Census Form Corrections

[Rheghead]

I have been researching my family tree and have subscribed to ancestry.co.uk for past census forms.

I was astounded by the level of 'crossings out' and ticks against the names. At first I thought these may be genuine corrections but now I think there is a system behind them but I am unsure what it is.
For example, why would an age be crossed out but not corrected?
Can anyone help?

[Ashes]

According to my wife (the expert) she says its when the census has been double checked they put a cross in, hope that helps.
Kind regards Ashes

[Rheghead]

Thanks, that makes complete sense, silly me There are a lot of mistakes though, the census takers must have got bored really easily.

[lynn prow]

I went to a night at local genealogy group and they had a speaker who spoke about the census. Some of the things he told us were:

The enumerator could only record what he thought he had been told. In many instances he was dealing with illiterate people who could not check what was being written on their behalf. He was sometimes unfamiliar with the accent and he was apt to have his own spelling. Some people only spoke Gaelic.
Another funny was if you come across a house full of women who are all dressmakers they were really prostitutes.

If occupants where born outside Scotland the enumerator often did not know correct names of places.

An in-law in the 19th century meant something differnet to what it means today. A son-in-law could mean stepson of the householder i.e. son of the householder's wife and therefore a son in the eye of the law.

Hope this is of interest to you.

Lynn

[Rheghead]

Thanks lynn, that info was very useful. It is very hard to put your eyes into the mind of a 19th century census taker.