Genealogy Chat

After some gratefully appreciated help with a look up I did a search on the 1881 census with just first name, birth place and year of birth for a Clilverd ancestor and the search came back with the entire family living with the grandfather under the name Clitunce. How did the enumerator get it so different they were all literate but all the details are right even the occupations and the address(there are a couple of children I didnt know about maybe they died)Just goes to show try eveything when someone isnt where you think they should be they could be right under your nose.I thought theat the grandfather John must have been dead in 1881 he would have been 81 at the time and have been trying unsucessfully to find his grave, now I know why

Alison, Just out of interest were you looking at a microfilm copy of the 1881 census or was it from the LDS site? I have found the LDS version full of spelling errors as if they have just guessed at the enumerators writing as best they could. One of my ancestors was living at Countop Holife....actually County Hotel. Beryl Darlington DUR

I agree it is very hard when we find that a transcriber has spelt OUR name wrongly. But in all fairness, it is just as difficult now when looking at the originals (or decent film/photo copy). I have recently been trying to read the 1841 census returns for Launton, a small village in Oxfordshire. I have picked out the surnames I am sure of and made a note of the ones which were doubtful. Then start again and I notice that I recognise the shape of the surname because it was slightly more legible on a later page, Then read the census over and over until it becomes clearer. And STILL there are names I am not sure of. It would be brilliant if we could have a definitive transcription of all the records. Maybe when they have all been transcribed they will find a way of tagging the ones which are absolutely correct, and amending the others on an ongoing basis. After all, we want correct information and it should be in our collective capability to ensure that the copy is as accurate as the original. But still I raise my glass in honour of Philimore and all the others who have toiled to make obscure records available to us all. Jim Gosport, HAM UK

Beryl It was the LDS site, I was wondering how the name got so far from the original and have spent all day writing out the name Clilverd to see how they got Clitunce, manged to get it looking Clilund they must have had terrible writing