Transcription Errors

All census data has been transcribed from original census pages as accurately as possible. Understandably some handwriting, fading and paper damage can occasionally make reading original data difficult. In most of these instances we cross reference the data with birth, marriage and death records, local history or parish registers in order to decipher the text.

Where it is still not possible to figure out what was originally written you may see questionmarks replacing original letters or words for example you may see William H???ing.

Occassionally you may be lucky enough to have more information that the original census had. For example if we have double checked a surname with baptism records and found the person in question
and found a middle name which does not appear on the census then this would be added to the transcription.

A common correction we make is with step children and people 'in-law'. Many people wrote that a child was a son/daughter in law when, in todays understanding we would call them step children. Where this has occured we have investigated whether this is the case and corrected the entry accordingly.

Spelling

In most cases spelling has been copied as it appears in the censuses. However, if the spelling of a common surname in an area is found with different spellings we will usually try to correct the spelling overall so it is easier to search. For example a popular surname in this area of Sussex was Dyer. Some censuses spell it Dier. As the most common spelling is with a Y and the surname that exists today is spelt with a Y that is how it has been transcribed so that it is easier to find.

Other spelling changes which we have made are common first names. For example you will generally see Harriet but not Harriett or Hariet and Ann but not Anne. This is to make searching easier.

Abbreviations

Most abbrevations on censuses we have expanded so they are more easy to understand. You will still find some though. MS and FS are common in the 1841 censuses and these stand for Male Servant and Female Servant you may also see Ind which stands for Independent. DS appears in later censuses which stands for Domestic Servant. NK can appear anywhere and stands for Not Known.

'emp' is a common abbreviation we have used which can be found in the 'Occupation' column. This usually means employing e.g. 'Farmer 100acres emp 4labs 3boys' means 'Farmer holding 100 acres of land employing 4 labourers and 3 boys'.

Column Headings

Schedule numbers are just a note of buildings that where surveyed and they do not really have much use now unless you happen to find a census map to correspond with them. Don't be fooled into thinking they are house numbers!

'Address' is usually rather vague but they get more descriptive in later censuses and can even give house numbers or house names.

In most of the censuses you will see a 'Relation' column which is the persons relationship to the head of the household.

'Condition' is the marital condition which is as follows, m=married, s=single and w=widow/widower.

'Disability' covers many things and there is usually a brief discription.

Further Errors

If you happen to find anything which you know is incorrect do please let us know so we can correct them