Census accuracy

[jonah777]

Hello all,
I am new to all this and during my first attempt at tracing my fathers family I have managed to get many or his relatives from the census records from 1911, 1901, and some from the 1791 census, however some of the ages differ from the census records to the birth and marriage cert ages.....by as much as 2 years.....also my great great grandmother is down as a Mrs Lawless as head of the household.......no first name......are the census details accurate or was information witheld or incorrectly given by the people listed, apart from the age descrepencies everything else ties in, relatives, burrials, ect...it is a little off putting for the newbie.........thanks in advance......Paul

 

[nainmaddie]

Dear Jonah

I am sorry that none of us have got back to you. We do sometimes get carried away with subjects that have very little to do with FH.

What is in the Census was sometimes garbled especially in the first one in 1841. No one really knew what they were doing. In the following years, you did have people who couldn't remember how old they were meant to be. As time marched on they did try a bit harder !

In 1841 the ages were rounded up, so no hard and fast rules there. When you have all the certificates, then they are a better guide to their ages. Have you no clues as to the christian name of Mrs Lawless ?

The Census is a guide only, they never thought that you or I would use them in this way.

I hope this helps a little bit in understanding the vagaries of the Census.

Good luck in your searches

Nainmaddie

 

[jonah777]

Dear Jonah

I am sorry that none of us have got back to you. We do sometimes get carried away with subjects that have very little to do with FH.

What is in the Census was sometimes garbled especially in the first one in 1841. No one really knew what they were doing. In the following years, you did have people who couldn't remember how old they were meant to be. As time marched on they did try a bit harder !

In 1841 the ages were rounded up, so no hard and fast rules there. When you have all the certificates, then they are a better guide to their ages. Have you no clues as to the christian name of Mrs Lawless ?

The Census is a guide only, they never thought that you or I would use them in this way.

I hope this helps a little bit in understanding the vagaries of the Census.

Good luck in your searches

Nainmaddie

Hi Nainmaddie,
yes I now have Mrs lawless first name, from the census of 1881, she was named Bridget married to Patrick, son called Patrick all from Ireland...rest of the children from Rochdale and Huddersfield.....no trace of them earlier than that in the UK. trying to find out where in Ireland they were from and when they came here......would there be any records of any sailing from Ireland? I assume they arrived in Liverpool......Bridget would have been my GGG grandmother, her daughter Margaret had a daughter Mary Ellen who married my Granfather Henry.....this is as far back as I can get as yet on that side of the family......my other set of g grandparents are even tougher.....all I have is my Grandfathers marriage cert, year of birth and that's it, no place of birth, just his fathers name Thomas jones.....Boatman. he was however married in derby while a serving soldier, (no army reg or number though).....how frustrating is this genealogy lark ? ahh well back to the laptop to look some more....many thanks for your reply and help, much appreciated ...........Paul

 

[Karen Strother]

Hi Jonah
You could try IGI - Familysearch.org for any records. You can choose a country in drop down box for searching. You can also try their record search piolt in top toolbar menu. Have you tried just googling the family name? I have attained info in this way a few times.
You can also google for Irish family history - there are a few good searching sites freely available. It will help greatly if you know the town they were from as Irish records can get complex to us newbies! Ancestry.co.uk is wonderful -they have lots of records and you don't have to join, I pay per view and get very reasonable access to records this way.
Good luck
Karen

Hi Nainmaddie,
yes I now have Mrs lawless first name, from the census of 1881, she was named Bridget married to Patrick, son called Patrick all from Ireland...rest of the children from Rochdale and Huddersfield.....no trace of them earlier than that in the UK. trying to find out where in Ireland they were from and when they came here......would there be any records of any sailing from Ireland? I assume they arrived in Liverpool......Bridget would have been my GGG grandmother, her daughter Margaret had a daughter Mary Ellen who married my Granfather Henry.....this is as far back as I can get as yet on that side of the family......my other set of g grandparents are even tougher.....all I have is my Grandfathers marriage cert, year of birth and that's it, no place of birth, just his fathers name Thomas jones.....Boatman. he was however married in derby while a serving soldier, (no army reg or number though).....how frustrating is this genealogy lark ? ahh well back to the laptop to look some more....many thanks for your reply and help, much appreciated ...........Paul

 

[brentor boy]

Hi Jonah777,

Two points:- I worked on the 2001 census and know that some responses were "best guesses" and suspect that other replies were deliberately "imprecise". Remember that most official records only record the information provided. If the informant does not know the truth, or does not want the truth to be known, then they could mis-lead. Whenever possible try and have any "fact" confirmed from more than one source.

The good news is that, in UK, you should be able to have free access to Ancestry at your local library - assuming you are a member.