4 January 2009

People finding . . .

Thanks to a very wise friend of mine, the less-technical approach to computer mending was not required (although a new wireless dongle-thing was) and all is well again with my machine. As you can tell, it is now talking to the internet again quite happily (she says, with fingers well crossed!)

The 1911 census-testing was great fun and I found quite a few people. My maternal grandmother was exactly where the stories said she would be in Sussex; her future husband precisely where I thought he would be, although his name had been reversed and slightly mangled - I didn't report it as requiring correction because I didn't spend the money to see the actual household entry; perhaps when I've saved up!

My great-uncle Ben, who was to die three years from then, was not where I thought he would be - I expected him to return to Stretham, the village where he was born, but he was still in Ely with his aunt.

George Staden, my g-grandfather, was living with his father-in-law in Cambridge, together with his wife and daughter. Interesting because I'd been told that, as he suffered from TB all his life, he was often unable to work and, therefore, at times they (his little family) lived with various of his brothers-in-law (who, incidentally, were reported to have a low opinion of him because of this - hmmmmmm.)

I did look for Bert & Blanche Freeman and their sons but they eluded me; the search facility was not as useful as the Ancestry version for the other censuses and I couldn't find the right set of Albert, Blanche, James & Millice. I suspect that I might have been more successful if I'd looked at a couple of transcriptions but, at over £1 each, I wasn't going to waste the money at this point. I'll just have to wait until it comes out properly.

Point to ponder:- the difference between the 1911 & 1921 censuses will be enormous; not just the Great War casualties and movements but also the 'Flu epidemic. There's a good subject for a Phd thesis!

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