Genealogy Chat

After reading all the tips board postings for the 1901 decoder I decided to download to see what I'm missing out on. I've saved onto excel all the info I've collected. Now I'm going to try to put it all together. The question to all you experts out there - are there any tips on getting the most out of this info? Or any extra ways you've found of using the decoder that you can pass on. Thanks Chrissie

Chrissie, Have a look at this message from earlier. http://www.genesconnected(.)co.uk/genesconnected.asp?wci=ThreadedBoard&bb_type=B&bb_orig_key=207873 Crista

Hi, I've just found FreeBMD (Birth, Death Marriage) check this site out it's amazing http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/cgi/search.pl

Thanks everyone I will check out your suggestions. I'll get back if I have problems!! Chrissie

Thanks I followed the info from John Ferguson re Charles Clarke original message 16/8/03 Wow!! How amazing. I used the decoder this morning but asked for a result after each page - being able to process lots of pages and people is just great!! How can people not use this facility! I wonder how many other people don't download the decoder - like me - who are slightly afraid of what they are downloading!! Chrissie

Christine My tip is: Search first for a family member that you are certain about, e.g. their name, age, where they were born, etc. When you have found the person make a note of the census place, and search again for the SURNAME ONLY plus the CENSUS PLACE. Ask for 30 to a page and you should, hopefully, find the family. Have fun - it's a great tool. Vera Manchester

Thanks Vera The problem has been that we can't find ggfather,ggmother or any of the five children. Unfortunately they travelled around, he was general labourer railways/roads so we understand. I thought I might take note of a previous tip - that some of the census was transcibed in India therefore spelling mistakes were made I'm going to try to put in christian names/birth places for each of the family and see what I find. With the decoder at least it can sort everything together. Any other hints very welcome. GGfather Alfred Abell (children used Abel) born Lambeth 1868 ggmother Louisa Ellen Abell b. Eye lincs/northants 1871 children: John Abel b1887/8 Rickmansworth, Herts Alfred b1889 Rickmansworth William b 1893 Hendon Louisa b 1896 Hendon Gladys/Fanny? born last can't find birth under either christian name in any of above places so need to find where they moved to. Married as Fanny G. Abel in 1924 Any help appreciated! Chrissie

Having taken on board all the tips on using 1901 decoder I've managed to collate together the results from using christian names/dob/place of births of my missing Abell/l family and it produced no links. Does anyone have any ideas on where to look/ what to do next when family seem to be missing from the 1901 census? Chrissie

Christine Have searched the 1901 census for your Abel family but no go, sorry. On Free BMD I have found the birth of Fanny Abel Sep Q 1901 Brentford 3A 154 Does that make up for not finding the family? They must have been between Hendon and Brentford in the March when the census was being taken. There is an Abel family in Brentdord on the 1901 census they are Samuel, 40 Pattern maker, Eng Annie, 33; John 6 and Lilian 4. I searched for Abel in Brentford. Vera Manchester

Vera Thanks for finding that birth - it sometimes takes another set of eyes - for some reason we didn't think it would be past 1900. I'll have to go to the reference library in that area and have a look through the kellys/pikes/blue books to see what addresses that brings up. We did that in Eastbourne recently and gained so much infomation. How did people manage to evade registering on the census anyway?? Chrissie

I may be too late and I am not sure of your family's names but have you tried searching for abLE

Chris, I found an Alfred Bell that matched your details but the rest of the family wasn't with him. Crista

Thanks for your suggestions - I'm not giving up yet - I'll try everything Chrissie

Crista Where did you find Alfred Bell? It could be a place to start. Chrissie

Chrissie, He was living in Battersea and worked on the railways. Crista