Comments on: Ask the Expert - disappearing act

By: Sue

Sue — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 05:16:20 +0000

I would go for the mis-transcription. I have had two.
One grandparents (Bennett) found in both 1891 and 1911 and missing on 1901 on Ancestry found on Findmypast site. Using the address I then found them on Ancestry and can only say the transcriber was having a bad day.
The second one is a spelling varient of Shields/Sheilds (Scottish census).
Good luck
Sue

By: Robert

Robert — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 06:28:23 +0000

I found Harry Skillings transcribed as Harry. S. Killings and Pounds transcribed as Rounds.

Robert

By: Bettina Tragen nee Sylvester

Bettina Tragen nee Sylvester — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 01:59:10 +0000

Bibz - I have some Humphries on my tree. The tree is stored on genesreunited - let me know if you’d like to see it. Either on genes site (maiden name) or facebook (married name).

By: Marian Buller

Marian Buller — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:06:19 +0000

Locating children on the census is the best way of finding the family if you do not find the parents. Researching for the adults in the 1881 Census was a blank but when I looked for the children they were living with their re-married grandmother (different name) but all other details were correct and I found their step grandfather. I think the parents were in Malta, as that is where the next child was born.

By: Ann

Ann — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 09:33:25 +0000

I did not realize my Lewington family dissappeared until I tripped over a divorce petition. Married 1850 in Islington, London son born 1851. Another child born 1854. The 1882 divorce petition stated she and her husband had lived “at Hornsey Road Islington Middlesex at New York and other places in the United States of America at No 3 Smiths Place Kennington Lane..”. Sure enough William Ester and infant son arrived in New York January 1852! Need to find their return trip!

By: Bibz

Bibz — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 08:58:34 +0000

I have come across problems researching the 1891 census for Swindon, Wlitshire…. I have been researching the surnames Humphries and Kibblewhite.
I can find my Great-Grandfather Edward and his father Edwin, but not his Mother Margaret and a few of his sisters and a brother.
I can find no trace of my Great-Great-Grandfather Hugh Kibblewhite and his wife Mary Jane in 1891, but I have them in every census from 1861,71,81 and in 1901… a lot of records I have looked for in 1891 in Swindon and surrounding villages like Purton, Lydiard Millicent and Lydiard Tregorze seem to be missing.
Has anyone else come across similar problems??

By: Ruth

Ruth — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 08:36:30 +0000

I had problems finding my ancestors as names had been incorrectly recorded in the 1841 census as Bridges instead of Briggs.

By: Jan

Jan — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 23:06:06 +0000

I had been looking for the LUCKIN family in Chatham, Kent for some time. I had found the family in 1881 census and 1891 census, but could not find them in 1901. George died in 1901 and I was able to find the address from his death certificate - this then enabled me to find that address on the census. The family was listed as JACKIN not LUCKIN.

By: Jim

Jim — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 20:32:06 +0000

Methods I have used to find “missing” ancestors on a census:

1. search not just the head of household, but all members
(I have one family in 1861 where I have yet to locate the husband, but found the wife and daughters living in different households, likely the husband was either working abroad, in hospital, or in jail).

2. search using only the first name, year of birth, and location. If the original is hard to read, the indexer may get the first name correct, especially if it’s a common name, but miss on the surname. (This works if the person was in the same town the census before and after, and you can limit the search to the location, but not if they moved around)

By: Christine

Christine — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:08:55 +0000

never give up on searching for mis-transcriptions. I finally found MARY BARROWCLOUGH indexed as PORARY BARNOWSKY!