Reprinted from:
Ancestry Daily News, Weekly Digest Version
http://www.ancestry.com/dailynews
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The Census of Great Britain, Part 2: Working with Census Returns
– Sherry Irvine, CGRS, FSA (Scot)
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Editor's Note: This article is the second in a two-part series. Read Part 1.
To make the most of the census of Great Britain, you need to know what
information it contains, how to apply this information, and facts about
access. What follows is a concise guide to essential information (but the
best teacher is practical experience).
Contents
Apart from minor differences in supplementary details, the census returns
for 1851 through 1891 provide the following:
Address or location
Name of each person in the household
Marital status
Sex
Relationship to the head of the household
Age
Occupation
Birthplace
However, the first nominal census (1841) is different and less informative.
Missing from these returns are relationships, accurate ages, and precise
birthplace details. What they record is:
Address or location
Name of each person in the household
Age rounded down to the nearest five years for adults (this confused people
and compounded fibs)
Exact age for children under 15
Occupation
A vague answer to the question "were you born in the county?" which in
England meant noting Y (yes), N (no), S (Scotland), I (Ireland), Pts
(foreign parts)
Several clues distinguish one household from another: hash marks made
by the enumerators (when at the left edge of a name, a double backslash
is a new building and a single one separates family units in the same
building); 1851 and after, a new number in the extreme left column (No. of
Householder's Schedule); 1851 and after, the appearance of the word "Head"
in the Relationship column.
Use Genealogists consult census returns for information about families—family members' relationships, ages and birthplaces in particular. The first census return comes four years after the start of civil registration in England and Wales (1 July 1837) and fourteen years before it starts in Scotland (1855), so it is obvious that census information (in particular, age and birthplace) can facilitate the search for certificates of birth, marriage and death. It follows that the converse is true, and that date and place information on a certificate lead to the census. Going back and forth between these two records—following ancestors through stages of their lives—is standard methodology.
Another obvious use of census returns is as a launch pad into church registers. If the information about age and birthplace has been tracked through two or three census returns and found consistent, then the transfer is that much easier. Where that information is inconsistent (there are examples of individuals giving, in four enumerations, four different places as a birthplace), then maps, gazetteers, and references to lists of parishes may sort it out; or it may be necessary to search in more than one place.
The clue to the place of origin of a family may not come directly from the ancestor and the immediate family. Others resident at the same address but of no recorded relationship—servants and apprentices in particular—may originate from the same region as the family’s previous generation.
Census information offers much more than basic genealogical facts. When the enumeration district is examined and further reference is made to maps, local history books, old photographs, or drawings, a vivid sense of the community and neighborhood can be recreated.
Access
All of the British census books have been microfilmed. Copies are in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and available for loan to family history centersTM. If you are traveling to Britain, county archives and local libraries have collections for their own areas. Each of the three national repositories holds complete collections: the Family Records Centre in London, the National Library of Wales, and the General Register Office for Scotland.
When you know an ancestor lived in a particular parish throughout his or her lifetime, the appropriate film can be found through reference to the Family History Library Catalog under Country>County>Parish>Census, and then it can be ordered on loan. Difficulties arise when this information is not known, when ancestors lived in large cities, or when families moved about. In these instances, indexes may help, addresses might be found in other records, or the search must be expanded in a methodical way.
For the 1851 census, most of England and Wales and a good part of Scotland have been indexed. All of Britain has been indexed for 1881, and this is available on CD-ROM (it can be purchased from the FamilySearch Web site), or it can be viewed in microfiche and computer formats at family history centersTM. To find out whether an index has been issued for your area of interest, use www.genuki.org as the route to local census information (especially to find published indexes issued by the county family history society), or obtain a copy of Marriage and Census Indexes for Family Historians by J.S.W. Gibson and Elizabeth Hampson (published by the Federation of Family History Societies).
For the other censuses, few indexes exist, but projects are ongoing. The 1891 census for Scotland has been indexed by the General Register Office and can be accessed over the Web for a fee through Scots Origins. The best way to check for what has been done in individual counties is to follow the steps outlined in the previous paragraph.
For each census, there are street indexes for cities with populations of more than 40,000. These, too, can be found in family history centersTM and in repositories in Britain. They are helpful when a certificate or directory lists a street address.
Challenge
Common names can be a problem. Selecting the proper connection will require additional information, such as occupation or names of others in the household (preferably someone with an unusual Christian name), as well as a pretty good idea of age and birthplace.
If you have problems with the spelling and pronunciation of a name, you can guess that the enumerators did too, which may mean that a name beginning with one letter is actually written with another. This may have something to do with handwriting or with speech. There are no quick answers for this, just imagination and careful searching, or a handy collateral relation who can be found.
If a place isn't there, the records may indeed be lost, but do not accept this explanation without some research. What sort of a place name is it? It may be too small to be an enumeration district. Perhaps you are using the name of an ecclesiastical parish rather than a civil parish. Reference to maps and gazetteers should sort this out. On the Web, try the alphabetical place name list for England at GENUKI. If you are in the midst of a search in the right area, read the enumerator's descriptions and the returns for the adjacent areas.
In cities, the street index references are an important aid; however, they refer to the piece numbers assigned by the PRO and are sometimes a challenge to match to LDS census film numbers. Map work may help, but there have been many street name changes—London and Glasgow are good examples. A Guide to Glasgow Addresses (S. Miller, Glasgow and West of Scotland FHS, 1993) and the two-volume Index to Abolished London Street Names found at the Family Records Centre in London are two possible routes to a solution.
The wise researcher is always willing to consider that the starting point is a fib, or only partly true. Searching for siblings and other relations is one alternative; another is to extend search boundaries of time and place. Other records, e.g., voter's lists, vital records, church records, or probate records, may add facts to help sort out the problem.
In closing, a comment on what's to come. The 1901 census of England, Wales, and Scotland will become available in 2002. It will be issued in a digitized format. Regular updates on developments can be found online.
Sherry Irvine, CGRS, FSA (Scot) has been researching her British ancestry for thirty years. She founded Interlink Bookshop and Genealogical Services in 1988, and she currently lectures in Canada and the United States and is vice president of the Association of Professional Genealogists. Suggestions for future British genealogy articles can be sent to Sherry Irvine at: sherryirvine55@myfamily.com. Sherry will not be able to send personal replies, but she will feature some questions in upcoming issues of the Ancestry Daily News. She also regrets that she is unable to assist with personal research. Sherry is the author of Your Scottish Ancestry: A Guide for North Americans and Your English Ancestry: A Guide for North Americans.