Genealogy Chat

Has anybody access to the 1881 census for Kent OTHER THAN LDS, as the ages for RG11, piece/folio 1015/6, page 6 for the Sherwood family at West Hythe, Kent do not make sense on LDS. The LDS shows the head, Francis as 86 and his wife Alice 69, with children aged 30, 29 and 4. The 30 and 29 year olds tie in with what I have checked on the parish records at Canterbury, brothers of my great grandfather. However, the marriage record for Francis and Alice on 10/9/1849 gives him as full age and her as 18. Alice was baptised on 7/4/1833, so she may have only been 16 when married or else baptised when 2. I suspect that there is a transcription error, that the 86 should be 56 and the 69 should be 49, but the only way to verify would be with the original census or a different transcript. Grateful thanks in advance if anyone can help.

Only guessing here, but is it possible that the 4 year old is the daughter of one of the older children, but taken on by the parents. It did happen

Hi there Brian I have the 1881 census on disc and have had a look for you, unfortunately the details are the same on my discs as they are on the LDS site. There must be something wrong as there is no way that Alice at 69 would have a 4 year old child. The only way to check this is to find the original fiche or film. If you have found their Marriage certificate, then I should take their ages off this. I can only suggest that the enumerator was a bit deaf and put down what he thought was right. If you write to the main library in Kent enclosing a stamped and addressed envelope giving the piece and folio numbers, so they can easily find what you want, I feel sure that they will look for you without charge. Best of luck, Mary Beckett

Thanks, Carol & Mary I am going to have to have another trip down to Kent to locate the birth of Francis's father John in the parish records, so I'll go look at the original census return then, although I might try writing first, as suggested, to cut out a delay. Also, the youngest child of Francis and Alice that I have was 1861, in Lympne, so it may be that they moved away from there and had more kids before that 1877 one. A look at the 1871 census should sort that out. Still, in the last 8 days I've got more info on my mother's side of the family than in the last six months, so it's not all negative.