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Census Lookups General Lookups => Census and Resource Discussion => Topic started by: Nick29 on Monday 16 February 09 10:22 GMT (UK)
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If you've been on the 1911 census, and researched your ancestors, what have you found ?
Was it worth the wait ?
I found out where my grandfather moved to after his wife died, and I also found out that my grandmother hadn't had any children die, but apart from that, not much else of import. Being able to see the 1911 census early, in the last days of 2008 was a nice surprise, but after the initial novelty, I must say that it it's not as exciting as I thought it would be. I'm now much more looking forward to the release of the digitised London Metropolitan Archives records on Ancestry, which look as if they're imminent.
How's it been for you ? Did it unlock any mysteries ?
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i found that my great grandmother had 2 children in between census that didnt survive.
according to the BMD index there are 3 possible matches for these children
so do i order all 3 birth / death certs or not?
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Well, you could take a gamble and order two. Depends on how quickly you need the results, I suppose :)
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what have you found ?
Was it worth the wait ?
I've found my grandfather :D who is missing in '91 and '01 :(, all present and correct with the right wife and children :D...no doubts at all that it is the right family...except :( grandpa has given everyone other than the youngest child a fictitious place of birth ??? so now I'm even more certain the old so and so had something to hide, question is what!?
Was it worth the wait? on the whole I'd say it was but I'll be pleased when it's not pay per view because I have several possibles for another set of grandparents and can't afford to look just on the offchance........ :-\
I'm now much more looking forward to the release of the digitised London Metropolitan Archives records on Ancestry,
Me too,
Suey
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I knew most of the stuff about my direct lines,apart from an extra child or two being born and dying between censuses.
Where it will really come into it's own is once we can search freely,as we do with the other censuses now,to find those we had queries with from 1901.
It would be just too expensive to do that with distant rellies on a pay per view basis.
Carol
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i agree with you Carol
i'm going to WDYTYA in 2 weeks so with any luck someone will have the bps, or bur to view to save me buying the certs of the 3 children
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Ive been quite pleased and amazed by what the 1911 brought up. My great grandfather was in the Navy which none of us knew about and obviously didn't last long as two years later in two counties away, working as a bricklayer and married with later, 3 sons.
One of my great great grandfathers has 5 extra children I didn't know about, 3 found, 2 to go all died as babies. So that is rather sad as well as interesting but more than that, this family can not be found on the 1891 census but by finding these births and deaths I have been able to track down exactly where they were living.
Apart from that I just enjoy seeing their own writing and mistakes etc.
Kerry
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Hi
I knew, through research, that my Gran had two younger half brothers, I suspected but didn't know, that she had a full brother. Sure enough the 1911 Census showed me that she did have a full brother, Gran was 7 and her brother 8. The suprise for me was that the family were living with her step-grandfather, (if that's the right term), Edwin Wallwork. At this time my Gran's first half brother had been born and all three children were entered into the census as grandchildren.
My great grandfather, a widower, had remarried in aprrox 1909, what I found really interesting and suprising was that Edwin had put 9 years under the years married column next to his daughter's name. I can only conclude he was concerned about his daughter's reputation if he put down she had been married a couple of years yet he had 7 and 8 year old grandchildren it wouldn't look too good!
Jean :)
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Hello everyone
It was worth the wait. I found out that my GGf who seemed to have disappeared and I assumed was probably estranged from the family was living with them and his mother was living with them as well. I am looking forward to Westmorland becoming available.
Michael
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I found a distant cousin who was living with his housemaid in 1911, wife and child were absent.
So I investigated further and found out he had an affair with her, and was divorced in 1915...his war papers also mention he had a number of STI's...gulp!
That led me to Kew where I managed to find another surprise, another divorce and war documents.
Thankyou 1911...but do hurry up and complete yourself please...LOL! I need Wales and Northumberland :(
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Yes, I need Wales, preferably before the date my credits expire!
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No transcriptions yet for Durham, and still waiting........
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It's answered some questions, filled in some gaps - but I think it's probably raised 2 questions for each that was answered LOL
I found that my Great grandfather was one of 11 not 7 - and seems even my great uncle (who began the research before he died) didn't know about them either!
GGF's uncle had 3 children not zero as it appeared from censuses.
But also that several rellies seem to have been hiding in the cupboard when the census was taken ::)
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In an earlier cenus I discovered my Gran (who only died recently) had a brother whom she'd never mentioned and I guessed it might be a transcription error, however he's alive and, being unmarried, is still living at home in 1911.
Still doesn't answer the question as to why she never mentioned him though!
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It has been interesting to find out about some children who died which I wasn't aware of but on the whole it has created a bigger mystery...
Found my great-grandmother now married and living with my great-grandfather and their 2 eldest children (including my grandmother) but she seems to have *misplaced* the 2 earlier children she had from her previous 'marriage' (I use the term loosely as I don't think they were actually married - just said they were). They would only have been about 10 and 8 years old but I cannot find them anywhere - not even sure what name they would be using which doesn't help!
