census relationships oddity

[maria087]

unsure what to make of this!From the 1851 census-

DUNLOP, James   Head   Married   M   30   1821
DUNLOP, Anne   Daughter   Unmarried   F   32   1819
DUNLOP, James   Grand Son      M   6   1845

Piece: 590 Folio: 37 Page: 11      Registration District: Irvine Civil Parish: Dundonald
Municipal Borough: Irvine Address: Fullarton Street, Dundonald, Irvine
County: Ayrshire

[youngtug]

Sorry, I misread that. Not right is it, must be a mistake somewhere. Anne cannot be the daughter of James.

[KGarrad]

I would hazard a guess that James age has been mistranscribed!
What does it say on the original?

[Mike in Cumbria]

The only way I can make it fit, assuming only one mistake is something like this.

DUNLOP, James   Head   Married   M  50   1801
DUNLOP, Anne   Daughter   Unmarried   F   32   1819
DUNLOP, James   Grand Son      M   6   1845

All that would have needed is a 5 transcribed as a 3 somewhere along the line

[youngtug]

Sometimes I have seen the head of household not being the oldest family member, so maybe there is a father or mother of Ann, and James, assuming that he is her brother. This may not be the case and with other theory,s the only way to tell is to check the household and family.

[andycand]

Hi

You need to look at the original image of the census (available from Scotlandspeople) to see what the actual information is. Ancestry has transcribed James age 30 as 'son about head' (head) This could be a poor transcription of 'son of the head' but without looking at the image it is guesswork.

Andy

[maria087]

Thanks everybody who contributed.  What fun this is.......I feel like Miss Marple.

[Mike in Cumbria]

Thanks everybody who contributed.  What fun this is.......I feel like Miss Marple.

Yes but do you have access to Scotlandspeople? We've seen the transcript and it would be good to know what the original looks like. Can you post a clipped section?

Mike

[pinefamily]

Sometimes I have seen the head of household not being the oldest family member, so maybe there is a father or mother of Ann, and James, assuming that he is her brother. This may not be the case and with other theory,s the only way to tell is to check the household and family.

If it turns out that the age is correct, it might pay to check next door. The father could be there.
Mind you, it's not as if it's the first transcription error from ancestry.