RootsChat.Com
Census Lookups General Lookups => Census and Resource Discussion => Topic started by: Paul Caswell on Tuesday 13 January 09 14:16 GMT (UK)
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Hi All,
It is quite unpleasant to pay for and excitedly open a full image only to find it is the wrong one. If anyone has any tips about using the search engine to avoid mistakes could we hear them?
I have collected from the TNA (with their permission) a complete list of districts and places along with their census references. You can download it from here.
http://www.ancestryhost.org/caswells//1911/RG14.pdf
Note that there are no counties but you should be able to make sense of it by looking at surrounding places on the list.
It is particularly useful if you have a good idea where they lived. Find that place in the list and fill in the RD SD and an ED into the census reference field. If your find is still there you have a good idea where they are living without paying for it.
Paul
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Hi Paul,
Thanks for the link, it will be really useful.
When using the beta version of the 1911 census, I couldn't find which areas they had available on-line. So didn't find some of the people I was looking for and wasted a few credits. Luckily they we free credits with the purchase of Family Historian. Now I'll have to buy some more to find those elusive ones.
Pipkim ;)
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The 'other members of the household' search facility is useful. If you put eg. 'Joe Bloggs' in here and just 'Bloggs' in the 'personal details' section you can see if the other Bloggs are likely family members for your Joe.
[Not infallable, but I found it helped to narrow some of my searches down]
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Also a way of saving 10%
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,352985.msg2310256.html#msg2310256
Gadget :)
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Here's a useful one.
Search for middle names!
Middle names are far more often unusual than first names and if your ancestor wrote their full name (and many seem to have) then you get a much better chance of finding the person if they have a common name.
Paul
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I found using the date of marriage helped me narrow down a couple with a common name, combined with another name in same household, came back with only one result, and it was the correct one.
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If you've only got one result but you're still not sure or want to know more about where it is, try this:
I was looking for Harry Turner b1886 in Dorset.
There is only one, but is he the right one?
He appears in West Derby so a quick peek in my pdf suggests RD455 SD9 or 10
Add RD455 to the census reference and he's still there.
Add SD9 to the census reference and he's GONE.
Add SD10 to the census reference and he's GONE. Oh dear. :( Have they got it wrong?
Try SD8. Still GONE.
Try SD11. There he is!!!.
Now what is his ED number? Starting from ED1 I get as far as ED8 and he comes back!! His census reference is therefore RD455 SD11 ED8
A quick search in the pdf again and now I know he is living in Wavertree!
Now here's the fun bit! Back to 1911, remove everything from the search except the census reference and the name Turner and it looks like the household consists of:
TURNER,JANE,F,1832,79,West Derby,Lancashire
TURNER,MARGARET,F,1846,65,West Derby,Lancashire
TURNER,GEORGE,M,1883,28,West Derby,Lancashire
TURNER,EMILY JANE,F,1887,24,West Derby,Lancashire
TURNER,HARRY,M,1889,22,West Derby,Lancashire
TURNER,CHARLIE,M,1910,5 MONTHS,West Derby,Lancashire
This may be more than one household, it may even be six different households, its all the Turners in an area about 1/27th the size of Wavertree. I don't think this is my Harry but it demonstrates a quite nice way of squeezing out that little bit more for free.
Now plug Dorset back in and everyone else disappears, leaving just Harry. He's the only one born in Dorset. If you like, try tinkering with other fields to wheedle out other details.
Paul
Note: Items in red have changed.
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For those of you with a technical bent, here's an Excel spreadsheet version of the pdf.
http://www.ancestryhost.org/caswells//1911/RG14-Public.zip
Paul
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catching up on info - interesting stuff - thanks
Cas
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If anyone wants to make some surname guesses on the royal household use census reference RD5 SD2 ED35. The king's surname is King George. :) I wonder who else is there?
Paul
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Very neat method of finding others in family.
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,352985.msg2313022.html#msg2313022
Paul
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If anyone wants to make some surname guesses on the royal household use census reference RD5 SD2 ED35. The king's surname is King George. :) I wonder who else is there?
Paul
I found these:
"H M QUEEN MARY", aged 43;
"EDWARD PRINCE OF WALES", AKA Edward VIII, aged 16;
"PRINCE ALBERT OF GREAT BRITAIN IRELAND", AKA King George VI, aged 15;
"PRINCE JOHN OF GREAT BRITAIN IRELAND", aged 5 (The hidden prince)
Typing in "Prince" or "Queen" into the surname field is sufficient to find all these. I cannot find George V's other three children at that address, presumably they were away at school somewhere?
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Here's a great way to save money - have all your ancestors in the North or Wales. (http://smileys.on-my-web.com/repository/Unhappy/unhappy-059.gif)
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I'm not sure if I'm stating the obvious, but you can view a transcript of the census return for a lower price, so unless you're quite sure that you have the right family, it might be worth doing that first. I've suggested to FindMyPast that the transcript cost should be removed or discounted if the census image is subsequently purchased.
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It's notable that the costs for other censuses on FindMyPast are as follows:
Transcription: 3 credits (10 credits for 1911)
Census image: 3 credits (30 credits for 1911)
Surely the PAYG costs will come down at the same point they include 1911 in FindMyPast? They certainly ought to reduce the transcription view cost for 1911 to 3 credits, since it offers nothing more than transcriptions for other censuses. Maybe the image cost will be more since you get more images, but certainly not as much as 10 times more.
I'm determined to hang on a few months and wait for the prices to go down. This is a credit crunch after all!
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The costs won't come down until the costs of photographing, digitising, transcribing, indexing and hosting the census pages have been recouped, and some profit made on the investment. The 1911 census was not microfilmed by the National Archives, so everything has had to be photographed from scratch, and that plus the fact that individual returns have been made available for the first time have pushed the costs of hosting this one up higher than any of the others. If you're waiting for the costs to come down, don't hold your breath :)
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Search with no surname.
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,352985.msg2315500.html#msg2315500
Use (,) in the 'Surname' field.
Paul
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Some good tips, thanks :)
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I've bought credits but can someone advise before I start spending them if the transcript actually has a list of all the family living at that address or does each transcript only refer to the name searched? I'm having a devil of a job finding family members and the only way i can know for certain I've got the correct family is if other family members appear at the same address. I don't want to spend 10 credits for each name or find I've wasted 30 credits by choosing the wrong family.
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The transcript lists all the people shown on the census return.
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Jillie - this topic summarises ways of searching effectively on the 1911 census:
Topic: 1911 census - Rootschatters' tips for success
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=355239.new
Kind regards, Arranroots ;)
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Thanks for the link, Arranroots :)
Paulene :)
ADDED: Wonderful post - thank you for you time and the great effort put into it. Very precise and informative.