Genealogy Chat

Of course by the time the 2001 census records will be released everyone will just have to push a few buttons and all the information they could possibly want will appear on their screen! It is spooky though. Looking at the 1901 census at relatives and thinking "three years after you filled this in your wife died and you remarried a year later and moved miles away" and so on. Maybe future genealogists will just have a pile of identity cards. Perhaps the houses we lived in/schools we attended/gravestones erected will all have vanished.

Irene' Just assuming our descendants will be as obsessive as we are!?! They might not care! Pat T

My husband filled in our census returns, I was not happy because we didn't have to put where we were born just England. Daft that, how many Mary Smith will be born in England (not that that is my name). He didn't even put down our daughters boyfriends 2nd name so he will not be found he was born in Ipswich now living in Surrey. Our decendants will not be happy when they start hunting. Another reason to put our family down now so they can just check it all out. Irene

I will be presumed missing on the 2001 as I moved in 2000 to Glasgow. None of my family are here and there's no reason for ayone to assume for a minute thats where I was. SO this is just a quick request for any Scottish members to leave notes with all your family to be opened in 2101 to ask them to help out my poor English descendants when they cant find me in the area the rest of my family have been for the past 200 years.

I'm listed as living with my parents on the 2001 census, in actual fact on census night I was away from home. But at least it'll be neat and tidy when (if!) someone tries to search for me.

We will be, but only through sheer detemination! We moved into our brand new house at the end of April 2001 having previously moved out of our old one (staying with my parents for 3 months) If I remeber rightly census night was about 5 days after we had moved in to the new house. It was one of the first to be completed in the street and no census forms were delivered. Luckily I appreciated the importance of recording myself and the family as I was already intersted in genealogy. It took many phone calls and loads of waiting on the help line but eventually I did get a form and duly completed it for posterity and descentants alike!

Diane I was amazed that we didn't get chased up for our census return, there were supposed to be fines for people who didn't fill them in. Like you say, I wonder how many others just didn't bother Sam

I was under the impression, people who didn't return the form were chased up. I wonder how many people who didn't even bother with it and just threw it away were allowed to. I suppose it's probably the same as this new postal voting system, a big mess up. Still that's the government for you. You should still be on the electoral roll though, although it will be harder for people to track you unless they know the area you were living in. Spooky to talk of us in the future though isn't it. Diane

If I had known how important this information can be to the likes of US, I would not have let it happen. I filled in the census forms and had to request another sheet (I did this by 'phone) as the booklet only allowed 5 per household and there are 6 of us. No sheet ever arrived, consequntly the rest of the form never got sent off. We'll be missing, "presumed mis-transcribed"!! I need to leave a Time Capsule for my descendants with all the info I have so far, and anymore I gather, Mmmm.....where to bury it????