Census: Genealogical Work Horse

By Sherry Irvine, MSC CG FSA Scot

Takes on Common Problems

Computers, indexes and digitized images have made the census more useful than ever. It was a problem solver before and has become a better one especially for at least four fundamental problems: not knowing when and where to look, coping with missing records, picking ancestors out of a crowd with the same name, and getting around problems created by human error.

1. Don't know when or where to search: Indexes to census returns mean this does not cause much of a problem any more. In addition, the census can narrow a search in other records in terms of time span and geographic area; e.g., for birth searches, the census provides the person's age and the birthplace; for marriages, the birth dates of children are clues; for a move, or for a death, the date can be roughly estimated because the census entry disappears.
   
   
2. A vital record is missing: In such cases the census provides sufficient detail to estimate vital events and, as a result, direct the search in alternate sources.
   
   
3. The ancestor's name is common and it is difficult to reconstruct a family or isolate one person from dozens with the same name. The census helps with by provide important "identifiers" such as age, birthplace, occupation, and the grouping of family members in a household.
   
   
4. Human error has "hidden" another record containing important genealogical data: Often it is the facts within the census that make it possible to search for the hidden ancestor. Computer searches have options for manipulating data, thus giving alternatives for a difficult search. It is necessary to check tips for use of the search tool provided with any online or CD-ROM census return.

We all know human error does not go away and computer indexing creates new opportunities for it to occur. After all, another stage has been added to the data delivery process, and the creators of new indexes are just as likely to misread enumerators' handwriting, skip entries, etc. This is something to be aware of but the problem is less serious; automation provides searching alternatives. In no time at all you can try spelling variants or use wild card symbols.

Adds Value to a Search

Automated census indexes and images are so easy to use they are a good check for accuracy against other records. Needless to say, the value of such checking increases with the number of census returns searched.

Value comes also from all of us being more willing to be thorough. Worthy but often tedious tactics urged upon us in the past are possible, even interesting. We can do things like search for all members of a family within a 20-mile radius or in a town of 50,000 or more inhabitants. It is easy to check where an absent father was on census night, and clear images mean we are more inclined to browse back and forth around one image looking at the characteristics of a neighbourhood.

Conclusion

How many records show entire families together in one place at one time? How many are as accessible as the census? Automated census records online and on CD-ROM present another advantage, the ability to check more than one version or format, prepared by different indexers and set out with different search tools. The census certainly is the workhorse of genealogy.

See also:

British Origins Collection: England & Wales Census 1871