Possibly identified the first 'husband' but a number of differences and children are not with him...argh! >:(
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The 1911 has merely confirmed some of my guesses based on mispelt entries on Free BMD. On the census my Grandad put down the 'pet' names commonly used for 2 of his children instead of their proper first names so the confusion will carry on in years to come unless my tree is passed down! But he did have lovely writing - puts mine to shame.
Linda
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It has caused financial woes. ;)
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Sorted out the connection between the Mills family and the Batchelors. From the number of corrections I've had accepted, they should be paying me!
Robert
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I just enjoy seeing their own writing and mistakes etc.
But he did have lovely writing
I'm finding this quite interesting :)
I've only looked at six images so far...two I'd say have definitely been written out by one of the children, four of the six have mistakes either in spellings or misunderstanding of the questions so have rubbings/crossings out.
One family began Mr and Mrs and had to cross it out and another has father down as Mr Sam.
Only one of the six forms has been written in ink and that has a blot on it, another looks as though the baby got hold of the pencil and has scribbled in the middle ;D
A family that I've only just looked at had 12 people between the ages 50 and 28 living in 4 rooms, 6 males 6 females - instructions say count the kitchen as a room :o - phew bit of a squash.
Suey
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Hi,
I found my granddad had another brother and sister, so my dad had an uncle and aunt he didn't know about, I did a bit more research and found they had both died, which was sad. I wanted to know more so sent off for their death certificates and discovered my g uncle died in 1928 aged 24 of heart failure and my g aunt died in 1939 aged 21 of TB. My next step is to go along to our local church yard and hopefully find their resting place. Finding these 2 relatives was a suprise as my dad says his father never mentioned them, I hope now they won't be forgotten.
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Well ...........
I found my Nanas dad had a warped ense of humour!
His surname is 'Smith' and he put down pet names for all bar one of his family (luckily for me it was MY nana he gave the right name for!) .......... love to see others try & find them tho cos they 'vanish' without Nanas name to find them!
I found my mysterious gt-grandad, only no additional info to find out who he REALLY is.
A gt-uncle living with a wife no one in the family knew existed until now ..............
My 'pet project' relative alive & working in his own business (now just need to find out why no-one in the family knew of his existance .............
My nanas brother who she always told me 'died young' alive & well at 14 ...........
lol one side of my dads family had a fixation with calling their kids by the same name! ........ in the 'children' of the cencus I have (all with the same surname, different fathers, all living in the same small area!) ....... 2 Anns and 1 Annie, 3 Davids, 2 Elizabeths, 2 Ethels, 3 James, 2 Johns, 4 Margarets (their Grandmas name), and 2 Williams! (bet that was fun at get togethers!) gt-grandma had 11 (living) Children & they all had at least 4 each - that I have found so far! .......
And finaly ................
I found a 71 year old 'Ag-Lab' gt-gt-grandad, still working and I now have him on EVERY cencus from 1841 to 1911 so I am pretty happy! (and he should be on the next one too for 1922)
Gaille
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The 1911 has merely confirmed some of my guesses based on mispelt entries on Free BMD. On the census my Grandad put down the 'pet' names commonly used for 2 of his children instead of their proper first names so the confusion will carry on in years to come unless my tree is passed down! But he did have lovely writing - puts mine to shame.
Linda
lol yeah I forgot that one .............
Gt-grandma as yet ANOTHER spelling of her name!
I think that takes my total now to about 10 variations of mistranscriptions over her lifetime ........
I suppose given her usual tricks I should be happy she gave her real name, she didnt always as she didnt like it!
Gaille
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My nanas brother who she always told me 'died young' alive & well at 14 ...........
Gaille - I really don't know what our families meant by 'died young'. I know I assumed it meant in infancy or perhaps up to age 10.
I have a lad in my tree described as such and he died aged 19 and a young lady in my husbands tree unmarried but pushing 30!
Perhaps they meant that these people simply died before they had the chance to marry and have families of their own :(
Suey
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For me the 1911 census has helped turn up something that my father never knew about and that is 5 years before his dad was born his parents had twins (one boy, one girl) but sadly they were both born with some sort of defect and they both died within 3 days of each other just 7 months later in 18989. They were then buried on the same day. It must have been heartbreaking for the parents as it must be sad enough to loose one but to loose them both...so sad. And when she was pregnant with my grandad they must have been worried as to what his health would be once he was born. Happily he turned out fit and well and lived into his 70s.
On my mums side I found another set of twins, this time they were born in India and again they were one from each sex. This time around the male twin didn't see the year out.
If you haven't guessed my family has quite a few sets of twins, my younger (by 3 years) brothers are twins. Our Nan was a twin. her twin sister had twins, it goes on and on....
