Reading census returns

Mint Sauce · 02-01-2010 7:17pm #1

need some pointers/help on reading the census returns. i have looked up some of the 1911 returns for family members i know, and learnt today that at the time of it been taken, 3 generations were in the one house, can see on the form the relationship between the head of the household and the other individuals, but how can i see the relationship of the individuals.

ie, form has the head of the households name, sons names, a daughter in law and then neices and nephews (which i'm certain should be grandchildren), now for selected family, i know speaking to surviving family members whose who and their relationship, but say if i didn't have this resource, how would i know for example from the form which son the daughter in law was married too

thanks in advance

pinkypinky · 02-01-2010 7:34pm

Well, it's usually obvious. I'm presuming there's a lot of people on this return and that you can't tell from ages?
Do you want to post a link to the relevant return?

If there are multiple married couples, you could try cross-referencing the man's name with the woman's first name on the LDS index site and use the number of years married as a starting point.

Mint Sauce · 02-01-2010 8:11pm

for the realvent return i know the relationships of all the individuals

would assume it to be obvious if just two generations were listed, ie, 2 parents and kids, but this return has three generations, i knew who was who prior to viewing from talking to surviving family and neighbours, just used my grandfathers name and birthplace (his grandmother listed as the head of household) as a staring off point to see how the return was laid out

but say for example in responce to your question

If there are multiple married couples

is there anything on the return to say whos kids were whose, and which daugher/son in law is married to which son/daughter if there was more than one married couple listed, only thing i can see on the example return is the relationship to the head of the household

not sure what the LDS index site is, all research to date has been through talking to family/neighbours

Alicat · 02-01-2010 9:16pm

If you post a link for your return we might be able to help you decipher it

Mint Sauce · 02-01-2010 10:40pm

apolagies if not explaining my self to well, the return i have looked at i have no problem deciphering, the people on it including inlaws span three generations, i know all the individuals from speaking to surviving family members, the point i was making although i know which inlaw was married to which person, the return does not indicate it

but as an example, looking at the general layout of the return, it only shows the relationship between the head of household and individuals, question was, was there any thing on the 1911 census that you could indicate the relationship between individuals, say for example, head of house hold is mr x, on the form he has listed two sons, two daughter in laws, and 2 grandchildren, and again this is just an example, would have there been anything on there that you could incate which in law was married to which son, and which children were theirs

i ask this now, if i pursue in looking at my tree further, i might eventully come arcross a return, that again lists inlaws and more that two generations and names i dont know

Alicat · 02-01-2010 10:57pm

Well it depends who filled in the census and what made them write it in whichever order!

Logically, either the separate little family units are listed together in a row, or it goes from oldest child down, so the first son/daughter in law listed would be the eldest child's partner. But neither of these might be the case. Totally depends on how they wrote it.

I have a grandchild listed on one of my returns but I don't know whose it is as there aren't even any in-laws mentioned so you might never know! Only way to find out will be birth certs really, or finding marriage certs and by means of elimination depending on the years you might be able to work some out. If you know the name and age of one of the children you can see if their birth cert (complete with names of parents) is listed. http://ifhf.brsgenealogy.com/index.php

And thinking about it more, there might even be a way to do it without paying for it on that site. It allows you to fill in the name of the father in the search, so by running the search for the child's birth cert, with the year, and trying each father's name, that might work. If you're unfamiliar with that site or you want a hand let me know. I've spent a lot of money on that site over the last 18 months!

pinkypinky · 03-01-2010 1:45pm

Irish Stew,

The answer is there's no way to tell this since the relationship is only related to the head of house but as Alicat says, logic suggests you would put down each family group together.

If you have a read of the sticky at the top of this forum, I've explained all about the LDS index, which is the indexes of all births deaths and marriages for Ireland from 1864 (1845 for non Catholic marriages) to 1958 (or 1922 for NI). You can probably manipulate it to tell you who the parents are without having to buy certs (which you get from the General Register Office).

Pinky

Reading census returns

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