Missed census entirely ?

[MaryK]

So - I have a family, parents and 8 children, who are not to be found on the 1881 census on any site using every possible variety of search variables.

They would probably have remained in the same area, they were there in 1871 and again in 1891, although not in the same hamlet/village.

How then can I find them ? They can't be put on Lost Cousins until I do ! Although I have most of the children in 1911 their "link" so to speak is missing

 

[Alexander Bisset]

There are a very very small number of unavailable parishes for various census. You might have been really unlucky. However the most likely cause is awkward transcriptions hiding the entries.

Are they in the same village/parish on 1871 and 1891? If so you can use various techniques to browse a census page by page to try to find them that way. eg: finding a neighbour on one census who is still there on the next this gives you the page then your relatives are likely to be on that page or the one before or one after if they haven't moved.

 

[peter]

Or search the 1881 Census by address, if they had a street address in 1871 or 1891, or on an intervening BMD certificate (many people in rural locations didn't in which case Alexander's suggestion is the next best option).

When you find them, remember to enter them as they appear in the transcription, no matter how badly mangled it is. But fill in the 'Corrected surname' field for at least one of them, so that the Index of Incorrect Surnames is updated at the end of the month.

 

[Tim]

So - I have a family, parents and 8 children, who are not to be found on the 1881 census on any site using every possible variety of search variables.

I have similar issues with people on various censuses, they just seem to completely disappear, and then reappear.

 

[AndyMick]

I had a family in my One Name Study who weren't on 2 censuses (1881 and 1891) - I had them before and after. I searched for the family using forenames only (a useful trick with a surname as mistranscribed as mine), and found them, but with a completely different surname. I confirmed this was the right family later when I found one of the children on the Probate Calendar with a note giving the alias.

 

[MaryK]

Tried searching by forenames - no luck. Tried searching by address - no luck. Tried Alexander's idea - and well, I haven't found them, but - two of the families on the 1871 on the page before my family are both there on the same page in the 1881. They are on Page 17, and the tab on the top of the page on Ancestry says 17 of 18. I got all excited - but page 18 is black - with bits on it that look like the end of the old movie reels - crackly white. So - if they are on the next page and the next page isn't there....... ?

One of the families on their page n 1871 had moved by 1881 - the other 2 must be on the black page too - can't find them otherwise.

Rg11 / 117 / 23 - FMP says no results - please refine your rearch.

 

[Alexander Bisset]

Perhaps that's why they don't appear in the index for whatever reason the page wasn't properly scanned. It may be that you could point out the bad image to Ancestry quoting the link and they might re-scan? Or they may be able to tell you that the original is damaged beyond repair? Being the last page of a book its the most likely to be badly affected by damp or whatever.

 

[MaryK]

Perhaps that's why they don't appear in the index for whatever reason the page wasn't properly scanned. It may be that you could point out the bad image to Ancestry quoting the link and they might re-scan? Or they may be able to tell you that the original is damaged beyond repair? Being the last page of a book its the most likely to be badly affected by damp or whatever.

I have reported it, Alexander, I'll post any results. The father of this family now doesn't appear on LC - born after 1841 and died before 1911 His children are for the most part on for 1911.

 

[Heather]

MaryK, I have sent you a private message via the conversations on this site, as I may be able to help you,. Look in the inbox top right, Heather

 

[peter]

Rg11 / 117 / 23 - FMP says no results - please refine your search.

Ancestry also gives no results for that search - so I suspect you've mistyped one of the references.

 

[MaryK]

Ancestry also gives no results for that search - so I suspect you've mistyped one of the references.

Oops Yes - sorry, RG11 / 1171 / 23 Pg 16. That is George Fielder b. 1825 , uncle of Henry I'm looking for, who was previous page in 1871

 

[Jacqueline]

Alexander's advice for an address search for 1871 couldn't be done (for any address for 1871) on Findmypast the last time I tried though they say they are working on it

 

[Liberty]

I have a family of 4 children and their aunt missing from the 1881 census. The children's parents register, as do the aunt's husband and son, and they all resurface in 1891. My wild guess is that the aunt was visiting her brother and his family, she said, "Don't count me here'and she got missed off both households. That does mean that 'someone' thought the same comment applied to the children.....

 

[Alexander Bisset]

Alexander's advice for an address search for 1871 couldn't be done (for any address for 1871) on Findmypast the last time I tried though they say they are working on it

You don't need to do an address search to follow my advise. Let's say you are looking for a William Smith of 123 Acacia Avenue, Sometown, SomeCounty on the 1881 census and can't find him. If you know that on the 1871 and 1891 census he is living at that address and that his neighbour at 121 Acacia Avenue was Joe Bloggs. You can search for Joe Bloggs on the 1881 census and find him hopefully at 121 Acacia Avenue then see who is next door on the census when you view the image.

Note this works for rural areas too as the census route plans for order to visit houses is usually the same one census to the next depending on how much development there was in the area in the inter census years.

 

[Franb]

Tried searching by forenames - no luck. Tried searching by address - no luck. Tried Alexander's idea - and well, I haven't found them, but - two of the families on the 1871 on the page before my family are both there on the same page in the 1881. They are on Page 17, and the tab on the top of the page on Ancestry says 17 of 18. I got all excited - but page 18 is black - with bits on it that look like the end of the old movie reels - crackly white. So - if they are on the next page and the next page isn't there....... ?

One of the families on their page n 1871 had moved by 1881 - the other 2 must be on the black page too - can't find them otherwise.

Rg11 / 117 / 23 - FMP says no results - please refine your rearch.

Mary,
I had a relative in Plymouth who was in the 1878 & 1880 town directories at a specific address and died at that address in 1883 but she was not in the 1881 census. I found this out back in 1998 and the only real tool I had was the LDS 1881 fiche. I checked every fiche for every county along the South Coast. Nothing. Then the LDS brought out the CD which I purchased. A year later I visited the UK and went to Plymouth and asked to see their film of the handwritten census. On that film I was able to establish what had happened - At the beginning of a section come the instructions to the enumerator to walk on which side of which street and the street where she lived was in his instructions. I went back to the enumerators lists and saw that his written details followed his route until a couple of streets before. At the end of each section is a summary of each page totals and I checked the page numbers and discovered that there were 6 pages which the enumerator had filled in and summarised but weren't in the details. So 6 pages had not been filmed.
When I returned to Australia I wrote to the PRO in Kew giving them the exact details of the census film and the missing six pages in the folio and asked if they could check the original book just in case the pages were there and they had not been filmed. They kindly wrote back to say they had checked the book and discovered that these 6 pages were physically missing. I also asked them if they could check to see if they had been misfiled and they again kindly wrote back to say they had also thought that and checked for that also.
So the end result is that those 6 pages were lost for all eternity.
Francis