Have I gone wrong?

[Lo]

Ref my request in Suffolk Lookup: 1841 -1851 census - Ward . 24 views 0 replies!

1) Have I asked too much and given too little?
2) Am I being too impatient?
3) Have I come to a dead end.

I have no intentions of getting off on the wrong foot so early in this new (for me) venture and would appreciate advice.

Lo

[Clincher]

I think you need to specify the geographical area(s) of the 2 censuses you want searched

[Hackstaple]

I know you mentioned Hadleigh but there are no indexes to the 1841 and 1851 censuses [perhaps the latter a little]. That means a page by page search. And you need a person with the Suffolk censuses. I suppose if nobody replied there was no one who felt able to help. Genuki does not record any parish records held anywhere. I cannot see these censuses offered on CD but my search was not comprehensive.

[Rick]

Ref my request in Suffolk Lookup: 1841 -1851 census - Ward . 24 views 0 replies!

1) Have I asked too much and given too little?
2) Am I being too impatient?
3) Have I come to a dead end.

I have no intentions of getting off on the wrong foot so early in this new (for me) venture and would appreciate advice.

Lo

Lo

Apologies.........I missed you post!  I will check the 51 index for you tomorrow, (census proper is only currently available on film.)  The 1841, as Hackstable rightly says, is unindexed, and I am afraid that Hadleigh is too large a town to check without one.

Sorry

Rick

[kevan]

Hi Lo, (or Hello)
         I did a quick bit of checking from your previous posts.
         Lizzie shows in the 1891 census index as being born in Hadleigh. The only way of proving this, is to go through the whole of Hadleigh in 1871 and check every entry. I do it all the time, and often it comes up trumps.
 
         Or, it could be an area where Lizzie is living, or believed to have been born. So, most people who answer on this list, and many others are looking for as much info that you have in the first place, I guess.

         Good luck,
         Best
Kevan

[Lo]

Thank you everyone for your help and advice.
I 'think' I have the idea better now. I must get to grips with what is available and how it is best found. I guess I was trying to jump hurdles with short legs!
Just one other small thing I must admit to is I have no idea what an index would show. That is as in index first  mentioned by Hackstaple.

Thanks again for all your help
Lo 

[Lo]

Wow - Wow. Hold it everyone. I have just proved my own stupidity.
See Suffolk Lookup Requests 1871 Census reply by Krisesjoint, giving me the 1861 census. I miss-read it. Sorry  sorry sorry. 
I would still appreciate anything earlier but would not be surprised to be told to do my own digging.

Lo (still very embarrassed)

[Rick]

Wow - Wow. Hold it everyone. I have just proved my own stupidity.
See Suffolk Lookup Requests 1871 Census reply by Krisesjoint, giving me the 1861 census. I miss-read it. Sorry  sorry sorry. 
I would still appreciate anything earlier but would not be surprised to be told to do my own digging.

Lo (still very embarrassed)

Lo

As promised ..........51 index lookup completed on request board.

Rick

[Hackstaple]

What is an index? A perfectly good question. A census is a very large book or set of books which contain page by page a record of who lived where on a particular night. To search such a set is very laborious but that can be cut short if a search is done by, say, parishes within London rather than the whole of London. So the first breakdown of a census is into registration districts - then an index of parishes - within that an index of streets and a index of numbers within those streets - finally an index by surname and possibly by attached given first name. With a full index one can search by name or address or knowing a street one can scan for a name or be able to determine which Brown one is looking for in Islington or at least a number of candidates.
Produces indexes [or indices] is strenuous and tedious. For that reason, not all records are indexed. For the 1901 census it may be as high as 98% or so I have read. Now take London 1871 - that takes up 42 CD-roms! The index so far avilable is 288000 entries, about 6%.
I may have simplified some of this but you can see what is involved in searches where the information is poor or the index is weak or non-existent.