The Census Enumerator

[chiddicks]

Love him or hate him, you just can't live without him! Let's learn a little bit more about our friend the Census Enumerator.

​​​​​​​https://chiddicksfamilytree.com/2021/08/01/the-role-of-the-census-enumerator/

[coombs]

Yes it is easy to forget that the censuses we look at for our ancestors were the enumerators books and not the original forms, and the enumerator filled in the sheets once he got the completed household schedules for the district he did.

I have one ancestor who in the 1841 census has "No" for born in county but it did originally say "yes" then that was rubbed out with "No" over it, so the enumerator was probably writing the forms and made a mistake then looked at the original schedule and corrected it. The original household forms were binned once the enumerators books were filled in.

[chiddicks]

Yes it is easy to forget that the censuses we look at for our ancestors were the enumerators books and not the original forms, and the enumerator filled in the sheets once he got the completed household schedules for the district he did.

I have one ancestor who in the 1841 census has "No" for born in county but it did originally say "yes" then that was rubbed out with "No" over it, so the enumerator was probably writing the forms and made a mistake then looked at the original schedule and corrected it. The original household forms were binned once the enumerators books were filled in.

How many mistakes were left in though??

I am sure there is room for someone to write a book on the ups and downs of being a census enumeraotr!

[frances-b]

I am sure there is room for someone to write a book on the ups and downs of being a census enumeraotr!

I was an enumerator for the 2011 Census, covering communal establishments such as nursing homes, hotels/b&bs, and caravan sites in a rural area.  Despite being told at the induction that all the data we would be using was carefully prepared, some of the addresses, particularly for the smaller caravan sites, were only a village and a postcode.  I spent a lot of time on Google and then driving up and down lanes looking for gaps in hedges!  There were also plenty of places that had ceased trading, were derelict, had been wrongly categorised or were out of area.

On the upside, I did get to meet a lot of lovely people and, as I recall, the weather was sunny and bright for March .

[coombs]

I even found a very rare instance of an 1841 parish in Surrey where the enumerator actually put down the county of birth for people not born in county.

[chiddicks]

I am sure there is room for someone to write a book on the ups and downs of being a census enumeraotr!

I was an enumerator for the 2011 Census, covering communal establishments such as nursing homes, hotels/b&bs, and caravan sites in a rural area.  Despite being told at the induction that all the data we would be using was carefully prepared, some of the addresses, particularly for the smaller caravan sites, were only a village and a postcode.  I spent a lot of time on Google and then driving up and down lanes looking for gaps in hedges!  There were also plenty of places that had ceased trading, were derelict, had been wrongly categorised or were out of area.

On the upside, I did get to meet a lot of lovely people and, as I recall, the weather was sunny and bright for March .

Sounds like you drew the short straw with the difficulty, but at least you got a free suntan

[chiddicks]

I even found a very rare instance of an 1841 parish in Surrey where the enumerator actually put down the county of birth for people not born in county.

if only they were all as helpful!

[iluleah]

Although Family Historians find census very useful secondary information for research, the census wasn't taken for 'us' or even with 'us' in mind... if it was, I am sure there would be far more questions FH would have added

[Skoosh]

 My ED in Glasgow was in the east-end, part of which was a travellers/show-peoples caravan park. The people were great and knew the script but the pack of dugs was something else. Phoned my gaffer and she said that shouldn't be mine as they had an enumerator who specialised in the canine prob's.

Skoosh.