Family Historian User Group

Hi,

Here is another comment regarding how Ancestry have classified a section of the 1851 Census.

I have have been trying to capture the references to the name ALLEN in the 1851 Census for the Parish of Ashover, in Derbyshire. As well as Ashover village, the Census recorded various outlying hamlets and areas that were still within the Civil Parish. It would seem that parts of the Parish of Ashover were in the Chesterfield Registration District, and the part known as Dethick, Lea & parts of Holloway were in the Registration District of Belper.

Now here's the thing, when I was searching for the various sub-districts in Ancestry, I couldn't find the sub-districts that referenced the 1851 Census for Dethick, Lea & Holloway. I later found that Ancestry had classified them as a Parish when indexing the 1851 Census. That is, I believe, incorrect. Dethick, Lea & Holloway did not become a Civil Parish in their own right until 1901. Until then, they were still part of the Parish of Ashover.

Am I misunderstanding how Ancestry classify or refer to the above? If I am wrong, and it's me that is misunderstanding the issue, can someone tell me how I should look for those ALLEN residents who were, in 1851, residents of the whole Parish of Ashover?

Alan

In the 1901 Census, the Isle of Man is classed as Anglesey, so is in the Wales census collection.

can someone tell me how I should look for those ALLEN residents who were, in 1851, residents of the whole Parish of Ashover?

Not being a user of Ancestry I am not sure if you could do the same as in Find My Past, although I'd be surprised if you couldn't. Rather than rely on searching via the index you could browse through all the images of the pages for Ashover and the surrounding area, searching for any ALLEN names. I would guess that they are all run consecutively as in the enumerators books and would pick up the "non existent" hamlets. This is the way we used to do things before the computer age!!

Brian

EDIT - I should have added that there are 23 ALLEN names in Ashover on Find My Past if that is of any help.

Alan,

I think this misunderstanding (if there is one) comes from knowing the structure of the Census 'Districts', which was not based directly on Civil Parishes, but on Registration Districts. You have to know (or find out) which Local Registration District(s) a place was in at the time of the specific Census. The Registration District is, of course, the District overseen by The District Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages for the area and corresponds, more or less, in the mid-19th century, to the Poor Law Union districts. Armed with that information, it's then a matter of isolating the Enumeration Districts and Census Piece numbers that cover the areas you are interested in.

I find the best starting point tends to be the descriptions of and changes to Registration Districts detailed on GENUKI

Mervyn

Another approach when a census search is troublesome is to use the advanced search function in the National Archives' Discovery catalogue - http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.u ... ced-search

By entering the place name in one of the text boxes at the top, the census reference (in this case HO107) in a Reference box, and the year in the Date box (advisable for 1841 and 1851 because they are both HO107) I very quickly found that Ashover is split between the Chesterfield and Belper registration districts, with piece numbers 2147 and 2145 respectively. These piece numbers can be used in the appropriate part of the search form at Ancestry, FindMyPast etc instead of a place name.

The basic results indicate which parts of the parish you searched for are in which district, but you can also select a district to find full details of all the places it includes.

(I didn't expect to find the Isle of Man included, but in view of the 1901 problem mentioned I just had a look, and it is there.)

First of all, thank you all for your help. Your collective advice has made things much clearer for me. I now know the best way to approach future Census searches, especially if I want to focus in on particular parishes that may have been part of different Registration Districts.

Once again, your kindness in picking up my question and providing the answer I was seeking is much appreciated.

Regards,

Alan

Use great caution and some maps when working out census places from any transcription. I have come across quite a few which are incorrect. If possible use the enumerator's description sheet at the beginning of each sub district. You need a map with older place names shown and a lot of patience but it pays off.
Anne

Thanks Anne. Wise words I'm sure.

Regards,

Alan