Genealogy Chat

Could anyone do me a favour if they have access to the original census returns on Ancestry? If you put in a search for 'Cherry Haydon' you will get only one result in the 1851 census, of a girl born c1845 in Staffs. The name has been transcribed as 'Cherry' but I'm not sure this could've been the girl's name. I've not been able to find another record of her anywhere, although she appears to have died by 1861. Her parents were Irish and I'm wondering if there's an Irish name that could sound like 'Cherry'. I'd appreciate it if someone could take a look for me at the original return and see if the name could possibly be anything else. It looks like 'Cherry' to me, but then I've been staring at it for the last 12 months :-) Thanks Rich

It certainly looks like Cherry to me. Could it just be a nickname? There is a Charlotte Haydon death in the Sept. qtr. of 1851 in Whitechapel, but I don't know London, so don't know if this is anywhere near to where they were in the census. I can't find a birth that would fit either. Kath. x

Kathleen - thanks so much for taking a look for me. Yes, it does look like Cherry, but maybe it was a sort of nickname after all. It's strange how it doesn't appear anywhere else. 'Charlotte' could be a possibility. :-)

Can someone tell me how the 1851 census was taken? Did an official turn up at the household and take names down verbatim? If the daughter's name was, for example, 'Caroline' it might've been been shortened to 'Cherry'. My gt-gt-gt-grandparents would've had a strong Irish accent as they came over from Dublin in the 1840s so could their accent have altered the way the official wrote the name down? e.g. 'Kerry' or 'Keri' turned into 'Cherry' or maybe 'Carrie', with a hard 'Ch', turned into 'Cherry', and I'm just putting in a soft 'Ch' when it should be hard.

I've had this trouble with Honor McDonough - was she Honor or was she Hannah? Mmmm Jay

Yes, Richard, the Enumerator turned up on the doorstep, and whoever answered the door answered the questions. This could have been an older child of course, and I doubt if the Enumerator spent much time trying to ascertain the correct spelling of names, or places of birth etc - remember that the Census was being taken for statistical purposes, not as a record of individuals - accuracy wasn't all that important. Your Cherry could possibly have been Charity, Charlotte etc, or anything which sounds remotely like this, or could be shortened to Cherry - I don't think Cherry was popular as a given name at the time. OC

Could she have been Cary? an Irish name in it's own right, for boy or girl. Jay