Getting help with British Censuses

The good news is that genealogists have a habit of trying to help fellow researchers when ever they can.

The bad news is that only the 1881 census is readily accessible in machine readable format, i.e. on a PC.

Other censuses have been partially transcribed by individuals, sometimes as part of Family History Society projects, other times because the individual just wanted to do it.

Some individuals have taken the opportunity to put their transcriptions onto the internet in their own web sites. There is no full listing of these sites, and you can get to hear of them because somebody else tells you about them, you can read about them in Family History Journals, you can do a web search using key words. TRY THE INTERNET SEARCH from this web site.

By far the vast majority of information rests on microfiche or microfilm, either in the possession of individuals or Family History Societies. Access to this data is therefore dependent upon the time that those individuals can devote to helping you, should you ever ask them.

Another way of finding information is to join a 'LIST'. These are e-mail distribution lists, where folks with the same interest regularly communicate with each other through a mailing list. They share information and ask each other questions in the hope that someone else on the list has the answer. LISTS are very effective in what they do, but is is very easy to innocently 'jump in the deep end'.

Example 1

When asking for a service on a LIST, the usual format is "Can SKS do a 'look up' in the 1861 census for John Smith in Puddletown?"

Now this is fairly short and to the point and translated this means Can some-kind-soul check the 1861 census for Puddletown and see if they can find a John Smith, if they can, would they please tell me what it says?

Most times, if someone has a copy of the 1861 census, and if they have some spare time, they will try and help out and do a 'search' for you. But remember that for Britain that usually means a painstaking search of either a microfiche or a microfilm, so the best advice to be given is don't overload the system with numerous requests, and don't be disappointed if you never get a response ... on the other hand you may get lucky so don't shy off asking a question.

is the key to the sharing of information. In its simplest form it involves the writing down of records or information on paper. Now as we all use the WWW more and more, we find an outstanding medium for communication, so when you find something new which you think should be shared with the world ... send me an e-mail.

Example 2

My name is Fred Smith and I am researching all Smiths in Puddletown between 1840 and 1930, anyone else doing the same thing?

So as you can see requests for help are fairly informal. The best thing is go and join a list and see the type of questions and answers that occur.

Remember the good news ... that genealogists have a habit of trying to help fellow researchers when ever they can.

Joining & finding LISTS

The normal practice when joining a list is to send an e-mail to the list owner with the single word 'subscribe' in the 'body' of the message. When you wish to finish belonging to the list, you send another e-mail to the same place with the word 'unsubscribe' in the body of the message.

You don't need to do more than this because most 'lists membership' is handled automatically by a server somewhere. The server (PC) reads the line 'subscribe' or 'unsubscribe', reads the e-mail address of the sender, then either adds or deletes the senders name from the list. Once on a list be prepared to receive lots of e-mails because you automatically receive a copy of every mail sent to the list. This can be as many as 100 e-mails per day for a popular list.

If the thought of 100 mails a day is daunting, then subscribe to the 'D' list. A normal list will be called 'subject'-L, so for example if you want to join the Puddletown list, the list would be called Puddletown-L, however if you just want a summary of the messages, you join Puddletown-D, and in this case you just get one e-mail every couple of days or so.

The best way to find if there is a list (there are over 16,000 !), that meets your needs is to visit Roots-L and the RootsWeb Surname List by clicking here.

Mistakes people make on lists.

The simple mistake most people make is when they want to leave the list, they forget the rule and send e-mails like 'Please remove me from the list' ... 'This is the third time I have asked to be removed from the list, I am going on vacation next week'

Now keep in mind that the server (PC) is looking for one of two words, 'subscribe' or 'unsubscribe'. Everything else is just gibberish ... PCs don't understand Please remove me etc.  So remember it's one of two words in the 'body' of the e-mail, subscribe to join, unsubscribe to leave.