* How to make a family groups list for 1921 census searches

[Gardengirl]

Good morning all.

I am going to the National Archives at Kew next week, mainly to look for my families in the 1921 census. Before I go I want to make a fairly comprehensive list of who to search for when I get there. I would appreciate some suggestions about the best way to create this list from fH.

So far, I have tried making a Named List by sorting all my individuals by their birth and death dates in the records window and adding everyone who was alive in 1921 to a named list. There are a few problems with this though. Firstly it brings up 225 names which is more than I can manage but also, more importantly, many of those names will be in family groups all on the same census. So I only really need to search for one of them and then have a way of ticking off those that are found so I can then go back and search again for missing individuals. I did try the simple solution of printing out the named list so that I could tick people off but it was 5 pages long in very small squashed up font with no spaces between the names and the dates and would take me a long time to keep searching through the sheets to tick or x each person.

The other significant problem with the named list is that the females are all listed by their maiden names and often I would need their married names to search for them in the 1921 census.

Bearing in mind that I am a relative beginner with FH, could someone please suggest the easiest and most efficient way to make myself a research list for my TNA visit?

[tatewise]

To group people into families that are relevant on 19 June 1921 is a far from trivial task.
You have identified some of the reasons why that is the case.
Regarding the maiden names of women, prior to their first marriage, and especially when children, that will be their name in the Census. All children will usually be associated with their parents' family.
Married Individuals will be associated with the family involving their spouse in 1921. For people who married more than once, that involves checking their Marriage Dates, assuming they exist, otherwise the Birth Dates of the first child in each partnership.

So your family lists are conditional on the age and marriage dates or 1st child birth dates versus 19 June 1921.
I know how complex that gets, as I wrote the Lookup Missing Census Facts plugin.
It almost certainly needs a plugin, and I hope to update my plugin before long, but not before next week.

Maybe others have some for fruitful ideas.

[Gardengirl]

Thanks, Mike. Your reply reassures me that it is indeed a complicated task so I think I will go back to good old pencil and paper and make a list of families in a note book and take that with me.

Sometimes the old ways are the best ways

[davidf]

There may be some benefit from looking at the 1939 Register and seeing if that helps identify retired (and now deceased - and hence not redacted) couples, who may have been parents of family groups in the 1921 Census

[Gardengirl]

Thanks for your suggestion, David, I already have lots of supporting information for the families and individuals but I was looking for a quick way to get that information from FH into a useable list for my trip to TNA.

[davidf]

In case being a relative beginner with FH also extends to being a newcomer to the National Archives, are you aware that you can take a laptop into both the reading room and the public areas (where I imagine the 1921 "free access" is available)? (At least you could when I was last there - and I doubt they have become more restrictive)

Having your list on a laptop (or on a cheap tablet if at home your are on a desktop computer) means that you can easily search (Ctrl-F seems to work in so many areas) your list.

You may want to check with the National Archives whether for 1921 access you can

• either plug a USB stick into their computers for downloading images etc - in which case put your list in text format on the stick and use Notepad (or what-ever is on the TNA computers) - just remember to save back to the USB stick!
• or possibly whilst there gain access to the 1921 Census via wifi on to your own laptop/tablet

[Gardengirl]

Yes, I am indeed new to visiting TNA but my understanding is that you can use a laptop anywhere in the building and everything is available to download whilst on their wifi network. So my plan is to do the searching at home this week and make a note of any that I want to download. Then when I get there I can just have a blitz on downloading the ones I have researched. Any time left I can use to do broader searches for more distant branches of my tree. There is also an exhibition there at the moment about life in the 1920s which will be interesting to look at when my brain needs a rest from searching!

[mnjjames]

You can use you own device at the National Archives, this from their website

"You will be able to access the Census via the on site computers, on site tablet devices or your own device (e.g. smartphone) while you are connected to the Wi-Fi in the dedicated 20sPeople zone."

USB ports on in house devices have been desctivated for some years now so memory stick not an option.

I belive there is also an option to email the images to yourself if using an in house device at TNA.

[Gardengirl]

Thank you for the clarification.

[AdrianBruce]

Just to pick up on searching for one name in a household.... Be wary of this - my nana and grandpa started their married life in (I presume) the back room of her childhood home. The search results (I've not bought the images yet) show that the physical address is split over two household schedules in the 1921 - any search on her father (say) will, so far as I can see, bring up a household schedule that will look complete and, since Nana isn't there, will imply that she's left home. She hadn't - her and Grandpa had simply opted for a separate census schedule.

Nothing too complicated but liable to throw you a bit until you work out what's going on. Oh, and twice as expensive outside the free access places!