Census records on various research sites

[Lornagh]

Apologies if this is the wrong place to post this.

I am building my tree in Ancestry but for some reason I am finding 1800's census records that I need on FMP yet I can't find them on Ancestry, does anyone else have this problem? Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance, Lornagh

[Megan Roberts]

There undoubtedly some records that one site has that the other one doesn't, and that I have to assume is because they made mistakes when copying or in indexing them.

The way I can tell is to search using the references - Piece No / Page No /Folio No (both the 1841 and 1911 censuses have slight differences in their referencing structure). These references come from the census itself rather than the site allocating them.

However another category of difference which is much more common - namely straightforward transcription differences, or as we refer to them errors! Sometimes handwriting is difficult to read and this can lead to genuinely different interpretations, but quite often some of the transcriptions are just simply wrong.

The way to try to overcome this is if you can't find an exact match set the search parameters to variations of the names, and if that does not work try wildcard searching.

[stepives]

I have had problems with census returns on Ancestry, and the reason was they had missed out quite a few pages, while transcribing them. They were then found on FMP.
Also, transcription errors with names and pob's.

[Peter Goodey]

I am building my tree in Ancestry

You would be best off keeping your records on your own software on your own PC. The correct citation for a census record should be the standard National Archives reference. This is the same whether you found it on FMP or Ancestry or on a roll of microfilm.

An example of the short form of a National Archives reference RG11/1234 f 56 p 12

RG11 is the series
1234 is the piece number (a piece is a chunk of records of arbitrary size)
56 is the folio number (this is important)
12 is the page number (this is less important because it only specifies which side of the sheet the record is on - some people use recto and verso which works just as well)

For the 1841 census you need to include the book number (eg HO105/1234/5 where 5 is the book number. This is because the numbering system was different from later years)

This applies to the 1841 to 1901 censuses.

[emmteeyess]

There undoubtedly some records that one site has that the other one doesn't, and that I have to assume is because they made mistakes when copying or in indexing them.
.......
However another category of difference which is much more common - namely straightforward transcription differences, or as we refer to them errors! Sometimes handwriting is difficult to read and this can lead to genuinely different interpretations, but quite often some of the transcriptions are just simply wrong.

I would normally just use transcriptions as an indexing/finding aid and always try to view the original source census or parish register - if possible. This is a reason for cross checking and searching on different sites as not only may they have different sets of records, but the records may be transcribed differently (as discussed above)

Yes, there are occasions where names are misread or miscopied into transcriptions, but I've then also seen versions where the original handwriting is clear and the transcription is correct to that - but this is still the 'wrong' spelling of (say) a surname. eg STOKOE to STOKER. Presumably from accented pronunciation, and illiteracy.

If you don't find an expected record there's always the option to search for known variations and 'guesses', and again on the more sites the better

An additional benefit to viewing an original page - again census or parish register - is to scan up and down the page, and even a couple of pages each side to look for other family members living in adjacent properties. I've also looked at a baptism record found from an index, then found her elder sister that I wasn't aware of as the next baptism on the same page.

Sadly this genealogy stuff is never going to be an exact science, you've just got to work with the best information to hand, then doublecheck it!

Cheers, MTS

[DorothySandra]

I found Genes Reunited the best site for checking census records: they are as vulnerable to transcriber error as anyone, but you can easily access the actual sheets, and search them. I was able to search the whole census for the village where my great, great grandmother was born, and found all her family, including a few previously "missing".

This was right at the beginning of my research, and I was thrilled.