|
|
|
Family History - England
Part 4
Census Records & Old Handwriting
|
|
Census Stuff
History:
• The first genealogically helpful census for England and Wales was taken in 1841 and has since been taken every 10 years.
• Each census is made available 100 years after it was taken; thus, the last census available to the public was taken in 1901.
1841:
• This census includes the name of each person in a household and their occupations. It also gives a person’s age (though ages over 15 years were rounded down to the nearest five) and states whether the person was born in the county in which the census was taken.
• This census is on microfilm at the Family History Library and is rarely indexed. To find your ancestor, type in your parish of interest in “Place Search” and go to “Census.” Your ancestor’s parish will be included with several other parishes on the same microfilm. The parishes are separated by blank space on the microfilm and are often in alphabetical order.
1851-1901:
• These censuses include: the street name, name of each person in the household, relationship to the head of the family (wife, son, etc.), age, occupation, and parish and county of birth. The ages are not rounded like they are in the 1841 census.
• The 1841 through 1901 censuses can be searched at www.ancestry.co.uk
Handwriting Help
General:
• The study of ancient handwriting is called Paleography.
• Some letters were interchangeable, such as ‘u’ and ‘v.’ Also, the letter ‘s’ can be confused with ‘f’ and ‘d’ with ‘a.’
• ‘Ye’ means ‘the.’ A small ‘p’ with a line through it is an abbreviation for ‘par,’ ‘per,’ or ‘pro.’ A line over a word means the word has been abbreviated.
Latin:
• Latin was often used before 1733.
• Some terms: filius = son, filia = daughter, uxor = wife, vidua = widow, sepultus = buried, conjugus, copulatus = married.
• Suffixes: ‘us’ = masculine subject (Robertus filius = Robert son of),
‘i’ = masculine possessive (Robertus filius Anthoni = Robert son of Anthony),
‘a’ = feminine subject, ‘ae’ = feminine possessive.
• If you find a Latin word and don’t know what it is, try typing it into Google with the word ‘Latin’ and you’ll likely find a translation.
Numbers:
• Roman numerals were often used, so brush up on what you learned in Elementary School! x = 10, v = 5, i = 1. The last ‘i’ in a number was often written like a ‘j,’ so ‘iiij’ = 4.
• Money: £ = pound, s = shilling, and d = pence.
Tips:
• Reading old handwriting gets easier with practice!!!
• If you don’t know what a letter is, search for that same letter on the page you are looking at. You may be able to figure it out by using other examples.
• Don’t be afraid to ask volunteers at the Family History Library for help.
Dates
General:
• Until 1752, the English calendar began at the end of March, so a christening that occurred 2 February 1710 actually took place in 1711 according to the modern calendar. We write this date as 2 February 1710/1711 and it is called “double-dating.”
• In general, dates like this in the International Genealogical Index are just written as one year and it is the modern equivalent, so the above christening would be written as 2 February 1711 in this index.
|
|
|
|
Click here to learn about professional research through Legacy Tree Genealogy. For additional genealogy tips, click here.
|
|
|
|
|
|
