Genealogy Chat

I have also found that the 1901 records are full of errors - I was lucky in that I knew the address and most of the people living there, but most of the christian names are wrong. Janice

Judging by the amount of people who cannot find rellies on the 1901 and the amount of error for that particular census I think if there was a poll for accuracy 1901 would not win. As Nell says the majority of the working class were illiterate and that in itself adds to a lot of errors. Good Luck Pat x

The information is written on the householder's schedule, transferred to the enumeration schedule, and for online censuses an index prepared by yet a third person. The possibility for errors is very high. Lots of people complain about the indexes, but the 1901 census itself seems much more slapdash than earlier censuses and I have found plenty of errors by the enumerator. Brenda

Well obviously that isn't accurate. It is impossible to tell how accurate the censuses were, unless of course someone simultaneously took another complete set with which we could compare them. My experience is that most of my relatives have been found and the information about them is probably about 95% correct. There have been some mistranscriptions, mainly because people can't decipher handwriting. On the 1871 census my family has been placed as part of the nextdoor neighbour, instead of their own house. The birthplace of a gt grandmother is wrong on the 1881 which led me on a wildgoose chase. Bear in mind that often the forms were filled in for the people concerned as they were illiterate and wouldn't be like us in their knowledge of bureacracy (I can recite my national insurance number off by heart). The original forms were then copied onto the folios which we now look at and which transcriptions are taken from - the originals are destroyed. So at best you are looking at a copy. The error could have been on the original or made when the copy was done. If you want to know which is mum and which daughter the answer will be on their birth certs! nell

i was wondering if anyone knew how accurate the cenus's are as on the 1881 census it shows the mother as Ruth sikstone and Ellen as eldest daughter and then on 1901 census it shows Ellen as mother and Ruth as eldest daughter