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For me, it was wonderful to see my grandfather's handwriting, including mistakes, on the form as this is the only thing that we have in his hand.
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My nanas brother who she always told me 'died young' alive & well at 14 ...........
Gaille - I really don't know what our families meant by 'died young'. I know I assumed it meant in infancy or perhaps up to age 10.
I have a lad in my tree described as such and he died aged 19 and a young lady in my husbands tree unmarried but pushing 30!
:o I'm staggered that you don't regard 14, 19 or even "pushing 30" as dying young. I certainly would.
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My nanas brother who she always told me 'died young' alive & well at 14 ...........
Gaille - I really don't know what our families meant by 'died young'. I know I assumed it meant in infancy or perhaps up to age 10.
I have a lad in my tree described as such and he died aged 19 and a young lady in my husbands tree unmarried but pushing 30!
:o I'm staggered that you don't regard 14, 19 or even "pushing 30" as dying young. I certainly would.
Sorry, I didn't word it right............ My nana always implied that her eldest brother died as a very young child, she used to talk about her siblings and all she ever said about him was "My brother Charlie died young"
I only had the 1901 cencus to go off until now as I couldnt locate a death cert for him....... (theres a LOT of Charles Smiths in Manchester in the early 1900s!) I wasnt expecting to find him still alive on the 1911 Cencus - so it was a pleasant surprise to find him alive.
Now I have to figure out what happened to him............. WW1 records might be next - but how many Charles Smiths are there in there................
Gaille
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It seems from the few descendants I have found ,that families of some dozens of members have shrunk to just 3 or 4.
Do wonder why ,after years of prolific breeding,(in what we would consider primitive living )for some families ,their descendant are suddenly without offspring.After all , by 1911 Social conditions had significantly improved?
There may be a few others but none that I can find
Spring
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It's done nothing much for me yet! I'm sure it will all be very interesting when the northern counties make an appearance.....like many others, waiting for Durham, North & East Yorkshire, Northumberland............
::)
But it's been good to read some of the revelations others have found so far
Barbara
:)
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I am thrilled to bits to see the actual writing of my great-grandparents.
:)
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Its done nothing for me as I click on link and get blank page
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Hi Basherbish
That's certainly not meant to happen. There are many people on Rootschat who are very good at the technical side of things so maybe they could help?
Do you know how to start a new topic? Ask if you need help.
and Welcome to Rootschat!
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My great grandmothers first husband who she wed in 1914 was a work colleague of her brother. They were on the 1911 census in Sheffield on the railways. Her brother and future husband. They usually resided in London.
I found out that my Oxfordshire born great grandmother had moved down to sunny Sussex to work in service.
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I found out that great grandma had upped sticks, moved out of the family home, and they'd not lived together for 3 years...
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I found my Great Aunt on the 1911 Scottish census quite by accident, she was missing from the 1911 UK and I assumed she had gone to Canada. :)
Trish :)
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One thing that I would draw attention to is the often low quality of transcription, particularly resulting from lack of knowledge of copperplate handwriting. Frequently in my experience a capital L has been transcribed as an S. However, asking for correction has usually been successful including one that I though I was being cheeky about.
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I've never been very impressed with FindMyPast's 1911 transcriptions, or their search utiility. Quite often I've searched for a name using Christian, Middle and Surname on the Advanced Search, and found nothing. Then I've turned to the normal search, and searched for just Christian name and surname, and have been deluged with matches, including the one with the middle name that the Advanced Search was unable to find ! Similarly, if I search for my own street name in "Search by Address", it doesn't come up, but when I type in the name of the town, it lists the streets, including the one that it couldn't find before ::)
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The address indexing of the 1911 census on FindMyPast is very poor (and I say that as someone who finds most of their other transcriptions to be far better than those available on Ancestry).
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Apart from problems with Road vs Rd, Court vs Ct and the like, I've always been pleased with 1911 street searches. Did seem to defer to registration district rather than town though.
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I've never been very impressed with FindMyPast's 1911 transcriptions, or their search utiility. Quite often I've searched for a name using Christian, Middle and Surname on the Advanced Search, and found nothing. Then I've turned to the normal search, and searched for just Christian name and surname, and have been deluged with matches, including the one with the middle name that the Advanced Search was unable to find ! Similarly, if I search for my own street name in "Search by Address", it doesn't come up, but when I type in the name of the town, it lists the streets, including the one that it couldn't find before ::)
Nick, Try looking for a few surnames beginning with L. You'll probably do better searching them under S
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Switzerland... yes, Switzerland. Not until the 1911 census became available did I discover why a boy raised in England didn't seem to have a birth registration in England (nor could I find his mother's death). 1911 census revealed he was living with maternal grandmother in the north of England and was born in Switzerland. Also found father living with brother in Surrey listed as a widower. Fortunately the names were quite unusual.