Genealogy Chat

I looked up great great Grandad's brother Joseph Morris on the 1881 census, born 1849, and living in 1881 at 15 Whitworth Street.

The census taker ( first time i have seen this!) has not listed the names of his wife and children, only the first initial letter of their names!

If I could get hold of that census taker now I would wring his neck and tell him how his sloppiness has ruined the whole point of taking the census in the first place. Unbelievable! :-(

Whitworth Street Manchester that is.

Having had 5 minutes to settle down, I would just give him a stern telling off, and of course would never dream of wringing the neck of one of her majesty's census takers.

.........Its nearly as bad as having a 'Search records' on here that doesn't bring the detail up....

(.have seen it on the 1881 familysearch though). .... perhaps the enumerator just wanted to get home -j

Joe

The problem of listing people with just their initials is quite common on the census.

If the house holder refused to give full details then what could the enumerator do about it

GB

Or may be the informant was "stroppy" and would not give the full names !!

A one off household, then I'd agree with Glitter Baby. But a large part of the district? They can't all have agreed not to co-operate! :-)

So obviously he decided to cut his work short and not copy all the information from the original forms to the ones we see now.

Slapped wrist !!

thanks for seeing the funny side! :-)

But it still leaves me not knowing their names!

If he wasn't already dead, I'd kill him! :-)

Maybe i will find out that my ancestor Joseph was part of some Manchester Movement for non-cooperation with Census takers!

Wouldn't surprise me!

oh, and the search software in this site is very weak.

How often does this site freeze on you???

With me, ALL the time , especially the searches and the tree stuff.

Such a great forum here though, but the people who made this site will lose out, because many including me would rather desert and pay a bit more for the other sites which actually WORK.

I am sure it is their software or program, full of bugs it seems.

Have you found them in 1871 and 1891? That might give you a bit of a clue. Also try putting the initial and surname in BMD, you might be able to identify them from that, you will have the age I assume?

Thank you! Great idea.

This looks like a likely contender for the family in 1891 census

Name: Margaret E Morris
Age: 19
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1872
Relation: Daughter
Father's name: Joseph Morris
Mother's name: Elizabeth Morris
Gender: Female
Where born: Gorton, Lancashire, England

Civil parish: Bradford
Ecclesiastical parish: Christchurch
County/Island: Lancashire
Country: England

Street Address:

Occupation:

Condition as to marriage:

Education:

Employment status:

View image

Registration district: Prestwich
Sub-registration district: Newton
ED, institution, or vessel: 35
Neighbors: View others on page
Piece: 3258
Folio: 20
Page Number: 38
Household Members:
Name Age
Joseph Morris 41
Elizabeth Morris 41
Margaret E Morris 19
William Morris 15
John Morris 10
Ernest Morris 5
Harold Morris 7 Months

Indeed Londbelle, and thank you for helping me. :-)

Sorry, Joe, but the 'point' of taking censuses is to count the population, assess migratory trends, and monitor employment

The point never has been to supply info for descendants 100+ years down the line.............even though researching ancestors is now such a popular pastime.

It should be very easy to find the names on FreeBMD by just typing in surname, place, and year.

And don`t forget......Place of birth is.... Ditto.... even though you know husband and wife were born miles apart. :-P

of course, it's annoying but it's true Flick we should keep some perspective as to why they did these in the first place. Good point.

thanks for the tips.