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Making Sense of the Census

12/5/2015

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I would start by saying that this exercise is not for everyone, can be time consuming and laborious.  However, for those of us with a large cluster of ancestors in one parish, or someone (like myself) who is undertaking a One Place Study, the rewards are manifold.

In my case it is the Parish of Norham, situated on the River Tweed and an ancient crossing point between England and Scotland.  Evidence exists of a prehistoric settlement and the Church of St Cuthbert founded in 830AD illustrates the close religious links with Lindisfarne and its once administrative role as “Capital” of the northern region of the Palatinate of Durham.
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Norham Bridge ~ by Craig Fletcher, Berwick upon Tweed
The census chosen for this exercise is 1851.  Firstly as it is the first census with any really useful information. Secondly as it falls in the period between the social reformer Rev W S Gilly, sometime vicar of Norham, and his report on the living conditions of the “Border Peasantry” in 1841/42 and the “Nuisances Removal and Diseases Prevention Consolidation and Amendment Act of 1855”.  The latter resulted in this enlightening report written in 1862 written by the then Inspector William Grey Marshall.  It tells of the “nuisances” and living conditions being experienced by the inhabitants of Norham Parish at that time.

A couple of examples extracted from GBR46/203-204. Dated 7 July 1862
and the following month on the conditions of agricultural workers at Norham Mains
GBR46/223-226. Dated 18 Aug. 1862.
“A nuisance is caused by James Young, mason, keeping a pig in an old building
adjoining the dwelling house of James Sanderson. This pig is kept in a very filthy state,
the smell arising from it is horrible, and at times Sanderson and his family can scarcely
remain in their house for it – this ought to be removed immediately”…
“I have also to report to the Board the condition in which I found some Hinds’ houses at
Norham Mains – the fever is very bad at this place. There are 8 different families live at
this place in 8 houses of one room each. Some of the families are 9 or 10 in number and
they have all to sleep in one small room – common decency cannot be observed. The
houses are all below the level of the surface, and in wet weather the wet comes in at the
door, the roofs are also in a bad state of repair. The fever is in nearly all the houses I
have heard one woman say to Doctor Paxton that she had never been a day well since
she came to live at this place”.
Full transcript of these reports is available at:- 
http://www.berwickfriends.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Norham-1862-report-to-Board-of-Guardians.pdf
The trick with the census is not to simply transcribe verbatim what you see, but to add extra fields like surname only, and a column noting employers and how many employed, so the 10 columns on the original census effectively becomes 12.  Enter these into a simple spreadsheet like MS Excel , typing address and surname information in full each time.  See example below:-
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1851 Census for Norham showing Data Entry Lines & Extra Columns
Then you can apply filters across the columns, which can be used singly, i.e. just surname, address, birthplace etc., or in a combination say surname + birthplace, or surname +birthplace +occupation see examples below:
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1851 Census for Norham with 1 filter applied to Surname.
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1851 Census with two filters applied, Surname and Occupation
When applied to single columns such as age, occupation and so on it is then possible to calculate these as percentages of the total population of the parish at the time.  Repeating this exercise with subsequent census records can illustrate the changes within the population, such as average age, occupation percentages, numbers of employers, number of households etc. 

Just remember to factor in changes to the enumeration districts and the painstaking effort you took over entering the information will result in a far deeper understanding of the Parish or Place you are studying.  As you cross the generations, names become so familiar, as folks marry, have children of their own, and then pass away, they begin to feel like real family!
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Whiplash!

5/5/2015

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We all have those times when our research is progressing at a pace.  Such a pace in fact, that when something unexpected crops up and the brakes are slammed on so ferociously we are in danger of suffering whiplash!

This happened to me recently whilst researching the Donaldson family.  This is the family of Jane Isabella Pringle (nee Donaldson), the wife of George Thomson (featured in my March blog) who so tragically died while George was away at war in 1943.
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Jean Isabella Pringle Donaldson with husband George Thomson and daughter Sheila.
Following her death their only surviving daughter Sheila, aged 6 years old, was removed from Edinburgh and sent to the home of her paternal grandmother at Lempitlaw, in the Scottish Borders.  Here, she was brought up by her father’s family and contact with her mother’s family was lost.   
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From her mother’s death certificate (above) we learn Jane Isabella Pringle was born circa 1917 and the name of her parents were:-
Robert Donaldson (occupation Wood Machinist), and Jane Pringle.  

The marriage certificate of George and Jane (Jean) gives an addition Christian name for her mother, so we now have Jane Hope Pringle as her full maiden name, and father Robert’s occupation at the time of the marriage is “Coach Body Builder”.  The address given in both cases is 5 Upper Grove Place, Edinburgh.
Follow the maternal line back to the marriage of Jane Hope Pringle to Robert Donaldson in Bryson’s Lane Edinburgh in October 1904.  Her parents are given as David Pringle occupation “Lorryman” and Margaret Murray deceased.  Her age at marriage is 29 giving a birth year of 1875. 

In the 1911 census the family are still living in Bryson Road, now with four children and Jane’s place of birth is listed as Dalkeith.   Great now we are on a roll!

To dot the “I”s and cross the “t”s I needed a death certificate and it was the information this contained that sent the research in full reverse!
Could there really be two people called Jane Hope Pringle, born in Dalkeith in 1875, that married a Robert Thomson and lived in Upper Grove Place?

Vigorous checks of alternative births & marriages in Scotland produced zero results, so research ground to an abrupt halt, being unable to verify which information set was correct. 
The clue to solving this mystery came from Sheila herself!  Although contact with mother’s family had been lost she remembers a great aunt Nelly, her grandmother’s sister  who married a Patterson and lived in Kelso.

Armed with this new information a quick search of the 1881 and 1891 census found the evidence I was searching for:- 

1881 Census Heriot, Dalkeith, Jane Hope aged 6, with amongst others sister Helen aged 4.  Parents David and Margaret Pringle

1891 Census, Dalkeith, Jane Hope aged 16 sister Nelly aged 14 parents David and Isabella Pringle

 A further search showed David Pringle’s wife Margaret Murray had died in 1882 and in 1883 he had re-married Isabella Somerville.
  • Jane Hope Donaldson, maiden name Pringle died at No 10, Upper Grove Place, Edinburgh in 1961.
  • Age at death 86 years, giving an approximate birth year of 1875.
  • She is the widow of Robert Donaldson occupation “Vehicle Builder”.
  • Parents ~ John Pringle, Farm worker deceased and Isabella Pringle maiden surname Hope!  What?  This was certainly not the David Pringle and Margaret Murray I was expecting!
  • Informant David Donaldson – Son
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Further evidence of the correct parentage was found in the marriage of Helen Noble Pringle to Henry Patterson in 1904 at Heriot Manse, Dalkeith.  Her parents are given as David Pringle and Margaret Murray, and by the time of the 1911 census Nelly and her husband Henry Patterson are living in Roxburgh St, Kelso.

Although the mystery is now solved, and Margaret Murray’s date of death in 1882 goes someway to explaining the grandson’s lack of knowledge for his mother’s death certificate in 1961, it does not explain one thing:-

Where does the name Hope originate?

One for another day methinks.

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Picture Susie Douglas Qualified Genealogist Family Historian and Writer https://www.qualifiedgenealogists.org/profiles/douglas-susie
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