Using British Isles Census Records
|This article originally appeared in Finding Answers in British Isles Census Records by Echo King, AG.|
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Missing or Additional Records
- 3 Clerical Errors
- 4
Using British Isles Census Records
|This article originally appeared in Finding Answers in British Isles Census Records by Echo King, AG.|
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Missing or Additional Records
- 3 Clerical Errors
- 4 Geography and Boundaries
- 5 Legibility
- 6 References
- 7 External Links
The census is one of the most used record groups in family history research. Unlike other records that show a single event for two or three certain people at any given time, the census is a picture of the entire population taken at one point in time. This “snapshot” of history is like opening a window into the lives of our ancestors as it shows us where they lived, with whom they associated, and what they were doing with their lives.
From the census, we get a picture of what entire households looked like. In all but the 1841 census, we even get specific relationships. This not only helps us put family groups together, it can also help us place individuals in a certain location at a specific time. The census can also place individuals and families at various locations at times in life prior to the census. For instance, discover where and when an ancestor was born or track a family’s movement by the birthplaces and approximate birth dates of children. Information from the 1841 census can take you back into the late eighteenth century. Census returns include other information, such as language spoken, occupation, or housing situation. Few, if any, other records can provide such a wide range of information. Census records are some of the most detail-rich and interesting records available.
Details in the census may lead you to other record sources beyond the census, including probate records, immigration records, military records, or apprentice records. The second biggest record group used in research in England and Wales is civil registration. Since the census uses the same administrative regions as civil registration, there is a direct link between the two record types. Use the registration district listed on a birth certificate to get started in the census, or use the registration district where you locate an individual in the census as a clue of where to find the correct birth or marriage certificate.
Although the census is a very valuable source, we should not forget that every source has certain flaws. Understanding how the records were created and what problems occurred at that time helps us understand and work around the weak points in the census.
People make mistakes, whether intentional or not. One of the most likely times for errors to occur is when a copy is made. As mentioned in the previous chapter, enumerators made copies of the household schedules they collected. The data that you see when you view a page from the census, whether it is digital, microfilm, microfiche, or even the original paper documents, is already at least one copy away from the information reported by your ancestors. Some of the more common copy errors include people who were skipped or added as well as simple transcription errors.
Missing or Additional Records
One might easily assume that everyone in the country was counted in the census. In reality it would be impossible to find and count every single person. Some individuals were traveling, either out of the country or within the country, and not at an enumerated establishment. Others chose to avoid the census taker for personal reasons. Enumerators simply missed others in the crowded areas of large cities. The following letter to the editor describes a situation where a householder’s schedule was missed:
- Sir, I live in a large house in a broad and very lengthy street in the [South West] district, and in the mansion I and my family and servants inhabit there are five sets of apartments, each occupied by families, numbering several persons, young and old, and their domestics. Observing in The Times of to-day a letter from a gentleman in Peckham that his census paper had not been called for, it occurred to me to inquire about the fate of the similar document, which, fully and carefully filled in according to direction endorsed thereon, I had given to my butler on Monday morning early for the collector or enumerator who was to call for it, and I was informed that no one up to present time had been for it (it is now noon April 3); and I have moreover ascertained that there has not been the least evidence of any inquiry having been addressed to the families who are handier to the Census Office then Peckham, and who have more than 200 ft of frontage in one of the chief streets of western London. I have written to report as requested to the Registrar-General’s Office, Millbank, but to make assurance doubly sure, I also write to The Times.
As many as five families were possibly missed according to this account.
Locating “Missing” Individuals
Sometimes there is an assumption that a family has been missed because they do not appear “in order” on the returns. Before assuming this, examine the facts to make sure you understand how the returns are ordered. Enumerators did not carry the Census Enumerators’ Book with them and they did not always copy the entries into their books in order by address. In some cases, it appears that the enumerator tried to arrange the families in his district so that they fit neatly onto a page rather than keeping them in any certain order. You may need to examine an entire district if families are not listed according to street address.
An enumerator did not always cover both sides of the street. The other side of the street might not be i