* Entering un-related people in census?

[HowardRP]

If you find a family member as a servant with a family of 8,
is it best practice to enter them all or just your family member
and make a note that they were a servant with XXXXX
Your views would be appreciated.

Regards .....H

[NickWalker]

I think opinions would differ. Personally I wouldn't add them to my family tree but would just add them in the source text manually.

[tatewise]

I would record the entire household in the Source Citation details but only the servant would have an Individual record with a Census event citing that Source. I would give the Source a title using the servant's name rather than the head of household whose name would usually be used.

[ColeValleyGirl]

I'd do what Mike does, except I'd title the source using the Head of Household to make it easier for other people to find the same source.

[NickWalker]

Sorry I totally misread your question and assumed the family was your family and the servant unrelated.

So my actual answer is that I would add the servant family member only (with their name in the source title) but in the source text I'd add a comment such as 'living with the Spencer family, 2 adults (John - a doctor and Joan) and 6 children". As the source is linked to the image if I'm really ever interested in the spencer family I'll look at the image and I'm too lazy to record an unrelated family in detail.

[russellf97]

If they are shown in the census as being related in some way, even if I haven't yet come across the family, then I enter them all, it gives me another line to look at. But if they are shown as a servant, then just that person and I make a note about the head of the household in the Notes section. The same applies with the 1939 Register.

[trevorrix]

I would add that family member just as you would all the other family members in the household. The easiest method is to record that family member in FH first where he/she belongs in the family tree. The fact that he/she was from a different household and a servant at the time is less important than ensuring that they are in the right place in FH. The census image is your source as to the situation as it was on census day.

[carswell]

We all take a different approach. If, for example, I find one family member as a servant of an unrelated family, or perhaps as a pupil at a school, I only enter the family member and add the others in the notes section underneath. If I have a related family which has unrelated servants , visitors etc, I enter the family and put the rest underneath.

[Pentris]

Back many years ago I seem to recall that the recommended method, by a senior forum member, was to record everyone in the census in case they became relevant at a later date. I have always done that even though it increases the pool numbers for unrelated persons. Once it has become very useful as a family member initially had an unrelated person as his servant. In the next census she was still there but no longer a servant. In the next census she had become his wife. If I had not recorded the servants name the link to the maiden name would not have been so easy.
Robin Dew