Foot note on Census(es) .....

Post by **Tracey** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 11:44 pm

Silly question maybe but one i havnt seen the reason why.

Foot note on Census pages....................

* Draw the pen through such of the words of the headings are inappropriate.

Why ? I have so many census where age has a line (understatement) through it and so does part of or all of birth place. Was this information "inappropriate" ?

Tracey

Post by **AndrewP** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 12:11 am

Hi Tracey,

That foot note is referring only to the header section of the census page - the parts such as "Royal Burgh of", "Parliamentary Burgh of" and the like. The enumerator is to draw his pen through the titles which are not relevant to the area he is enumerating.

My understanding is that the lines drawn through the ages and birthplaces were done afterwards as the enumerator was counting up the items for the summary pages at the front of the census book.

If you have the opportunity to see census books in New Register House, you may find that these scorings through are done in coloured pencil, which is easy to see through and read the enumerated details underlying them. The black scorings out upon black writing is an effect of the microfilming and digital scanning, where everything is either black or white, not even any shades of grey.

I believe that some of the 1851 census has been re-scanned in colour to get by the problems of blue ink on blue paper which has been found as a problem. Hopefully we will find out (soon?) if this method allows for easier viewing of the scored through information.

All the best,

Andrew Paterson

Post by **joette** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 12:13 am

I know so annoying!You want to bash their heads in sometimes whenit obscures something or it has you thinking "is this correct or not"?Mainly I just ignore it all & wait for the Census police to tell me otherwise!
Where are your donaldson's? I was sorting through some of my Census stuff when a Donaldson caught my eye & I wondered if it was one of yours & if you had it?(now I can't find it off course but it was Banff or Aberdeen)

Post by **Tracey** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 12:35 am

Hello Andrew

My understanding is that the lines drawn through the ages and birthplaces were done afterwards as the enumerator was counting up the items for the summary pages at the front of the census book

I can only say i wished they had used a thinner pen ! I have one 1861 would have been a nightmare if i hadnt known the names i was looking for and another 1851 that without the help of the very helpful Judith at Old Meldrum Local Studies i would never have worked out some of the names.Not because of lines drawn on but as you say the quality of scans. Im not going to mention another 1851 where the enumerator just put big black crosses over the crucial part

Hi Joette

My Donaldson's were around Rathven, Potknockie, Portgordon, Elgin areas. I have my direct line census wise (she says !) but am looking at the off shoots so to speak !

Tracey

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 10:10 am

AndrewP wrote:......snipped............I believe that some of the 1851 census has been re-scanned in colour to get by the problems of blue ink on blue paper which has been found as a problem. Hopefully we will find out (soon?) if this method allows for easier viewing of the scored through information.

All the best,

Andrew Paterson

Hmmm...........

The wording from the most recent User Group minutes is "He [Paul Parr] said that 1851 should be available later during the month of February, minus the poor images which GROS and NAS will examine with a view to providing better quality images."

While the possibility of rescanning problem pages in colour has been raised at various times, no commitment has ever been given, and I'm not aware that any significant number of images have been re-scanned in colour.

The only commitment that was given is as shown above, and it should be noted that nothing is said about timescale.

Note as well that existing images are scanned from the existing microfilms, and not the original enumeration books. Colour scans would require the use of the originals, which may not always be in a condition suitable for such handling without (expensive) precautionary measures, - they're over 150 years old !

David