1841 Census Help - Perth

[MacofMac]

I have been searching for information on an Aitken Stiel. He married in Blairgowrie in 1858 and he is listed on the 1861 census in Blairgowrie. He was born sometime between 1810-1818 ( census indicates birth date of 1818, marriage indicates 1813 and death record indicates 1810 but that may be unreliable as he died in Murthly Asylum with no family contact). I cannot locate him on either the 1841 or 1851 Census records via scotlandspeople or ancestry.com. There is however an 1841 Census listing on familysearch.org for an Aitken Steele born 1816, in Perthshire and showing residence as Perth, Perthshire, Scotland. They have connected it to a GS Film Number of 1042697 on their website so they must have found him somehow connected to a census - correct? Only other information I have on him is that he was an artist and his parents were a John Stiell of Parkhead and his mother an Ann Aitken - both are shown as deceased by 1938 according to the marriage record. Can anyone help me in my quest to find the elusive Aitken Stiel/Stiell/Steele ?

[loobylooayr]

Hi and welcome to Rootschat,
Try using the FreeCen website  www.freecen.org.uk
You can access 1841 and 1851 for free, just transcriptions not original Census!
Aitken Steele is listed in Perth aged 25 an Artist - I've just checked 1841.

Looby

[loobylooayr]

Hi again,
I've checked for Aitken on the 1841(mistake should be 1851) but no joy so far I'm afraid.
Freecen is a great free to use site but unfortunately not all Census data is transcribed for all areas.
The site as you can read on it's home page has been set up, updated and maintained by volunteers who transcribe from original Census books.
Only about half of 1851 Census for Perthshire is online  at the moment.
Keep trying with different version of spellings for Aitken and Steele/Steel/Steal/Stiel on Scotlands People and maybe you'll find him.
Good luck with your search,
Looby 

[MacofMac]

Looby, you are an absolute star!!!    I have never used Freegen believe it or not! What a brilliant site, from that I was able to get the previous and next names on the census and found the original record on scotlandspeople from that angle. I have no idea what they think the Stiel surname is but it certainly has not been transcribed as Stiel or anything remotely like it to get it via their search engine! Alls well that ends well though and I have found his 1841 census entry at last, I knew he had to be there somewhere - thank you so much!!!!!

[MacofMac]

Scotlandspeople had transcribed him as "Arthur" not Aitken - no wonder he was proving elusive!

[loobylooayr]

Pleased I could help Mac.
Have you found the birth of Aitken's brother John?
It is on Familysearch using the Stiell spelling.
Remember ages are never spot on on the Censuses especially 1841 when people were asked to round down or up their age to the nearest 5 or 0.
I also wondered if Aitken was perhaps a middle name he used and was known by or if it was in fact his forename?? I've came across one in my tree who was known by his middle name but in fact was registered with a first name he never used. Just a suggestion to bear that in mind when searching for Aitken.
Looby

[loobylooayr]

Scotlandspeople had transcribed him as "Arthur" not Aitken - no wonder he was proving elusive!

The handwriting of enumerators left a lot to be desired at times!

Good luck,
Looby

[loobylooayr]

Just before I call it a night - Check Aitkin Steele 1851.

[MacofMac]

Lol, I was just typing in that I had found him - thanks for the nudge towards Freecen - will be on it non stop from now! Thanks again!!!!