Census reading help please!

[Aulus]

What do you make of the little squiggle after the 5 of Gertrude's age?

Could it be meant to say 5 months?

Do you think Stanley's age is 1 or 6?

1901 Census: RG13/3973; Folio: 121; Page: 31.

[Pels.]

Because it isn't clear .. ..

Gertrude Smith
Birth, Jun. qtr 1898
Fylde

George Stanley Smith
Birth, Mar. qtr, 1900
Fylde

These are the only likely births on FreeBMD, it might be a good idea
to check on the Ancestry Indexes to confirn there aren't any more
in the Fylde region. The census was taken on the 31st March as a guide.

Regards,

Pels

[Aulus]

Another huge amount of money off to GRO to try to pursue some of these Smiths, including these two, to see if they're right.

Of course 1898 doesn't really fit with an age of 5 or 5 months for Gertrude - and in general I've found that while parents forget how old they are, they're usually pretty good at remembering how old children under 10 are.

[Pels.]

I wouldn't recommend you send for these though until you
have already checked the Ancestry indexes to confirm there
aren't anymore? 

[beathogs]

Hi,

Have had a look at the census and found the following which you may already know but should help you find the proper dates of birth for the children.

George Smith married Edith Park, Jul - Sep 1893 in Fylde at Blackpool, Holy Trinity, South Shore.

On the 1901 census there is a boarder at their address called James Park which is probably Ediths younger brother .... so at least you have her maiden name now when checking for the births.

If you do a check on Lancashire bmd there is a George Stanley Smith born Blackpool in 1900 with a mother having the maiden name of Park .... so at least (I think) you now have the right Stanley ... just gotta track down Gertrude.  On the adjoining pages of the census all the other children are listed in age order whether they are boys or girls so I'm soing to assume that Gertrude is younger than Stanley.  If his name is actually George Stanley then she could be Edith Gertrude ... just to confuse matters ha ha.

Jan

[mosiefish]

Hi,

Just had a skip through the pages for this district on my discs and the enumerator wrote the word months in full and not "M" so I would think she is 5 and the squiggle is just the enumerators check mark.  He may also just have misread a three for a five.    Whilst transcribing I have also found that some households list the male children first and then the girls. 

Regards,
Mo 

[Aulus]

Thanks everyone.

That George Stanley is the right one, born 16 Jan 1900.

Although sent for at the same time, I'm still waiting for the Gertrude certificate.

These Smiths are a nightmare and really difficult to track down on the GRO/freebmd indexes - I thought I'd got about a dozen matches (place and date), sent for the birth certificates, thankfully using the reference checking option - only one was one of mine.  If they're going to be called Smith, they could at least have made some effort to give some accurate information once in a while to make it a bit easier to track them down.