Comments on: Census 1911 http://www.redmum.ie/2009/09/census-1911/ the times and perils of a single parent Sun, 15 Jan 2012 23:10:35 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: Eilish http://www.redmum.ie/2009/09/census-1911/comment-page-1/#comment-4364 Eilish Thu, 24 Sep 2009 03:18:04 +0000 http://www.redmum.ie/?p=1103#comment-4364 Having pored over years of U.S. census documents this past summer, I was struck immediately by the clarity of the original Irish census documents. American census data was written by 'census takers' who often had bad handwriting and made errors in transcribing the spoken data. Irish census data was written by heads of households themselves who seemed to make every effort to write in their best handwriting. It was a real surprise. Additionally, the viewing options for the Irish data are amazing. The whole site is something to be proud of and a great resource. Having pored over years of U.S. census documents this past summer, I was struck immediately by the clarity of the original Irish census documents. American census data was written by ‘census takers’ who often had bad handwriting and made errors in transcribing the spoken data. Irish census data was written by heads of households themselves who seemed to make every effort to write in their best handwriting. It was a real surprise. Additionally, the viewing options for the Irish data are amazing. The whole site is something to be proud of and a great resource.

]]> By: redmum http://www.redmum.ie/2009/09/census-1911/comment-page-1/#comment-4202 redmum Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:50:38 +0000 http://www.redmum.ie/?p=1103#comment-4202 Thanks everyone for the comments, great to hear your stories too. I will check out the other sources, ie General Register office. And Decs and Karen - sorry to disappoint about your families' penmanship, I believe particular areas would have been written by the same person. And all school children were called scholars :) (which is kinda cool). Thanks everyone for the comments, great to hear your stories too. I will check out the other sources, ie General Register office.

And Decs and Karen – sorry to disappoint about your families’ penmanship, I believe particular areas would have been written by the same person. And all school children were called scholars :) (which is kinda cool).

]]> By: AnFearbui http://www.redmum.ie/2009/09/census-1911/comment-page-1/#comment-4151 AnFearbui Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:44:34 +0000 http://www.redmum.ie/?p=1103#comment-4151 You should check out the general Register Office in the Irish Life Centre on lower abbey Street. http://www.groireland.ie/research.htm It will hold an index of all births deaths and marriages for Northern Ireland from 1864 to 1921 & you can get copies of the originals. You should check out the general Register Office in the Irish Life Centre on lower abbey Street.
http://www.groireland.ie/research.htm
It will hold an index of all births deaths and marriages for Northern Ireland from 1864 to 1921 & you can get copies of the originals.

]]> By: Orlaith Finnegan http://www.redmum.ie/2009/09/census-1911/comment-page-1/#comment-4146 Orlaith Finnegan Wed, 09 Sep 2009 21:03:01 +0000 http://www.redmum.ie/?p=1103#comment-4146 I also had great fun looking up the census and then querying older family members for background on my predecessors. Turns out my great great grandfather, Lawrence Barry, was a FIanna Fáil councillor at one stage in Cork (much to my chagrin :)) and when he passed away his son James held the seat. According to my family, he fell out with the party after movement of the constituency boundary effected him negatively. It's believed that he resigned his seat in protest. That was interesting to find out. If I hadn't raised the question about him after seeing the census I'd never have known. Sadly infant mortality seemed to feature quite a lot in the census forms I accessed. Both sides of my family recorded quite a lot more births than there was living children. Having pressed for information from family I discovered that at least one young child died of dyptheria. Nothing is known about the others. It also made me think, gosh, what will my descendants make of me? We won't be leaving behind any grainy mystery as our lives are forever catalogued in cyberspace. Must think twice before I tweet! I also had great fun looking up the census and then querying older family members for background on my predecessors. Turns out my great great grandfather, Lawrence Barry, was a FIanna Fáil councillor at one stage in Cork (much to my chagrin :) ) and when he passed away his son James held the seat. According to my family, he fell out with the party after movement of the constituency boundary effected him negatively. It’s believed that he resigned his seat in protest. That was interesting to find out. If I hadn’t raised the question about him after seeing the census I’d never have known.

