAISED in part by someone who was from a different country thousands of miles away. My English even NOW has a ton of Dutch and German and Polish words in it, that are beyond the general English lexicon, that my parents and grandparents were raised with. Would you tell my friend who was a DACA kid, but has lived in the USA since she was like 7, that she's not even at ALL Mexican because she lives here now?

That's making me curious about whether they adopted some kids after being unable to have children. But I've never seen any documents or heard stories or rumors about their kids being adopted. (this stuff isn't that distant from me, the Civil War soldier was my great-grandpa's grandfather, and my g. grandpa was still alive until the early 2000s, and he never said anything about his father being adopted)

you learn a lot of interesting things when looking into family history. the most impressive so far is the great-great-grandfather who had FIFTEEN CHILDREN

all we know about her is that she was born “in a town that is now underwater”, mom can only find a death record, her other records could have been destroyed when the town was flooded -- anyway we can’t find anything about where she’s from