RootsChat.Com
Census Lookups General Lookups => Census and Resource Discussion => Topic started by: Brambletye on Tuesday 19 June 07 15:30 BST (UK)
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I got so fed up having to keep doing the maths to calculate year of birth from age given on the Census, I made up a Ready Reckoner, with Census years at the top, ages down the side, and birth years in the centre grid.
Here it is as a PDF - hope it's useful!
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Cool Brambletye 8) 8) 8) 8)
Thanks for your hard work, I'm going to print out a copy and stick it above my desk. I never was any good at maths!!!
Kerry
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Thankyou! :D
That will be very handy - there is nothing worse than someone giving an age but not the date of birth!
Much appreciated! :)
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Brilliant idea Brambletye. You have saved me from many a headache :D :D :D
Many thanks and regards
Clive :)
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Thanks - that's great....I spend a lot of time counting on my fingers and jsut as I'm getting somewhere the other half interrupts me and I have to start all over again!
;D
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Thanks Brambletye
It will be so much quicker than the usual counting backwards. The number of times I've done calculations that turned out to be years out!
Steve
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Thank you so much for that - saves me asking Oh as I always do ;D
Jane
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Brilliant, saves me wearing out my index finger on the calculator. What a great idea.
Many thanks.
Ruby
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I have just found your calculator..fantastic.
All the scribbles on bits of paper...1861 minus 52...all finished !!1901 minus 16 Hooray,,Thanks so much
Spring
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Glad this came back up....I too have saved a copy of it. It's great.
I think there are a lot of members in the local Seniors Genealogy group that I help out with who would love to have a copy, if that is OK with you, Brambletye?
......dee
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Would it be worth incorporating the 5 year rounding up on the 1841 Census?
Martin Briscoe
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Might perhaps be a note? It usually sorts itself out for those still living and on later Census returns,and I think you would still have to a bit of calculation on paper to adjust earlier records.
Still,I think you are correct,Martin. At the least it would remind researchers of the anomaly.
Spring
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That's a really good idea. It is amazing the number of people whom I help that say "that can't possibly be my relative. The age is not right", even when everything else matches perfectly!
.....dee
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Hi Dee,
Feel free to pass on the Ready Reckoner - glad it's turned out so useful!
I take Martin's point about the rounding on the 1841, but I think the only way I can make mention of this is to incorporate a footnote, otherwise we'd need a separate grid. Problem with the 1841 is that some enumerators did actually put precise ages, some rounded to the nearest five for adults only, some rounded for children over the age of ten as well, and for the over 60s, the rounding was meant to be to the nearest ten years!
At some point I will update the grid to incorporate dates for the 1911 - has anyone seen any recent news on that? whether we can realistically expect it early or if the Powers That Be are going to hold out on us till the full 100 years is up after all?
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Thanks Brambletye......that's much appreciated. :D
.....dee
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:) Thankyou so much. You have really worked well on this. It is much appreciated. My maths were never any good and I had to take a calculator with me everytime I went to the genealogy centre.
Once again, thankyou
Avril ;)
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... and for the over 60s, the rounding was meant to be to the nearest ten years!
Well I never knew that bit. It might be a real help in tracking down the origin of the current top of my tree!
Thanks
Diana
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Brambletye
Thanks for that, I'd not thought of doing that, just the usual bits of paper or fingers!
Liz
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Very useful Brambletye, thank you. :)
Can't believe I've being doing this stuff all these years and not thought of it myself :-[
Stewart
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Many thanks Brambletye. I always leave my calculator in the other room.
Wendy M.
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Excellent. Thank you ;D
mab
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Just found your Ready-Reckoner Brambletye - what great idea.
Thank you
Viv
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Hi Brambletye,
I just found your Ready-Reckoner. Wonderful.
Thank you.
Kathleen
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Thank you thank you thank you ;D ;D
Brambletye, this is brilliant - wish I'd thought of that!
Jaylay
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Fantastic! many thanks
Jillie
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thanks for the ready reckoner it is really usefull
regards
belinda
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Thank you so much for sharing this - like others, my desk is littered with bits of paper with 1861 - 53 and many others!
Amanda
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:) Just found the ready reckoner - wonderful! I used to have a similar thing in card form which I purchased for £1.75 - then I lost it!!! :( So thanks from me too! Ann
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what a really useful find,T hank you so much for your time and trouble and now looking forward to the update for the 1911 census that came out today.
