Tracing a name

[Tea Time]

I know very little about my maternal grandfather.

What I do know is roughly when and where he was born, and also a period that he moved to another area (Yorkshire). Therefore, a number of questions:

1) Am I correct in assuming that the only way his name could be traced through census records? Or is there a simpler way?

2) Are census records available online?

3) How many census were carried out between 1890 and 1930 (giving me a good spread).

[peterd]

census 1891, 1901, 1911

census for above years are pay per view but if you give as much detail as possible some one will take a look for you

mother birth certificate might give some clues

[Maths girl]

I know very little about my maternal grandfather.

What I do know is roughly when and where he was born, and also a period that he moved to another area (Yorkshire). Therefore, a number of questions:

1) Am I correct in assuming that the only way his name could be traced through census records? Or is there a simpler way?---Names can be traced through a variety of records including census, birth, marriage and death certificates , trade documents to name just a few.

2) Are census records available online?---Census records are available on line - but apart from 1881 they will cost money to access.

3) How many census were carried out between 1890 and 1930 (giving me a good spread).There were census in 1891, 1901,1911, 1921, 1931 but we can only access the first three as 1921 is closed until 2021 and I think the 1931 might have been destroyed if not it is not available until 2031.

Hope these answers are useful -- -- do ask any other questions you have --sorry peterd we overlapped

[Tea Time]

As regards access to the census list. Is the fee a one time thing, or is it a "pay-by-view" thing? I'd like to point out that I live outside of the UK, making payments a little more difficult.

I've been trying to reason out things in a logical manner. My Mum was born at the end of 1920. I would therefore assume that her father was born somewhere between 1890 and 1905. Therefore, his name should appear on the 1911 census for the area. In todays world, all births, deaths etc. are registered at just one place in the borough. The question is, was it the same at the time of his birth? Or were there smaller offices spread around the area?

Part of my thinking is this. Please tell me if it is wrong! Its going to be a painstaking task, but from the census information, I should be able to come up with a list of males born in the specific area between 1890 and 1905. This list can then be reduced in size by going through the names, and removing those that had died, etc. If electoral rolls are available, then any of those names still on it in say 1924 can also be removed. Hopefully, this will give me a manageable list.

I know that he had moved to Yorkshire - where exactly, I dont know - by 1924, but possibly as early as 1921. Therefore, possibly the most useful census would be the one from 1931, which is unavailable. I'm now hoping that some other records that will help are!

If I'm way off target here, please tell me....

[Northern Lass]

Libraries and archives often have census available to use for free

[Antie Em]

Hello Tea Time

There are a couple of sites where you can view the census for free - one is Family Search here : http://www.familysearch.org/eng/Search/ ... search.asp - but this will only show you the 1881 - although this is very useful

Another is here : http://www.freecen.org.uk/

This site, like FreeBMD is being added to by volunteers. Not all of the country has been included and it is still work in progress, but you could be lucky and find your ancestors.

Electoral Roles are not available online - only very recent from about 2000 on 123.com. To look at Electoral Roles, you will need to visit the local archives, and then you would need to know the street where your relatives lived and trawl through, or contact the archives and ask them to search for you, but they will probably charge for this service. Although, I know from experience that they are extremely useful, because, although you will only find people over the are of 18, they do cover the years, not covered by the census. In fact my local archives hold records up to 1983.

Hope this is helpful - Maggie

[Maths girl]

As regards access to the census list. Is the fee a one time thing, or is it a "pay-by-view" thing? I'd like to point out that I live outside of the UK, making payments a little more difficult.

Sites like Ancestry and Find My Past and others have annual subscriptions rather than just "pay-by-view" which can get very expensive if you are using them a lot

Different sites vary as to the information they have and how they search and everyone has there favourites as you will see on one or two of the other threads where this has been discussed before.

[Tea Time]

Progress on this is being as expected. Slow but fascinating. At present, I'm attempting to do some groundwork to help me create a list of names. The name I am looking for will certainly be on the 1911 census, so at a future date, I'll probably be taking out a subscription for either the Ancestry site or a similar one.

One problem that I have come across is boundary changes during that time period in the area, and I'm not sure how this is going to affect things as yet. Though my mother and grandmother were born in the same house, it had a different number, street, and even local council areas! At least I am learning a lot!

[snoopysue]

Progress on this is being as expected. Slow but fascinating. At present, I'm attempting to do some groundwork to help me create a list of names. The name I am looking for will certainly be on the 1911 census, so at a future date, I'll probably be taking out a subscription for either the Ancestry site or a similar one.

One problem that I have come across is boundary changes during that time period in the area, and I'm not sure how this is going to affect things as yet. Though my mother and grandmother were born in the same house, it had a different number, street, and even local council areas! At least I am learning a lot!

If you post what you know, names, ages, other family members, where they were born, where you expect them to be living, I can look them up on the 1911 census.

Ancestry's in the process of rolling out the 1911 census, it's fully searchable on Find my past (you can also search by address on there)- both can be subscribed using credit cards.

[Tea Time]

The only thing that I know for certain about my maternal grandfather is that he would have been living in the Wigan area in 1920. Presumably, he was born in the same area between 1890 - 1905. These dates are based around my grandmothers birth year (1898). Therefore, my thoughts are to try to create a list from the 1911 census, and then, using a process of elimination, reduce it to a manageable size.

I also know that he movd to Yorkshire (family heresay) and presumably died in that county.

Snoopysue, thanks for the offer.

[Antie Em]

Would you like to post your granddad's name and maybe we can find his death, which will contain his approx date of birth, then we can hopefully find him in 1911.

Maggie

[Tea Time]

I dont have his name. Thre is no name given on my late Mums birth certificate. Thats the reason that I need to create a list of the people born in that area within the time frame, and then reduce it by a process of elimination.

As I see things, in order to stand a chance of finding out his name, I need to create a list that is a short as possible, but certain to include him. To do that, what I need to know is the area of his birth, which would have been Wigan. During the time period 1890 - 1920, there were at least two border changes in the area. One of these could possibly have moved his place of birth from Wigan (which around this period was split into three areas), to Ince-in-Makerfield. A second border change would have moved his home from one urban district, to another.

The primary thing that I am concentrating on now is to find out when these changes occurred, in order to "shrink" the list. The secondary thing is to try to find a list (if possible) of people that were employed at the individual mines in the area that were operating. At this time, mines were the primary employers in the area.

Unless someone has a better suggestion, (please!) creating a list of persons born in the time period and correct area from the 1911 census is the best starting point. Persons that have died prior to this date would of course not be included. Of the male population, this is likely to be as high as 25%. Slightly over 50% of the names on the list can be eliminated directly, as these would have been women. Its reducing things further that will be the problem!

As you can all guess, I really need help and suggestions from the experienced ones on here!

[Antie Em]

Sorry - I don't have any better suggestions. But if there is no name on your mother's birth certificate - you will have a mammoth task ahead, with no proof even if you find a likely candidate. Unless there was a maintenance order against him, it could be impossible to ever identify him.

Even if you find someone on the electoral roll living near or even in the same house as your grandmother, you still can't be sure this is the father.

Maggie

[snoopysue]

I agree with Maggie, it's definately like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Even if you do get a short list from the 1911 census, he may not have been working yet (depending on when he was born), so you'd also be looking for all the boys still at school - I'm not even sure the search facilities would be able to cope with the number of possibles!
But as Maggie says you'd never be sure you'd got the right man, unless there is some written evidence somewhere of this.
Sorry we can't be of more help.

[Jimmy]

What was your late mums name when born.