Sadly infant mortality seemed to feature quite a lot in the census forms I accessed. Both sides of my family recorded quite a lot more births than there was living children. Having pressed for information from family I discovered that at least one young child died of dyptheria. Nothing is known about the others. It also made me think, gosh, what will my descendants make of me? We won’t be leaving behind any grainy mystery as our lives are forever catalogued in cyberspace. Must think twice before I tweet!

]]> By: John http://www.redmum.ie/2009/09/census-1911/comment-page-1/#comment-4143 John Wed, 09 Sep 2009 10:56:21 +0000 http://www.redmum.ie/?p=1103#comment-4143 Wow simply amazing! I must check out the census Wow simply amazing! I must check out the census

]]> By: WillKnott.ie » Blog Archive » Touching the past http://www.redmum.ie/2009/09/census-1911/comment-page-1/#comment-4139 WillKnott.ie » Blog Archive » Touching the past Tue, 08 Sep 2009 22:52:32 +0000 http://www.redmum.ie/?p=1103#comment-4139 [...] miles apart, but the learned writing style is nearly the same throughout the country. Redmum has reproduced her ancestor’s census form and you can see the writing style there. I’m not reproducing mine. I’m keeping some [...] [...] miles apart, but the learned writing style is nearly the same throughout the country. Redmum has reproduced her ancestor’s census form and you can see the writing style there. I’m not reproducing mine. I’m keeping some [...]

]]> By: Val http://www.redmum.ie/2009/09/census-1911/comment-page-1/#comment-4138 Val Tue, 08 Sep 2009 21:03:22 +0000 http://www.redmum.ie/?p=1103#comment-4138 How neat! I'm going to check out my husbands family. How neat! I’m going to check out my husbands family.

]]> By: Declan http://www.redmum.ie/2009/09/census-1911/comment-page-1/#comment-4137 Declan Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:41:45 +0000 http://www.redmum.ie/?p=1103#comment-4137 I think that most households filled them out themselves. I've spent two days going through the 1901 census forms for my family and then searching the records of near by houses for aunts and uncles and other relatives and the handwriting is generally different on each form. On a couple of forms there is two types of handwriting so possibly the enumerator filled in details that had been left out. If you are in doubt look for the enumerators sheets at the beginning of each section and he will have written down the names of every family in the area. You can compare that to the writing on a form to see if they match. I think that most households filled them out themselves. I’ve spent two days going through the 1901 census forms for my family and then searching the records of near by houses for aunts and uncles and other relatives and the handwriting is generally different on each form. On a couple of forms there is two types of handwriting so possibly the enumerator filled in details that had been left out. If you are in doubt look for the enumerators sheets at the beginning of each section and he will have written down the names of every family in the area. You can compare that to the writing on a form to see if they match.

]]> By: Karen http://www.redmum.ie/2009/09/census-1911/comment-page-1/#comment-4136 Karen Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:13:30 +0000 http://www.redmum.ie/?p=1103#comment-4136 Sorry I clicked submit too early there! I meant I'm assuming it's their own handwriting and not a census taker...though not sure how it would have been done back then! Sorry I clicked submit too early there! I meant I’m assuming it’s their own handwriting and not a census taker…though not sure how it would have been done back then!

]]> By: Karen http://www.redmum.ie/2009/09/census-1911/comment-page-1/#comment-4135 Karen Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:10:53 +0000 http://www.redmum.ie/?p=1103#comment-4135 I also had a look on the site and found my maternal grandmother, four years old in County Kilkenny! Under occupation it was listed that she was a 'scholar'! Aw! She had obviously just started school. Am trying to find my Dad's family too though we know little about them, so have to get some more facts about them off him and will then look them up. Can't wait to show my Mam her family one though when I can next get her in front of the laptop, she'll be delighted to see it, even to see her Granddad's handwriting will be lovely for her. (I'm assuming Well done National Archives! Great post too, lovely to see all the old photographs! I also had a look on the site and found my maternal grandmother, four years old in County Kilkenny! Under occupation it was listed that she was a ‘scholar’! Aw! She had obviously just started school.

Am trying to find my Dad’s family too though we know little about them, so have to get some more facts about them off him and will then look them up. Can’t wait to show my Mam her family one though when I can next get her in front of the laptop, she’ll be delighted to see it, even to see her Granddad’s handwriting will be lovely for her. (I’m assuming

Well done National Archives!

Great post too, lovely to see all the old photographs!

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