Genealogy Chat

Hiya, i have just recently started out on this and I'm lucky to have a surname where there are not thousands of members. But something I learnt yesterday..... If you go on the census site and just put in a surname, providing there aren't too many it will list them for you..... I then printed it out without a chargeable search, took it home to hubby and he told me which he thought were family and which weren't..... I then did a chargeable (75p) in depth search on one of them and it gave me everyone in that household which included all that he thought were family..... this won't help if you're looking up a smith but just thought it might help someone somewhere!! Happy researching!!

thank you for that info but i am even more basic than a beginner. is there a web site to check the censur from and if so please could you tell m it. cheers julie

Julie, Just put 1901 census into your search engine and you will find it. Ann Glos

Either that or click the links on the left hand side of your page and it will show you a Census site you can use.

Diana this is a really good tip. I did this a while back as I had several unusual names and saved the names into a spreadhseet for future reference. It highlighted to me when people had the same occupations and gave me some leads which I'm able to follow up now and cross reference.

I have done something similar, saving the info I got onto a data base. It is easier with unusual names as there are fewer results. I just put the surname into 1901 search facility, copied and pasted the names into Access then went back to 1901 website. If you use the RIGHT mouse button and click on the name you get a drop down menu. Click properties and this gives you an ID number, copy and paste next to the corresponding person you have just put into access. When you have done this for everyone, click on the top of the ID column and sort in assending order. This will then group your people together using the ID as a reference. You will find that people who have consecutive numbers lived together. I have also used the decoder but found that if you save the results and continue to manipulate it, the info you have gathered changes with each manipulation. Karen

Karen, great tip about the ID numbers! I had never checked this before. Could save a fortune in incorrect lookups!

The census decoder does this for you. The key is to do all the searches in one session. After about 10 minutes of idle time, your session is reset and so are the ID numbers. Crista

Mmm, I got tired of the census decoder. I always seemed to have time out problems with it.

Thank you Diane,your tip has helped my research,I did as you suggested and there was, my young Grandmother, I paid a fee and there was, eleven of my ancestors in the same address.

I've found the decoder invaluable (once I got my head around it). I put in a surname and area then search for kids age 5 +/-5 then kids 11 +/-5 etc. Then I end up with loads of possible rellies, group by person id and it gives you loads of families! And of course its free! Rachel

Hi, Thanks for your tip, I went on the census finder tonight and typed in my family name and hay presto think I've found a relative in America. Laurie