When it is complete at the Ancestry site, the census of 1871 for England, Wales, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands will become the fourth of the nominal returns for these regions available to genealogists online.

From a research perspective, the arrival of online indexes and images for 1871 moves progress back another step: 1901 is accessible at the National Archives website; 1891 is in the Ancestry databases; and, 1881 is at FamilySearch. In addition, numerous town and county areas have online indexes.

There are CD-ROM options, too. It is not going to be long before all nominal censuses have more than one computer format as well as fully automated indexes—an exciting prospect.

Searching and Browsing
Anyone already familiar with the 1891 census images and index at Ancestry.com has nothing new to learn. The search procedure is the same; even so, it is a good idea to review the features and capabilities of the system.

You can search for a full name, a surname, or a first name. You can narrow the search in several ways—by asking for people born in a particular county or place, living in a particular county or place, or of a certain age. Other limiting techniques include specifying gender, relationship, or the document reference code, which may prove useful when engaged in a lengthy study of one area.

The default for surname spellings is “exact” and the option is “Soundex.” Exact is obviously a limiting factor, but if Soundex is not quite what you want, then wild card symbols are available. The * means any number of characters can be inserted at the point indicated and the ? substitutes for any single letter. The system does not permit you to enter a wild card symbol in the first three letters of a name. The symbols can be used for first and last names. Soundex works only with surnames.

Name searching is usually the method of choice; however, there are reasons for browsing through the returns. One reason is failure to find a name in the index; another is to gather detail for a parish history. Whatever the reason, it is not difficult to find the section for a particular place.

At the Ancestry.co.uk home page select the “Search Records” tab, and from the “browse Records” column” select “U.K. Census Collections.” You can also go to the U.S.-based Ancestry.com site. Scroll down and select the 1871 census for whatever area you want.

Below the search box, select the county or island; and within the list of districts, select the one you need.

Before opening the file, notice you also have the option of reading the descriptions of each section, exactly what an enumerator wrote to describe the outer limits. This can be really useful geographic information.

Cautionary Notes
Perfection in an index is impossible. If your ancestor fails to turn up in an index search, be persistent. These two examples, for randomly selected names, give some idea of what may happen and should help you think about how to manipulate the search tool.

In the first search I entered the surname Hayter (no other details) in the 1871 England search box. When I made the search only Middlesex was available. There were several results, and at the end I noticed an undoubtedly unique first name, Vobbia. Before feeling too sorry for the person, I decided to check it out. With the advanced viewer, and carefully looking at the handwriting on the page, I was relieved to see the indexer misread “Sophia.” The “S” is exactly like the first letter of the word “Son” (elsewhere on the page) and the “bb” transforms into “ph” in an enlarged image.

Then I searched for Kenyon in Wales and a few turned up, but in one household they were all born in Norfolk. It is not a Norfolk name so I took a look, and discovered that the indexer read Kemp as Kenyon. The search had been surname only with exact spelling turned on. Trying again with the name Kemp and Soundex engaged did not produce any Kenyons. Neither would a wild card search work because it must not be used within the first three characters. Without extra effort the family might be missed.

Obviously the first caution is about all names and handwriting. You may not be able to imagine the error that has occurred. Manipulate the search tool every which way, but also be prepared to browse or gather more details from other records.

Another caution relates to image quality. Faintness or fuzziness can cause errors. I have now viewed dozens of images and am finding a mixture of clarity and sharpness. In almost every case I have had to turn on the better quality option in the Advanced Viewer. It is very helpful, so use it.

If you are unsure of what you are looking at here, check out the alternatives. CDs can be purchased or the films are available through any family history center—all census returns 1841 to 1891 are on film in the Family History Library.

Conclusion
Census indexes such as this one take hours of slogging out of genealogy. Take advantage of this, but understand the search tool's capabilities and have a healthy respect for the fact that problems can affect your work.

Copyright 2004, MyFamily.com.