1881 missing information?

[Genie Allergy]

I'm busy trying to trace my GGrandfather George Frederick ATKINS, born 1820 in Marylebone.
He's been pretty good up to and including 1871 census but, although he doesn't die until 1883 I can't find him or his wife Ann Rebecca anywhere in 1881.   Have pieces been lost?   If so, how do I find out which ones?

[Plummiegirl]

Have you found him or his family on the 1891?

I have lots of families which seem to disappear off 1 census then reappear on the next one, another thing I have sometimes found is that I can find them on another site for the missing census return, I use both Ancestry & Findmypast.  Do not know why this happens, but I am presuming its all down to using different transcribers. 

Also have you tried alternate spellings, I have families where the name I have found bears sometimes only the most remote connection ie  SELL found as Lell, Loll, Soll, Sall, Sale and thats just to name a few.  I even found one person whose surname was Vince under Viacge, and often when you look at the original you do wonder what the transciber was seeing as the name is often very clear, what I do find more odd is when you have a family listed & one person is given a different surname ie  father Drain & rest of family Brain.  I could go on forever about this, and you will probably find others with more stories like this.

[coombs]

Hi Genie

Maybe they were with my great, great, great grandfather who is on the 1871 and 1891 census but I can find no trace of him in 1881. 

Ben

[Robert Fletcher]

I'm busy trying to trace my GGrandfather George Frederick ATKINS, born 1820 in Marylebone.
He's been pretty good up to and including 1871 census but, although he doesn't die until 1883 I can't find him or his wife Ann Rebecca anywhere in 1881.   Have pieces been lost?   If so, how do I find out which ones?

Hi I was just going to post a simelar message as I have families appearing and turning up again 20 years later. How common its this. I might put a lookup request for a family that has gone missing.

At least I am not along

[coombs]

I have two ancestors who dont appear in a census but appear in the censuses either side. And one of those was in the same area in 1871 and 1891 but nowhere to be seen in 1881.

[Robert Fletcher]

I have two ancestors who don't appear in a census but appear in the censuses either side. And one of those was in the same area in 1871 and 1891 but nowhere to be seen in 1881.

So we can't assume that all the census is complete. What other way around this is there?

[coombs]

They do estimate that 10% of the 1861 census is missing but as yet I dont know of any Essex areas missing in 1861. I have not heard of any missing pieces of the 1881 Essex census.

[Sloe Gin]

Some of these may be down to human error - the enumerator just omitted to copy them into the book.  I have a family that was nearly missed - they appear, out of address order, right at the end of the pages for the enumeration district. 

[coombs]

That is a possibility. The enumerators had to do a lot of writing and may have missed a few people. William Taylor was in Canewdon in 1871 and the local workhouse in 1891 in Essex so he must have been in the area in 1881. Best thing to do would be to find another document stating his residence 175-1890. I am not certain Rochford Workhouse admission records survive as he is there in 1891 and died there in 1898.

Or he may not have been enumerated. Maybe he was a lodger somewhere in 1881 and conveniently not added to the census due to the forgetfulness of the head of the household.