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Don't Understand....

ProfilePosted byOptionsPost Date

Tonya

Tonya Report 31 Dec 2006 19:00

Looking through the 61 and 71 census' a possible ancestor has place of birth as Cavan Ireland but going back to 51 and 41 it sates Bury St Edmunds ...... why? The husband and children and grandchildren are the same on all. I don't understand. T.x

Star

Star Report 31 Dec 2006 19:09

Sometimes the people we are searching for don't always appear where we expect them to, depends where they were on the night of the census. For example I was searching for one of my ancestors, expecting him to be in Nottingham, he was down as being in London, but was visiting his sister who married and moved there.

KathleenBell

KathleenBell Report 31 Dec 2006 21:47

It depends on who gave the information on each separate census. One year it might have been the head of household, another time it might have been the wife or one of the children and they may not be certain where everyone was born. They might just assume it was in the place where they lived at the time, so gave that information to the enumerator. You can't assume that every entry on the census is 100% correct. Only the birth certificate (if you find one) will tell you the birthplace (and even then there can be mistakes, although only rarely). Kath. x

Heather

Heather Report 31 Dec 2006 22:04

Well, the 41 wouldnt state Bury St Edmunds as it only has a tick for born this county or not born this county. Very open to errors and they were often made. In the 51 the enumerator may well have made a mistake or the guy back at the office who copies the info out from the original may have made a mistake and copied the wrong line.