Using The 1841 Census
The 1841 census isn't the easiest to use as there are many factors you have to take into account. In this article I'm going to explain how you can use the census to best effect.
Firstly, the census forms would have been delivered to each individual dwelling a few days before the census date of the 6 June. They were to be filled out by the household and then collected by the enumerator on the 7 June. In cases where the householder was illiterate, the enumerator would help in the completion of the form. There was one enumerator per district.
Then the enumerator would have filled in a book using these forms. This is what you see when using pictures for the census. The enumerator should have recorded all people over 15 years old to the nearest 5 years, however some didn't. So when searching you should use a wider gap of ages say +/- 5 or 10 years.
Also, in 1841 the place of birth would be asked as 'whether born in the same county' and the response would be 'y' for yes and 'n' for no. There was also a column, which isn't usually filled in, that would be ticked or have an 'fr' is 'whether born in Scotland, Ireland or Foreign Parts', so if they were born in Scotland but were living in England there would be a S in that box. So if you know they were in the county of birth at the time you can put the county. If they weren't put outside census county.
Households are also usually marked by a // by the householder's name.
And of course we have to remember that surnames and sometimes forenames maybe spelt differently to how you would expect. But this is problem that you will probably find on all census' somewhere.
There are many websites that give you access to this census and they all do things differently. FreeCEN, for example will just show you a transcription of the whole household, which could of course contain errors. Ancestry, on the other hand will have a transcription and an image, so you can see if there are any errors in the transcription.
And that rounds of this week's article quite nicely! I hope this may have helped you or interested you and I hope you'll be back for next weeks article.
Published: 29 January 2015
Firstly, the census forms would have been delivered to each individual dwelling a few days before the census date of the 6 June. They were to be filled out by the household and then collected by the enumerator on the 7 June. In cases where the householder was illiterate, the enumerator would help in the completion of the form. There was one enumerator per district.
Then the enumerator would have filled in a book using these forms. This is what you see when using pictures for the census. The enumerator should have recorded all people over 15 years old to the nearest 5 years, however some didn't. So when searching you should use a wider gap of ages say +/- 5 or 10 years.
Also, in 1841 the place of birth would be asked as 'whether born in the same county' and the response would be 'y' for yes and 'n' for no. There was also a column, which isn't usually filled in, that would be ticked or have an 'fr' is 'whether born in Scotland, Ireland or Foreign Parts', so if they were born in Scotland but were living in England there would be a S in that box. So if you know they were in the county of birth at the time you can put the county. If they weren't put outside census county.
Households are also usually marked by a // by the householder's name.
And of course we have to remember that surnames and sometimes forenames maybe spelt differently to how you would expect. But this is problem that you will probably find on all census' somewhere.
There are many websites that give you access to this census and they all do things differently. FreeCEN, for example will just show you a transcription of the whole household, which could of course contain errors. Ancestry, on the other hand will have a transcription and an image, so you can see if there are any errors in the transcription.
And that rounds of this week's article quite nicely! I hope this may have helped you or interested you and I hope you'll be back for next weeks article.
Published: 29 January 2015
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*Note - No copyright infringement was intended. If there is a breach in copyright contact me through the 'Contact' section so it can be removed. All photos are Copyright © 2015 Harry Clarke. All Rights Reserved. The photo on the 'Home' page for this article is courtesy of Terry Partleton.