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Just how were the Censuses compiled, in particular that of 1881?
The reason I ask is because an entry which I had previously viewed and rejected, on closer scrutiny appears to be 100% relevant! The relatives were William Wood and William F Wood (father and son), the son, my grandfather, being 8 years old in 1881. William F's mother died when he was 6 so I expected Wm senior to appear as "widower". The entry shows Ada E Wood as wife and William F Wood as 8mo, which I read as 8 months.
Did the same enumerators copy the details from each household they visited onto the census sheet themselves or was it done centrally by another person? In which case perhaps a smudge could have been mistaken for "mo".
The real surprise was the "new" wife as grandad never mentioned having a stepmother.
The page details are :- RG 11 0558/49 page2.
Thanks in advance.
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About 1881 England Census
This database is an index to individuals enumerated in the 1881 Census for England. The census contains detailed information on each individual who spent the night in each household including name, relationship to the head of the family, marital status, age at last birthday, gender, occupation, and birthplace. Additional information about the dwelling and property was collected. Each name in this index is linked to actual images of the 1881 England Census.
For more information about this database, click here.
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.
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I always think its wonderful how accurate the census images are considering the possibility of mistakes and the fact they didnt know back then we would all be scrutinising the work.
You have been given the very detailed info above. The fact is, anyone could have completed the form, the family, one of the kids, the landlord or the enumerator would have done it for them - did he hear correctly, did he write it down correctly - then the images we see are a copy of those first papers - not the originals - the paperwork was copied out again for statistical purposes - you know you see dashes or bits written over the top of occupations? thats done to categorise industries etc.
AND add on top of that someone tired and possibly very bored, working by candle light or gas light copying out all those details. I have sometimes found a completely wrong first name - if its unusual - look up or down a few lines and you may find someone with it. The eye has wandered - human error.
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As far as I know the enumerators filled in the census forms from the forms. In many case they would have filled in the forms too, if there was no one in the houshold who could read and wrtite.
I suspect that some enumerators got a member of the family to do the actual scribing. I have seen many that appear to have been written in perfect but slightly childish writing, so guess this migh have been done by a daughter who had learded to write.
Once complete, the forms were checked by a sort of overseer, who was responsible for ensureing that the work completed by the enumerators was consistent and to a satisfactory stanard. He would also have completed the summaries and statistical data which appears at the front of each sub-district. At this stage, ticks and other marks appeared on the returns, often partially obliterating the original information.
In Stuarts example (enter 558 for the piece no, it doesn't work if you include the 0) the entry clearly shows as 8 mo. There could be many reasons for this, a simple mistrancription, perhaps or perhaps if it was the wife who had dealt with the enumerator, as she was only 20 at the time, perhaps he made an assumption that the child was 8 months, not 8 years, not realizing she wasn't the mother.
Stuart, presumably you have the birth certificate and have seen entries on later censuses to confirm the correct birth date?
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This seems to be William's second marriage:-
Marriages Sep 1880
Childs Ada Emma St Saviour 1d 248
Spouse William Wood.
It seems that Kate Childs, visitor on the census is a relative - perhaps Ada's sister.
Kath. x
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Many thanks to you all for responding.
Having initially rejected the census entry as showing the "wrong" wife and incorrect childs's age I have now concluded that the 8mo should have read just "8" i.e. 8 years. William Frances Wood died in 1950 aged 77. His birth cert. is dated 22/7/1873. Recorded as 28 in 1901 and 38 in 1911. Sadly he and his younger brother and sister became motherless 28/9/1878. And yes, William snr. did re-marry 5/7/1880. Kate Childs was I think a cousin of Ada Emma. By the way, I have tracked down his siblings - on 1881 census night they were visiting other relatives so that's why they're not "at home".
Another sad fact was that William Wood snr. died 4/1/1882 thus leaving the three Wood children with a step-mother. I've just discovered that Ada Emma Wood re-married 30/12/1882. That could well explain why grandad made no mention of his step-mother, it must have been a very sad time of his young life.
I too have found the census information can generally be relied upon and given the enormity of the task it's to be expected that a few errors will come to light, such as in my example.
It's good to hear from the more experienced folks- your helpful comments have reassured me that I am on the right lines and am not going completely potty!
Thanks again,
Stuart.
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Stuart
It may well have been a difficult time for him, but also maybe children back then accepted death at a young age more easily than we do now. If the step-mother (and later a step-father) were good people, he perhaps came to regard them as his parents. My great-grandmother died in childbirth, great-grandfather remarried, and although my grandmother was about 14 when her mother died, she always spoke of the step-mother as "mam" I guess because she had known her for longer. I only found out that great-grandad had married twice when I was doing a school project in the 1960s and grandma mentioned it to me.
Happy hunting
Margaret
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Margaret -
Thanks for your comments, I'm probably falling into the trap of coming to unjustified and unfair conclusions re the lives and times of our ancestors. One thing's for sure, they must have been tough to have survived at all!
Having concluded "beyond reasonable doubt" that the 8mo census entry was a human error (for 8 years) I can as you suggest, endeavour to find out more about grandad's stepmother.
Regards,
Stuart.
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