I have recently started checking the 1841 Orphir, Orkney census and have come across something interesting that the enumerator did (or seems to have done). Perhaps this has been pointed out before, but no harm in reiterating it.
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Modified: Oops! Just got to Enum District 2, and it appears that just the enumerator for ED 1 did this for his 10 pages.
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He seems to have often written down the wife's maiden name which can be very helpful to researchers. Either that, or there were a whole lot of couples in 1841 Orphir that were having children without benefit of clergy, or a lot of mothers dying and the father bringing in a substitute momma who the enumerator consistently lists second.
Here is a made-up example:
John Smith, age 40
Margaret Jones, age 35
Adam Smith, age 15
Betty Smith, age 11
Peter Smith, age 5
Maggie Smith, age 3 months
After seeing several of these I concluded that the Margaret Jones in question was actually "Margaret (Jones) Smith", and the mother of the children.
Agreement or disagreement?
Nick