I am going back to BBC board to tell my friends where to find it as most are members here too.
Thanks again
Edna
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Brambletye, Many thanks for this -saves lots of bits of paper lying around.
Great idea.
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Edna did exactly what she said she would do. Thanks Edna for letting us know about it.
Kesannah
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Brilliant idea...you have made it all so simple!thanks
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And many thanks from another greatful rootschatter
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Hi
Can you please repost the file as i get a message advising that the file is corrupt.
Many thanks
Marc
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Awesome! I was thinking i could do with something like this but never had the time to do one.
Thanks very much :D
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Thank you for this post I was looking on Rootschat last week for the Census ready reckoner but did not know the title post. Now downloaded for future use.
Thank you
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Hello Brambletye
Have just printed off your Census Ready Reckoner and it has pride of place on the cork-board.
I'm sure I shall be referring to it often.
Many thanks.
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Many thanks, from a learner x
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Many thanks, from a learner x
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my mam would have said you're a clever lad ,me too what a good invention thanks for shareing
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ta very muchley. Thanks for all the hard work given for free. You're a star ;)
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This is great Brambletye - many thanks - I wish I had seen it long ago.
Ceeoh
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Thanks for the link Brambletye.
Ben
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Now why did'nt I think of that?!?
A few more years of research and I would have got there!!!
A big thankyou for sharing your hard work ........ must have taken you ages!
Alyson :-*
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Thank you so much Brambletye , from a Senior Citizen whose notebooks are full of sums !!
Nainmaddie
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Being new to RootsChat I've only just come across your handiwork Brambletye and can only endorse what many others have said : what a brilliant idea! It's obvious from the feedback that many people do find it a problem and have to resort to paper sums or even using a calculator, so well done for helping so many RootsChatters.
Incidentally, one thing I particularly liked about your table was that it gives the birth years as "year1/year2". It has always annoyed me somewhat that so many web-sites and so many people simply give the birth year as census year minus census age (eg. age 10 in 1861 census means born in 1851). Most censuses were taken in late March or early April and so it is 3 times as likely to be the previous year (i.e 1850 in that example). For that reason I have always subtracted another 1 to give the most likely year of birth and it was therefore reassuring to see your table give the result of my example as 1850/51. That does in fact prompt me to ask another question but I shall do so as a new topic (Please see my posting "Family Tree Maker Dates" in Technical Help).
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I've only just found this Brambletye - what a brilliant idea 8)
I shall keep it to hand and there will be no more bits of paper scribbled with years and ages and deductions. Thanks so much for sharing it.
Maggie
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Brambletye...only just found this...brill ..
Thank you for sharing your hard work with us all :)
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fab idea! thank you so much for posting it and for your work in producing it.
Thanks also to other posters for comments about the rounding on the 1841 census and that birth years aren't necessarily census year minus census age
much appreciated :)
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Dear Brambletye
It's never to late to say Thank You - and I do!!
Melbell.
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As a former educator you move to head of the class! A+
Ellen
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Thanks so much for this. it will save me hours of counting and usually getting it wrong ::)
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Hi, just found this thread, That's great, many thanks for posting that. :)
Frank.
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Gold Star * :)
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Hello,
I have done something similar: a UK Census Birth Date Checker: produced by myself, one chart for each census year. I have produced a larger version if needed. Any errors please let me know.
Best wishes,
Paul.
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You've obviously put a lot of work into this Paul and many people will find it extremely useful. However, you should bear in mind what I said earlier in this thread, the fact that census date minus age doesn't necessarily give birth year. It is 3 times as likely to be the previous year. Here's what I said at the time :-
So many people simply give the birth year as census year minus census age (eg. age 10 in 1861 census means born in 1851). Most censuses were taken in late March or early April and so it is 3 times as likely to be the previous year (i.e 1850 in that example). For that reason I have always subtracted another 1 to give the most likely year of birth.
Jim
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Hello Jim,
Many thanks for your comment, of which I totally agree. My charts are simply mathematical and to save you doing any mental maths. I would add that a census year of birth is only a mathematical approximation. In my research, recording of census entries into my software, I always say year of birth as "about xxxx" until I can find further info. I believe most gedcom files will recognise the "about" phrase.
Best wishes,
Paul.