Genealogy Chat

I feel quite sorry for the enumerators. I imagine them stumblig around in the dark trying to find all the houses. When I was a girl I did a paper round for the local free sheet. It was about six months before I discovered there were actually a couple of caravans at the end of one lane. I think a few people just refused to answer questions. I remember reading of one old biddy being fined for telling the enumerator to guess when asked her age. I expect a few people were with people they shouldn't be. If the enumerator was some local worthy they may not have mentioned that their daughter had her boyfriend staying the night. Anne

Sorry if this a particularly dense question but if a name has been mistranscribed then how do you manage to find who you're looking for? In my defence, I have been up sine 3am & I'm starting to wilt ;-) I know mistranscription happens - I have a rellie's place of birth transcribed as Patters Rae instead of Potters Bar but in that instance, the name was correct. Thanks Geraldine

For all sorts of reasons, but in the end most of them are there - it's just a question of finding them. With my lot it generally comes down to mistranscription - Bellgard for Billyard, that sort of thing. However I thought I would never find my great grandfather and his brother...took me years...I'd have a go, then get frustrated with it and leave it again...then try again. No wonder it took me so long. They were in Leeds instead of Leicester and all down as Chapman, which was the name of their mother's husband. His name was actually Smith, so there you go. Before you ask I'm absolutely sure I have the right family because the boys' names and birthplaces and ages are correct and their cousin was staying with them on census night. Keep looking, keep trying and with any luck someone on here will find your missing people for you. Good luck Sheila

Just adding this so I can find it again-interesting.Tricia

Many thansk again everyone. Chris - I love the 'meat on the bones' too! I've always enjoyed history & love finding out about relatives - not just my own. I love reading the threads to see what other people are finding too. Geraldine (who originates from Portsmouth)

Sometimes you find that they are there and the name is badly spelt Sue

Not so remarkable, changed the name, bad transcription, emigrated? in this day and age it still happens. I know that 2 members of my family did not particpate in the last 2 census. Why - sad efforts on part of the local collecters. Lucky their names are not(supposed to be) saved.

In answer to Geraldine Luckily he had a very unusual name Zachariah Wiltshire/Willsher which although often mistranscribed was fairly easy to trace through parish records and the censuses as he never left the village except for the 1841 (not 1851 as I previously wrote). He didn't come up anywhere using the usual wildcards in the 1841 and then I remembered that in one census he was mistranscribed as Taggariah due to the old way of forming the letters. Tried wildcards and eventually 'Tac' popped up in the prison hulk Leviathan at Portsmouth. That lead me to the NA records for the monthly returns and I ordered a copy through the digital order system (£8.50) but he wasn't on it :( That means he had either arrived after census night or was released before it........Now which month to order next LOL It did however clear up a mystery.... Zach's granddaughter ran away to marry the son of the prominent religious leader in the area and I couldn't work out why that had been neccesaary as the family appeared a god fearing lot until I discovered Zach's dodgy past! I don't suppose the religious elder was too impressed :))))) I do so love having 'meat on the bones'! Chris

I would like to add a new one to the census/transciption debate. I had one lot missing, tried every combination I could think of. I did eventually find them. The whole family had been transcribed with the surname attached to the family above on the census form. So keep searching! Glynis

I found my Grandmother with her Husband and Son using an assumed Surname on the 1901 census, if I hadnt had the Birth Cert of the new baby I would not have searched that address and there they were probably hiding from the Landlord, so sometimes it pays to only search under their first names .

Thanks for your thoughts everyone. I'll keep digging. Geraldine

hi ,i have the same thing, my gt gt grandad looking after 4 of his brothers children so i thought he and his wife must have died, but i have found them liveing in another town ,must have moved for the work, in 1901 all back together,

I have a whole family missing on 1891 and 1901 census. All three children were born in 1887, 1899, and 1891 in the same place. I have there birth certificates and know where they were baptised. I have all their marriage certificates and all their death certificates. People on here have looked for me and they are nowhere to be found. People have suggested they were out of the country but on 1891 two were born just before and one just after the month of the census. They were poor people they wouldn't have been travelling about that much. Missing on two Census' is too much to bear though It anyone is bored during the winter months and fancies a mystery to solve PM me lol Linda

n Caz

To give one example, my Gt Grandad William 'Tippy' Martin is not on the 1901 'cos he was away from home having an affair with a widow woman on the opposite side of town! There must be lots of reasons!

How on earth did you find that out, Chris?

I have one who was present and correct in his small Essex village on censuses except the 1851...... The naughty man was in prison in a different county :) Chris

Depending on his job he might have been at work. I have a family where the father was listed at the hospital where he worked and the rest of the family was at home.

A couple more possibilities for you to consider: 1) He was staying with relatives in another region. 2) He was sick and in the infirmary/workhouse (in which case a lot of them only entered people by their initials on the census entries, so quite hard to find them)

Hundreds of reasons, and if we knew the answers we'd probably be able to become very rich LOLOLOL Seriously, my great grandmother is on every census from her birth the 1881, then on 1901 married to my ggrandfather - have been searching for ages and she completely disappears on the 1891 - will probably never find the answer. good hunting Looby