The collection of household schedules is complete, although around five per cent sustained water damage many years ago. All records have been scanned and transcribed, though inevitably the water-damaged documents are of poorer quality. The National Archives give no warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or fitness for the purpose of the information provided. Census returns don't only help us determine who our ancestors were, they can also help to open new lines of enquiry as to details of their own lives and those around them, by giving us all or some of the following information:.
As well as giving us the above information, the fact that census returns are taken every ten years also allows us to track the movements of our ancestors through time as they perhaps move house, get married, have children or even change occupations. When you view a transcript, you will see that a long sequence of letters and numbers appears underneath the name.
This is the Census Reference and is, in effect, a very complicated page number that identifies the location of the paper record at The National Archives. Before the records were digitised, this number was the only way of finding the original paper document within the millions that are stored in the repositories at The National Archives.
For the purposes of searching on the internet, this reference is no longer necessary. But it should still be cited when you compile your family tree, and in case you want to compare records with someone else, and be sure that you have the same person and household. There are many reasons why it may be difficult for you to find your ancestor, but some of the known issues with the census, and some difficulties in tracing relatives are detailed below, with tips on how to find out more where applicable:.
Because the documents transcribed were handwritten by each individual head of household there is a wide variety in the quality and condition of the writing. There are inevitably some errors in the transcription of the census, which result in spelling errors, although the census has exceeded the accuracy target of This means that they will never be available online, and the original household page will be the only page that you receive when you pay for an image.
You should still be able to locate the original household page through the other search fields. View a list of the affected counties and registration sub-districts. The census sustained water damage many years ago, before the documents were transferred to The National Archives. This has made the text on a very small number of household pages illegible and we have been unable to transcribe them.
In other cases, you will be able to find the original household page, but the document will inevitably be of poorer quality. It is possible that the householder spelled a name incorrectly on the household form, especially if the person you are looking for was not a member of the family, such as a lodger or servant. Or it could be the spelling you have obtained from another source is wrong. Diminutives, nicknames and name changes.
It was not uncommon for people to be known by a diminutive name or nickname entirely different to that filled in on the form. So, for example, your great-great grandmother, who everyone knew as Polly, might actually have been christened and named on the census as Mary; and your great uncle Jack's birth name might have been John. Also, it was common for immigrants to anglicise their names, so the Polish writer Teodor Josef Konrad Korzeniowski, is listed on the census as Joseph Conrad.
Other people who changed their names included bigamists and others who wished to avoid being traced by the authorities. Only the age was required on the census; the year of birth that is listed in the transcript has been calculated from the age that was given, so could be a year out. It was very common for people to lie about their age on the census, so even if you have other official documentation that states their age, you should bear in mind that this may not agree with the census form.
Exact numbers will never be known, but it is estimated that thousands of women may be missing from the census. Many women made sure that they stayed away from the family home all night, and were not listed on the census at all. In such cases, they will simply be untraceable via the census. In other cases either the woman or her husband if he was head of the household refused to list the female household members on the form.
Sometimes, the presence of females in the house is indicated by a statement notifying the enumerator of their refusal to complete the census, or by a protest slogan on the form; but the number of females and their personal details were not recorded. Other people may simply not have been at home, or may have been hiding for other reasons and will not be included in the enumerator's records.
A census is taken at an address, not specifically of a family or household. If individuals were visiting friends or relatives that evening, they may, however, be included in the census at that particular address. Many people, particularly young, unmarried women, were in service and may be found at the residence of their employers. Medical staff in hospitals, wardens in prisons, and night-workers in factories would be recorded at their work rather than home address.
Patients or inmates held in institutions such as asylums and prisons were often enumerated solely by the first letters of their first and last names. Unfortunately, this makes finding these ancestors on the census practically impossible. The records for the military establishments overseas cover around , soldiers based at bases, while the naval records include around 36, naval personnel on Royal Navy Ships overseas.
As with other searches, you should start by entering only a small amount of information i. When searching for military personnel you should avoid entering details for other members of the household, as they were recorded separately fromfamily members who were on the base. You will therefore need to do separate searches in order to locate different family members on the same base.
If you know the name of the ship or overseas military establishment that your ancestor served on, you can narrow down the results by entering:. It officially began on June 1, A total of commissioners were appointed to coordinate the census. Reporting to the commissioners, 9, enumerators were then assigned to a clearly defined area.
Enumerators visited census districts, divided into multiple enumeration units. These units were made up of cities, towns, groups of townships, Indian reserves, and other less well-defined areas. In unorganized regions, First Nation reserves and the Northwest Territories, special agents including employees of the Department of Indian Affairs and members of the Royal North West Mounted Police could act as enumerators.
In , the Dominion Bureau of Statistics was authorized by the Public Records Committee to microfilm and destroy the original paper records of the Census. As a result, only a microfilm copy of the census exists as an archival holding. The microfilming of these records was not of consistent quality and not all images are readable. The digitized images found on the Library and Archives Canada LAC website have been made by scanning the microfilms of the Census.
As exact copies, a page that was unreadable on microfilm will also be unreadable on your computer screen. Title pages appear before each sub-district; they contain this information:.
These records and those of previous censuses are described in the Statistics Canada fonds, formerly Record Group 31 RG The enumeration data were collected using 13 documents, known as schedules, which included a total of questions.
For large cities, a street index was created by Statistics Canada after the completion of the census. This index allows you to quickly find which sub-district or division, street, avenue or specific institution has been enumerated. See Censuses — Street Indexes. Instructions to enumerators were given on how to collect the names and other information in Those instructions can be found in Instructions to officers, commissioners and enumerators.
Special instructions were given to enumerators for the Yukon and the Northwest Territories. Those instructions can be found in Special instructions given to enumerators in Yukon and the Northwest Territories.
This research tool contains 7,, records that are searchable by name. The database entries are in the original language used in the documents. This information was not translated. The search screen enables you to search by name of person or by place. The Census was enumerated by census districts and sub-districts, and the records were compiled accordingly. Therefore, knowledge of the districts and sub-districts is of value in locating either an individual or a geographic location.
To assist with district names and sub-district descriptions, a list of Census Districts and Sub-districts is provided. How To Guides Census What information does the census contain? News Ancestry pledge to help uncover family wartime stories ahead of Remembrance Day 05 November News New project to share restored Halloween memories 29 October
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