RootsChat.Com
England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Staffordshire => Topic started by: ali607 on Tuesday 16 November 04 12:17 GMT (UK)
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Im new to the whole geneology thing and was jut wondering how accurate the censuses were before 1881?
Thanks
Alison
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I think you have to define 'accuracy'. The infomation recorded has always been as given to the enumerator.
Do you mean ages, relationships, birthplaces, name spellings?
Pauline
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I mean was the census carried out at every single house without exception as it is today or was it just kind of hit and miss and places got missed out?
The reason im asking is because ive hit a serious brickwall in about 1850!
Thanks
Alison
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In cities, little alleys could easily be missed. In more rural areas, then maybe he didn't get around, or just missed on or two out.
The more likely option is that the records have since been lost, ie not survived, or are illegible.
Pauline
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The 1881 also lacks accuracy. I read somewhere that it has an error or omission factor of about 12%. That is not in the original census documents but in the fact that pages were missed when fiches were made and the usual amount of mis-transcription. I have ancestors who are there in 1841, 1851, 1871, 1891 and 1901 but nowhere in 1881. So, in genealogy nothing is perfect, nothing is completely accurate.
But, censuses are not the only way of tracking ancestors. So, if you have someone on the 1881 who is more than 10 you can stand a good chance of finding their birth before 1871 and so on.
However, a further word of warning. If all the information was perfectly handled, stored and captured it would not alter the fact that our ancestors told fibs or didn't know the answers.