Genealogy Chat

Hi, hope someone can help as I'm new to all this. I've downloaded the 1901 census and all seems fine but it's not coming up with any of my family??? I've looked up other people that other people on this board are trying to find and their details have been coming up no problem, but when I enter my great grandparent (we're talking 4 sets here) I get nothing. Beginning to think I'm an alien an our family just appeared. I've got names, places of birth and dates of birth etc but still nothing and I don't understand as I've got it in black and white of my great grandma living with her family on the 1881 census????????????????????/ Please anybody, where am I going wrong? Or just tell me I'm an alien and I'll be fine with that ha ha Thanks to anyone who can shed any light on this Love Liz

What do you mean you have downloaded the 1901 census - do you mean you have looked it up or what? The thing to remember with the 1901 census is that there are numerous spelling/transcription errors - so you need to think creatively with your searching. What names are you looking for - ages and places of birth etc and I'll try for you. Graham

There are a lot of mistakes I found some of my Sunleys under Finley & Simley. Also found an oldfield family under Ocafield. George

You might be better paying to view the original documents. I couldn't find my 2 Grandads, but when I had a look for myself I found them! One had been transcribed as 38 years old. When I looked, it had been written as 8, crossed out and re-written as 3! The other one's mum had been a single parent, but had married before the 1901 census, so I was looking for parents with the wrong surname!. If you do decide to view for yourself, if you use a credit or debit card, put in the maximum ammount as £10. You can then view 7 pages at 75p each and you will only pay £5.25. If you put £5 maximum you will lose money. Must be the Yorkshire in me, I am careful with my money!! Maggy, West Yorkshire

Hi thanks for my replys Graham, George and Maggie. I have downloaded the 1901 census decoder so i can search the census forms if that helps you understand. I'm trying to get as much information as possible on my four sets of great grandparents. Anything you can find would be appreciated from siblings to maiden names. Here goes... Charles Toovey Born Hanbury Worcester in 1827. In 1847 married Elizabeth (surname unknown) Born Droitwich 1827. They had 6 children. Ann (eldest year ?) Jane Born 1859 Willie Born 1862 Thomas Born 1864 Elizabeth (my G Grandma and youngest) Born 1866. Only got names of 5 siblings??? Also Elizabeth Toovey B 1886 married a Alfred William Morgan in approx 1890 and he's not on either ............... Nellie Allen Born Aston, Bradford in 1882 married Harold Holster (sorry no place or date) they had daughter Nellie Holster in 1911 .................. James Harrison born in Lancs? in approx 1850, Wife's name unknown but had 9 children, Bertha, James, Ernest, Annie, Emma, Alice, Alfred Charles, John and finally the youngest my Grandad Walter born in 1905 ................... Alan Huntington born in Doncaster 1885 married Emily Wentworth born in Boston Spa Yorks 1886 ................... I realise that some of these couples by 1901 hadn't married but they're not even showing up as teenagers. So anything anyone can find, even one maiden name or a year, would be greatly greatly appreciated. Alot of names I know but hope you can understand my frustration when not one of them is showing up. Thanks to all in advance Liz

Elizabeth, I have tried to begin looking for some of your family. However a lot of your dates do not correlate. Some were married 4yrs after their birth etc? Some will be difficulr to find married in 1901 as they were probably not married by then. A little more info and I may be able to help. Do you know how to operate the decoder? If not I can send you instruction. John Ferguson

Hi I'm sorry, just re-read my last message and I did put a date in wrong and it does all read a bit confusing. .................... Elizabeth Toovey (my great grandma) was born in 1865/6. She married Alfred William Morgan (from where and born when I'm afraid I don't know) when she was age 25 so I think approx 1890. ............... Her mum and dad (charles & elizabeth) married in 1847 both age 20 and went on to have 6 children but I've only got names for 5 of them. ................... Nellie Allen was born in 1882 (so should be 9yrs on census)and I presume her furture husband Harold Holster was born approx around that time. Their marriage will not be listed but can't find them listed with their parents/siblings etc ...................... Alan Huntington was born in 1885 (so should be 6yrs on census) and his future wife Emily Wentworth born in 1886 (so should be 5yrs on census) Again they won't be listed as married but can't find them as children with their parents/siblings etc. ................... As for James Harrison (born ?)(died 1907) etc, I've only got his youngest sons birth in 1905 (my grandad/not on 1901 census) and it will be just wild guessing on dates for his other 8 children (names listed on previous message) and his wife (possibly called Sarah but don't quote me). But still with guessing I can't find any evidence of them. ..................... Hope I've explained all a bit clearer this time and yes if you can reply with a step by step guide how to use the decoder I would be grateful as I really feel I'm doing something wrong Many thanks Liz

