Improve your census searches
When you combine possible lies with the numerous mistranscriptions evident in all the online datasets, searching for the entries you want is not always straightforward. When entering place or personal names, alternative spellings need to be considered as do diminutives or nicknames and the use of wildcards (use * to replace a letter or letters). Some providers handle this problem better than others. Try entering just a surname or forename, perhaps with other information such as date or place of birth. This is easier to do on The Genealogist ( thegenealogist.co.uk) and Ancestry ( ancestry.co.uk). Also try just the county of birth and forget any other detail. Similarly, with ages think well outside any known date of birth.
Online providers have all created their own indexes and transcripts and had to deal with indifferent and sometimes atrocious writing. An entry in Ancestry may be wrongly transcribed, but Findmypast ( findmypast.co.uk) or The Genealogist may have got it right, so if you fail to find your person even with wildcards, you should try one of the other sites or search for another family member in the household.
Search for an address at which you believe the family may have been living: perhaps known from a certificate or an earlier or later census. This is easier on The Genealogist and Findmypast. Think about using a job as a search term, such as ‘gunsmith’ in ‘Birmingham’ – it may be better to enter ‘gun*’ in case the actual entry is ‘gun smith’ or ‘gun barrel’ or similar. The Genealogist lets you search by profession using its ‘keywords’ box (the keywords box on Ancestry doesn’t pick up professions so well).
To access Scottish census images you must use the pay-as-you- go Scotlands People website ( scotlandspeople.gov.uk). However, there are complete transcripts on Ancestry and Findmypast, and free extracts on Family Search (1841-1891) and Free Cen (1841-1871).