Ancestry.com recently indicated that their 1905 Iowa state census database is “updated.” It is difficult to remember what was on the site, so I can’t say if the database is new or not (and even “updates” are not always significant ones).

There is no indiction the database version Ancestry.com has of this record comes from FamilySearch. The “Source Information” credits Ancestry.com operations and indictes the original data is from the State Historical Society of Iowa. It then says that more about the database can be found on FamilySearch.

One can search the FamilySearch 1905 census database for free on their site as “Iowa State Census, 1905.” FamilySearch includes the entire card image, which Ancestry.com does not (only summary information regarding residence [without address], year of birth, place of birth, parents’ places of birth, gender, and marital status are included in the Ancestry.com database). The actual cards are one per individual, but contain more information than Ancestry.com includes in their record entry–if you find someone in the Ancestry.com 1905 census for Iowa, search that database at FamilySearch to view the actual image.

Always check to see if FamilySearch has the same database as Ancestry.com.