Hope every one is finding success with their various hunts. I thought I would spend the next couple of entries going through the standard sources I use to find and verify ancestors. I generally do not like claiming an ancestor until I have multiple connections. This week, mainly because of some fun I had tracking a great-great Aunt I thought I would touch on the annual census information from Great Britain.
In 1840 there was an Act passed by British Parliament in order to officially take an account of the total number of persons within the Kingdom of Great Britain.
In every census year an enumerator delivered a form to each household in the country for them to complete. The heads of household were instructed to give details of everyone who slept in that dwelling on census night, which was always a Sunday. The forms completed by each household, known as schedules, were collected a few days later by the enumerator. From 1841 to 1901 the information from the schedules was then copied into enumeration books. Once the enumeration books had been completed, most household schedules were destroyed, although there are some rare survivals. It is the enumeration books that we consult today online or on microfilm.
The 1841 census was the first to list the names of every individual, which makes it the earliest useful census for family historians. However, less information was collected in 1841 than in later census years. This first official census listed first name and surname, age (rounded down to nearest five years for those aged 15 or over), sex, occupation. It also included whether the person was born in the county where they were enumerated, this was a simple yes or no so if the answer was no there is no indication of where they might have been born. The other information recorded was whether they were born in Scotland (S), Ireland (I) or Foreign Parts (P).
There was a penalty for anyone refusing to answer, or wilfully giving a false answer to the questions. For every such refusal or wilfully wrong answer the person completing the forms would forfeit a sum not more than five pounds nor less than forty shillings, at the discretion of any Justice of the Peace.
One of the issues that had to be faced was the literacy of the person completing the census or lack thereof. Sometimes the enumerator was the one to complete the schedule based on answers provided.
While there may be earlier records around, most census information prior to 1841 were lost. The dates of the census for each decade were:
6 June 1841
30 March 1851
7 April 1861
2 April 1871
3 April 1881
5 April 1891
31 March 1901
2 April 1911
19 June 1921. Expected to be released by The National Archives in January 2022
Generally, for privacy reasons the census information is not released until 100 years have passed. A slight exception to this was the 29 September 1939 registry but entries have been redacted (blacked out) for potential people still living.
If you are lucky enough to have an ancestor with an unusual name then searching the returns online is fairly straight forward. Such was the case for me. My grandfather X 3 was Gregory Charles Willoughby Smith and he used his full name on every return! Bonus considering how many Smiths there were.
But sometimes it is a challenge. I recently started tracking my Rance ancestors for a book I am writing and have a great great Aunt Emma who seemed to disappear from the census schedules between 1871 and 1881. Now, this could mean she died or went overseas or was not home at the time of the census but she did show up in the 1891 census as living in Yorkshire working as a milliner and shopkeeper. She was single so where was she between 1861 and 1891? Time to play detective.
From an online genealogy site I was able to determine she was living in Flamborough, Yorkshire in 1879 and in 1889 so what about the 1881 census?
You have to keep in mind that some people’s penmanship is dubious at best and if the enumerator was the one completing the schedule then spelling could be an issue. Now add to that the interpretation of the transcriber and the room for error increases. What to do? Start with what you know – in my case I knew Emma Rance was born in 1844 in Ealing, Middlesex. I found out she was in Flamborough, Yorkshire in 1879 and 1889 and living at the same house so it was likely she was there in 1881. Online searches are wonderful. By entering first name Emma, birth year 1844 +/- 2 years and living in Flamborough I found an Emma Rowe living at the correct address, doing the same job, born in Ealing the same year. Looking at the original scan of the return and the writing being what it was but also knowing what I was looking for and the surname Rowe is clearly Rance. 1881 accounted for.
Using the same procedure for 1871 but not putting in the location as I did not know where she may have been, I found an Emma Rand working as a female servant for a Sarah Cook, milliner! Quick check of the form and Rand is a sloppy Rance.
Point of all this is do not give up. You may need to get creative and then find corroborating facts but truth be told, sometimes they just do not want to be found. It does make it exciting when you do find them though.
Happy hunting!
If you have any questions or want someone looked up I would be glad to help as much as I can.
Across the Pond 