Using Census Indexes

With the completion of transcripts on TheGenealogist a full transcription is usually the best starting point. If however you are using CD sets or microfilm and have purchased an online index, you will be able to locate people in the thousands of images.

Whether using film at the local library or census images on CD, the surname indexes will speed up the process by helping you locate the entries you want to view.

The index supplies the Piece and often the Folio number for the page containing the name you are looking for, so you can quickly locate the required page on film. You will also find the full reference to enable you to locate the exact page on the British Data Archive CD image sets.

If you are not sure what Piece and Folio numbers are, take a look at the Anatomy of a Census Page section.

View a sample census page
(.pdf format; Adobe Reader required)

Searching the indexes

The name indexes can be searched using a combination of Forename, Surname and Age (+/– 5 years). To narrow your search down, you can also look at a specific District or Piece number within the County if you know them.

It isn't possible to search across the whole country at once at present, as TheGenealogist's name indexes are currently divided into Counties. However, a country-wide search is being worked on.

Nicknames and variants

Options to include Nicknames in the Forename search enable you to find entries such as Bessie or Bettie when searching for Elizabeth. You can opt to search for Surname variants too, so that Fowle would also find Fowl, Fowell, Foule etc.

Ages

Ages are automatically searched in +/– 5 year bands and you have the option to omit any records from your results with no age recorded.

District

If you know the Enumeration District or the Piece number you wish to search, you can select it to narrow down your search.

Wild cards

The wild card symbol * can be substituted for letters anywhere in a search term, as long as the word contains a string of at least 3 letters.

Thus Rob* will find Roberts, Robertson and Robinson etc., *ton would find Hamilton and Washington and Rob*son would find Robertson and Robinson.

Accuracy and omissions

Remember that the enumeration books themselves are only a transcript of the individual household census forms, so the enumerator may have transcribed the information incorrectly in the first place or the information may simply have been wrong. Also some people managed to miss being enumerated at all, whilst others manage to be in two places at once. To help find awkward entries that have been mis-recorded, the search form offers the facility to use wildcard searches, or to look for nicknames and surname variants.

Follow the other census links to find out more: