why would someone be missing on a census?

[Kevwood]

Hi, i have been trying to research my great grandad henry charles sollars born 1871 in bristol. I have had a lot of help from krisesjoint on gloucs board. She has found him in the 1881 census and i had him in the 1901 census, got his family in older censuses. The reason i am posting here is that he does not appear to be anywhere in the 1891 census, the rest of the family are, so he had probably moved, but kris has checked all of the census and i have tried on the national archives site and some others and there is just no sign of him. Can anybody tell me why that would be, could it just be a cock-up somewhere or does it mean he may have been out of the country, i am sure he married  elizabeth jane morgan in 1894 so he was back by then if he was away! It seems he moved a lot as married bristol 1894 but kids were born in weymouth in 1895/6 then back to bristol 1900 and his wife was from glamorgan!! Any ideas or tips would be great

Cheers
Kev.

[Paul J Ballard]

Kev,

I think nearly everyone doing their family history sooner or later comes across someone who is missing from a census. The explanation can be one of many things from the accidental (enumerator's paperwork got lost/destroyed; enumerator missed a property; person was "sleeping rough"; entry was mistranscribed) to the intentional (person did not want to be on census so avoided it).

Paul

[Paul E]

Hi Kev

I too had a missing 1891 gg grandfather who was all present and correct in 1871 / 81 and 1901 - Leonard Clark.

He finally emerged under Conard Clarke.  I suppose the moral is think of any possible misspellings and give them a go.

(I only found him by searching on place of birth and the misspelled surname, then thinking 'surely not, surely not' but of course it was he!)

Good luck!

Paul

[Janet B]

Hi

I am having exactly the same problem my Fitzgerald family John & Ann who just disappeared in 1891 from Burnley Lancs where they had been since pre 1861. Have them in 61/71/81/1901.

They had two sons one of whom married a local girl in 1892.
The other married a local girl in 1889 and had a son in 1890.
All of which happened in Burnley.

Ann died in Burnley in 1892 and John in 1894. they were poor working class folk so I hardly think that they would be travelling.

No doubt they will turn up eventually - probably on Mars!!

Cheers
Janet

[hinch]

i've found numerous missing ancestors by using flexible and vague search parameters to account for mis-spellings, mis-transcriptions, illegible entries etc.   

Search using just christian names or just surnames, known ages, birth places (also subject of awful spelling though) and searching the location they were expected to be, especially search for those family members with the least common names, rather than always searching for the head of the household who is usually called Thomas in my case.

[Kevwood]

I should have posted this, but he was found for me by a Rootschatter(sorry can't remember who) transcibed as HANRY GOLLINS should make the censuswhack Paul!!!

Kev.

Sometimes you just couldn't make it up!

[Emmeline]

Re incorrect names found on census -  my Hodgkinson family were listed as HODKINSON IN 1851 and HODGKINS in 1871
which is understandable - but it was VALDA  who found them for me in 1861 under the name of HOCHMAN. That I cannot understand ! Any ideas ?

[Kevwood]

Hochman, that is really bad, have had some awful ones, but not as bad as that!!!


Kev.

[Sisterjane]

I suppose that back in the 1800s if people didnt want to be included in the cencus then there were ways to avoid it, if someone wasnt home on cencus night they wernt included,they could have been working away or in the forces or simply just down the pub having a pint ,but if you wernt home when the enumerator called you were missed off.
Just think nowadays and the cencus forms we fill in by post, we wont be able to find many a thousand men in a hundred years time because of the way that houses are allocated to single parents who's partner/boyfriend live with them but wont be included in that particular household because of the DSS or the benifits system and they dont want to get caught robbing the the system blind so they wont include anyone their household even if the hundred year closure does exsist, because the government may say the info wont be released for 90/100years but who will beleive them nowadays!!!

Joe