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Ancestors not in cenuses

ProfilePosted byOptionsPost Date

Dan

Dan Report 29 Dec 2012 00:37

Hi

Can anyone help? I have found several ancestors in the early to mid 19th century but they do not seem to feature as children in any 19th Century census. Anyone know why not? :-S

GlitterBaby

GlitterBaby Report 29 Dec 2012 00:50

Change of spelling of surname

Mistranscribed

jax

jax Report 29 Dec 2012 00:55

Would you like to give an example of one of these missing people

MargaretM

MargaretM Report 29 Dec 2012 05:47

Children often take a stepfather's name but revert to father's surname at time of marriage.

Penny

Penny Report 29 Dec 2012 06:29

Sometimes its better to enter less specific criteria and get more results and then spot them, than enter lots of info that reduces the potential candidates.

+++DetEcTive+++

+++DetEcTive+++ Report 29 Dec 2012 10:12

Earliest almost complete census on-line was in 1841? Anything before that was very patchy and a head count at best.

ErikaH

ErikaH Report 29 Dec 2012 11:02

Some censuses (notably 1851 and 1861) have pieces which were damaged.

Which site are you using?

What search criteria are you using......are you being flexible?

Inky1

Inky1 Report 29 Dec 2012 14:53

Also 1841. Some sections are missing - ie never microfilmed. This includes part of Kensington, London.

BradM

BradM Report 29 Dec 2012 21:56

Why would they have never been microfilmed?

Inky1

Inky1 Report 3 Feb 2013 10:45

BM,

Because the records went missing before the microfiming was carried out. Best to read the formal statements:-

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/research-guides/census-returns.htm

InspectorGreenPen

InspectorGreenPen Report 3 Feb 2013 17:50

From personal experience I have found that mis-transcriptions are by far the main reason why you can't find what you are looking for.

Always remember that on most genealogy sites ALL the information you enter has to match before a result is returned, so less is often better, as has been said.

If there is a child in the family with a more unusual name, search for that without the surname.

Use wildcards as some names have several spellings. e.g. for Baggott search with bag*ot* so you get Bagot, Baggot, Bagott, For*est* will give you Forest, Forrest, Forester, Forrester, Ann* will give you Ann, Anne, Annie Annette, and so on.

Christine

Christine Report 3 Feb 2013 19:09

I have found, recently, that the person I was searching for was in the army, serving abroad. There can be a gap of 20 years or more between their appearances on the censuses.

Kense

Kense Report 3 Feb 2013 19:09

There are some good tips on Jonesey's thread:
http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/boards/board/genealogy_chat/thread/1262733

ErikaH

ErikaH Report 4 Feb 2013 11:13

Well, Dan was REALLY interested......wasn't he? lol!

Inky1

Inky1 Report 4 Feb 2013 13:34

Now now, Reggie, be charitable..................