Census Tips
WDYTYA? Magazine editor Sarah Williams reveals how you can track down those elusive ancestors
We reveal how to track down your family in every census
Finding your ancestors in the census is one of the great joys of family history. From 1841 to 1911, the ten-yearly snapshots enable you to follow someone’s progression through life. If your searches run smoothly you will find them at home with their parents and siblings as a child, then discover them as a young adult forging a career (or making ends meet). Later you may find them married and with their own children, so the process continues with the next generation.
The census forms the bedrock of 19th- and early 20th-century research for family historians, so it can be especially frustrating when you can’t find someone in a particular year. Sometimes it can feel like looking for a needle in a haystack. And who knows what that missing entry might reveal? Finding someone who isn’t where you expect them to be could lead to a fascinating story.
Most people we may think of as ‘missing’ from the census are just tucked away somewhere, waiting to be found. It could be a case of a mistranscription in the index, or incorrect information in the original record. Over the next five pages I will be sharing some of the tips that I have picked up over the years from my own research and talking to the magazine’s readers and contributors. As you will see, understanding all of the different reasons why someone isn’t coming up in your search results, including knowing how different search engines work, will help you to find that needle in the census haystack.