Genealogy Chat

Michelle/Martin Sorry didn't read the response from Martin properly - he already mentioned the Library option - I'm having another senior moment, or can we call it "ancestrism"? Jane Leeds

Michelle The Library nearest to where your ancestors came from should have the census records from 1841 thro' to 1891. These are usually on film, you will probably need to book to view - there is no charge to view, however, should you wish to take a print the charge varies from library to library. The library I use charges 50p per print. Might be worth a call to the library - most seem to have family history sections now, and they are usually helpful - hope this is of some use. Jane Leeds

BritishDataArchive appear to be just reselling other people's products but their WWW site does not identify who makes them. You are better checking at http://www.mit.edu/~dfm/genealogy/census-chart.html then at least you can see who is producing each year and get up to date details from their own WWW site. You might also get a better price because many companies give discounts on advance orders. I don't know if the original question was about online sources only. You can of course view all the censuses on film or fiche in libraries or record offices though usually will have to go to one in the appropriate area. Also local LDS Family History Centres can get hold of a film for you. There are a few local census transcripts online so it is always worth a WWW search. You can often buy indexes from the local FHS - sometimes on fiche and sometimes printed. If it is only a small village then it is not that expensive to buy the fiches from the PRO direct. Always worth a search on FreeBMD in case the birth, marriage or death appears there. Otherwise you can search the fiche in many larger libraries etc. Martin

Michelle, Have a look at BritishDataArchive(.)com. They have census cd's from 1841 onwards, including 1871, for each county. Depending on the area you need, prices range from 34.95 to 59.95. However this seems to be an ongoing project and not all counties are yet available. You can usually find their advertisements in the family tree mags. Apart from this, I am not aware of any online resource that you could access. Hope this helps, Lindsay, Bolton.

Michelle She would have had a job having the children after he had deceased - LOL! Sorry, it's that flippin Agnes thingy making me stupid. On a serious note, I don't think the 1871 is available, maybe I'm wrong and someone else will correct me but I've not seen it mentioned anywhere. Try the FreeBMD site (if the right years are there) or the IGI. Good Luck. Lynne

I have a relative who is listed in the 1881 census as a widow. Where can I access the 1871 census to find out about her husband? Am pretty sure he was alive then, as she had children in 1871, 1873 and 1875. The 1861 census may help as she would've been 29 so possibly married, first child was born in 1863. So can some kind soul tell me where I can access either of these two census please?