Genealogy Chat

Can any one offer any tips? I have indulgently (& I fear rather foolishly!) invested in S & N's London census bundle for 1841-1891, with index CDs. None of the people I am looking for were in the indexes, which I thought strange, until I discovered from other S & N literature, (sent later) that these indexes are, by & large, incomplete. I attempted to do a manual search, but to be honest, life is too short! With in a couple of hours of receiving the CDs I was ready to send them straight back, but but by opening the cellophane they are wrapped in, I apparently was immediately bound by all sorts of restrictions, including my right to return them! I paid a rather large sum to S & N to seach their online index of 1861, as that was the first one that claimed to be complete, but still none of the people who I found with the right names tallied with either ages, professions or even other members of the family who should have been living with them. In short, I have still been unable to locate my ancestors! Any one got any tips on how to search the censuses with out going cross-eyed? (And if you have to tell me I have just bought a £200 odd pound white elephant, please break it to me gently!)

I really sympathise with you having to search in London! I've done the same thing for Yorkshire but of course it is much easier to divide it up into towns and villages. However you probably have some idea of where they lived. I search a bit at a time making a note of where I have done (don't want to do it again!). I find that I come across all sorts of connections living nearby to add to the family interest. It gives me such a buzz to find people after a big search - much better than asking for a quick lookup! Anne

Sorry, going crosseyed happens a lot! But won't it be worth it if / when the people turn up! Family history research is a challenge, it is detective work. Before census was put on CDs by commercial companies, one's only option was to search on microfilm. At least if you have it on CD you can look in your own home over days / weeks / months etc! rather than be tied to a few hours in a records centre. Happy hunting! Joy

Searching London is like the proverbial needle in a haystack. With rural areas it is quite possible to search through quite a large area (and often still not find them!). I was looking through a Yorkshire village for a surname last week and able to do each census year quite quickly. I think S&N use customers transcriptions to compile the indexes and give access to the index then as a payment. Despite usual transcription errors, you could try ancestry.co.uk for 1871/1881/1891/1901 (with others later). In other parts of the country you find that local FHS often have compiled their own indexes or local libraries. Try some web searches. Try any local mailing lists or message boards - ROOTSWEB etc. Martin

Hi, I live in Manchester and all the censuses are in the main library. What they have done there for people searching the 1861 census is to have a directory of the same year on film so that that can be searched first to try and obtain an address of the person who you are looking for. This is extremely helpful. I would suggest that you search a directory first. There is a web site that holds many directories for you to search but I am not sure what it is. I think it is one of the universities. Mary

Elizabeth - might be telling you something you already know but census listings were not accurate - - have found many of my family with different spellings each year. Try looking for variations on the spelling - one of mine was Brook but on one census was Brooke Another was Millichip in one year, Millichop in another and Millichope in another - but its deffo them each time. If you cant find your people try changing the search parameters - just the surname although know that 1861 doesnt accept that which is annoying - but if you search for surname and approx age - you might come up trumps. Also just use initials There is another thread on these boards about widening your searches which is very useful - Im sorry I dont have the link or who started the thread but some of the suggestions on there are great. Dont give up though - If you have addresses from certs for years near to each census try looking up those - I found one of my rellies who was a maid in a house in one listing but who wasnt on the index and it turned out the house was very near to where she was married from. hope this lot helps a little bit

try and pinpoint an address from a cert. For example i have birth cert for 1860 by using the address, i was able to locate the street, and lo and behold found them!!!!!! in another branch teh same two streets kept appearing on certs. So again i searched theses streets and found bits of family there. The only downside is small borough aren't street indexed. Think It's rotherhithe on 1861. If you need help using the street index mail me and i will try and help but please bear in mind that i had to be help thru it as well!!!!!! Blind leading the blind LOL