Genealogy Chat

Don't worry Ag Labs aplenty in this neck of the woods!

I thought it told you on ancestry the method of enumerating etc?

Yes, if you go on the 1881 which I guess is most relevant? It has this info: You can also download blank census forms and examples of Victorian writing on that page Description: The 1881 British Isles Census was taken on the night of 3 April 1881. The following information was requested: Name of street, avenue road, etc. House number or name Whether or not the house was inhabited Number of rooms occupied if less than five Name of each person that had spent the night in that household Relationship of person enumerated to the head of the family Each person's marital status Age at last birthday (sex is indicated by which column the age is recorded in) Each person's occupation Person's place of birth Whether deaf and dumb, blind, imbecile or idiot, or lunatic. Enumeration forms were distributed to all households a couple of days before census night and the complete forms were collected the next day. All responses were to reflect the individual's status as of 3 April 1881 for all individuals who had spent the night in the house. People who were traveling or living abroad were enumerated at the location where they spent the night on census night. All of the details from the individual forms were later sorted and copied into enumerators' books, which are the records we can view images of today. The original householders schedules from 1841 to 1901 were destroyed. *Note: If you do not initially find the name on the page that you are linked to, try a few pages forward or backward. How the census forms are organized: Census returns were collected according to registration district. These returns were divided into sub-districts and assigned consecutive piece numbers for reference purposes. The piece numbers begin in London with number one and work roughly south to north, followed by the Welsh districts and then the Isle of Man and Channel Islands. You will find the piece number on a paper strip at the bottom of every image, following the PRO class number. There may be hundreds of pieces within a county. In addition to the piece number, each page of the returns includes a folio number and/or a page number. The folio number was stamped onto every other page before microfilming and is located in the upper right hand corner of the image. Folio numbering usually starts over at the beginning of each piece. The page number is part of the printed form and is found on every page in the upper right hand corner. The page numbers start over at the beginning of every enumeration district. A full reference number for a record in the 1881 census includes the PRO class number (RG11), the piece number, the folio number, and the page number. Keep in mind that you may have to look at several enumeration districts to find the page you want within a given folio since the page numbers start over with every ED. Taken from 'Chapter 6: Census Returns,' Ancestral Trails: The Complete Guide to British Genealogy and Family History by Mark D. Herber (Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc, 1998) and Using Census Returns, Pocket Guides to Family History by David Annal (Richmond, Surrey: Public Record Office, 2002). Source Information: 1881 British Isles Census Index provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints © Copyright 1999 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. All use is subject to the limited use license and other terms and conditions applicable to this site. Appreciation is expressed to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for providing the 1881 England and Wales Census Index. Images © Crown copyright. Images reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, London, England. The National Archives give no warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or fitness for the purpose of the information provided. Images may be used only for purposes of research, private study or education. Applications for any other use should be made to The National Archives Image Library, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU, Tel: 020 8392 5225 Fax: 020 8392 5266. Infringement of the above condition may result in legal action.

I recently traced Florence Nightingale back with my kids--they found it quite interesting--mayb you could get the kids to suggest someone in history that was alive during the census years that were available--or maybe even their teachers ancestry!!!

Different censuses have different info on them. The 1891 census shows how many rooms the family lived in. Jethro Dixson in Rotherhithe in 1891 is living with his grownup son and daughter in a single room. Areas change over time. I think it is Moores Square in Portsmouth that is full of sailmakers in 1841 and icecream sellers in 1901.

Hi Natalie, How about taking the class to the nearest/oldest local town/village church graveyard, finding some names of those buried there and then researching their lives and families back through the census years. Or perhaps they could look at any local WW1 memorials and note the names from there for research. They could take photos of the memorials/gravestones to include in their projects. Local street names are sometimes named after local men who died in the wars. There is a new housing development near to where I live which will be naming a street after two brothers named Sneezum who died in the first world war. (Another well known rival house building company recently declined to use the name as they thought it was unsuitable 'this time'.) Hope they have fun! Best Wishes Brenda

It might be interesting to show the comparison between town and country families too. My father's side is based in a mill town in yorkshire and the families werent so large or long lasting and the children were workin in the mills or mines aged 8 and onwards. My mother's side is based in a small village in Somerset - huge families, many of them surviving and the children didnt officially work till their teens - tho often they were kept away from school at harvest times or worked at home making gloves. Families of 10 + often lived in just 4 rooms.

Great suggestion Brenda re taking children out and visiting graves etc. Then perhaps they could pass all the details they've gleaned on to us here, may help our dead persons search some! lol : ) Lyn x

Sorry, I was out yesterday, so I'm a bit late saying thanks to you all for your great ideas. Best wishes Natalie

this all looks so interesting i amgoing to store this for when my grandaughter comes to stay in the summer and we can do some work together. great ideas everyone. love linda x x x

It's also interesting for children to follow the details of one family right through census, from 1841 to 1901, to see how the family grows and what happens to the children as they in turn become parents and grandchildren. I know of a school project which did this and then ended up with a walk round the village, identifying houses (or newer establishments) ending up at the church on a gravestone hunt and being shown the current BMD registers. The children then devised their own current day census forms, filled them in at home, then analysed the answers and wrote a report, which became a sort of time capsule. Jay

My son was doing a similar thing in school and I sent him in with a photograph of his 3xgreat grandparents and the census returns for 1861 - 1901 along with any BMD certificates I had and extracts from trade directories. The class thought it was great as it was about a classmates relatives. They looked at everything in history, wrote stories about it in literacy and copied the pictures in art Sandra