Hello Elizabeth I have found Elizabeth (35) and Alfred Morgan (39), son David (10) on the 1901 census. All were born in Warwick, Birmingham, and lived in 1901 in Aston. Could these be the ones you are looking for? Will have a look for the rest tomorrow if you don't find them before then! Maggy, West Yorkshire

Liz, People seem to put far too much faith in 1881 & 1901 census' to give them their family history! Have looked up just a couple of your names on FreeBMD & come up with:Marriage Mar Qtr 1890 Elizabeth Toovey,Newent (registration district) 6a335. Alfred William Morgan also appears in same quarter with identical reference, so undoubtedly your couple. Searching for Birth indexes I found 4 Elizabeth Tooveys around 1865 - 1 in Hemel Hempstead, 2 in Amersham, & 1 in Droitwich - the latter Dec qtr 1865, Elizabeth Toovey,Droitwich 6c366. I suggest you might like to obtain copies of these certificates (plenty of researchers advertising in genealogical mags @ approx £9 per certificate). Marriage cert will give you, amongst other things, names of each partners father; birth cert in addition name incl. maiden name of mother. Better still, if you're in that part of the country, spend a day at relevant records office & search parish registers - and census records (1841 through 1891) yourself - all records can be photocopied for minimal cost - you'll enjoy doing it & you'll findconsiderably more info for far less cost than on 1901 census.Good luck. Tony

Hi, A lot of people seemed to have helped you so I will leave you to it. Any more help and come back to me. I give the decoder instructions below. It is not quite as good as it was as the Gov. seemed to have blocked a lot of it. It was a way of seeing if the people you suspected were in the same house without having to pay for guesses. It's still a brilliant programme though. Enjoy and good luckk with your searching. John 1901 decoder Its main use is to see if 2 people you look at are in fact living in the same house. It basically saves you money downloading loads of names in the hope you get the right ones early on. 1 Press ……. SHOW BROWSER 2. Use advanced search for the names you want. (Fred Smith) 3. When you have all the ‘Fred Smiths’ you suspect then press PROCESS RESEARCH. 4. Now advance search for ‘Freda Smith’ 5. Now press process research, again for all the pages that appear 6. Do this for all the names you suspect may be your ancestors, children etc 7. When done press SHOW RESULTS 8. Now press GROUP BY 9. Then press PAGE ID 10. This will group people who live in the same house together with a ‘grey’ colouring automatically. You could try this to start with using 1 of my relatives as an example. I wanted to know whether Richard Fletcher was the Richard I was searching for, approx age 30 to 35, in fact he was 33. I knew he had a daughter called Maud, age not known. So put in Richard Fletcher with his approx age. This will produce quite a few, process each page. Then put in Maud Fletcher age 5 with a range of 5. This will produce some, press process research for each page. ( I suggest you ask for 30 names for each page) Now follow the above steps and see what you get. When I found the result, then I paid for the download and discovered his wife’s name and 4 other children. Hope that helps.

AAARRRGGGHHH!!!! How silly of me. Made sure I replied yesterday with the correct dates and then I put in the wrong ages!!! Doh!! Where was my brain yesterday. I should have put Nellie Allen 19yrs not 9yrs. Alan Huntington should have been 16yrs not 6yrs and Emily wentworth should have been 15yrs not 5yrs. But with the brilliant response I've recieved I don't think my silly blunder was a problem. Thanks to everyone, Maggie, Eliz and Alfred had 9 children but I'm afraid a David wasn't one of them but thanks anyway. Tony, the marriage and the last birth you found certainly look like the one and I'm seriously considering sending off for certificates. And finally John, thanks for explaining how to use the decoder, maybe now you can give me step by step instruction of how to add up ha ha. Thanks again to everyone. Liz

Sorry that I couldn't be more help, good luck and keep on trying!! Failing that keep posting your queries on here, as you can see, people will always try to help. Maggy

Elizabeth If you have a credit or debit card, go into the 1837online site and follow the links to order your certificates. They only cost £7 if ordered this way, compared to £8.50 if you order over the phone. Also they seem to arrive a bit quicker, usually 4-6 days.