The Secrets of Census Returns and How to Use Them to Your Advantage

In the 1891 census return I was able, once again, to find my great-grandfather who now was ten years younger. With him was his daughter, who was then thirty-one years old. For her occupation, she was listed as a spinster. There was no one else attached to the family. I decided to try the 1881 census return.

In the 1881 census return I was able to find, with a little bit of detective work, my great-grandfather's name. Not only was he alive and well, but so was his wife, my great-grandmother.

From the census return I was able to find her age, birth date, literacy level, religion, and country of origin. Amongst the interesting tidbits was the fact that she was Roman Catholic and my great-grandfather was Protestant. That must have caused some heated issues with other members of the family, particularly at that time, when tolerance was very thin. Perhaps they found themselves quite isolated at times - from both sides of the family.

Living with them were four daughters, the names of three of which matched exactly the names of those that I had discovered in the cemetery not far from where my great-grandparents were buried. At that moment in time, all seemed well. It was good that they knew nothing of the terrible tragedy that was about to rip their lives to shreds.

Since my great-grandmother's name failed to appear in the 1891 census return, I could only surmise that she was dead by 1891. Maybe the death of her three daughters, all in their twenties, which occurred in the 1880s, took a great toll on her life and perhaps was a significant factor in her early death.

I gleaned the facts about all of them and then decided to try the 1871 census return to see what that might reveal.

To be continued . . .

Gary