Finding Martha

My first census searches revolved around finding Martha, i knew that she married during the 1880's but apart from knowing her approximate age at marriage (from her marriage certificate) i knew nothing more about her early years, it was only through working back in time using census searches i could narrow down the search for her birth and discover more about her.

The illustrations show not only the search criteria used but the results and images viewed before it was possible to confirm i was following the right person.

The 1901 Census Search

As if to demonstrate that "less i more" when it comes to census searches my first census search was done with very little background information. Just a name and age plus a suspected area where she may have lived was enough to find Martha.

The 1891 Census Search

Armed with some new information from the 1901 census i could now enter more information when searching the 1891 census, in this instance the "new" information didn't help as "Martha Chambers" was horribly mistranscribed and her place of birth had changed from the 1901 result, now came the time to really refine the search for her.

The 1881 Census Search

The 1881 census was the first census return i searched before Martha married, i had her maiden name from her marriage certificate and her county of birth from the previous census searches, again her name is mistranscribed but by trying different techniques i eventually found her. It was somewhat of a suprise to find where she was and only by using the information i had gathered could i confirm it was indeed her.

The 1861 Census Search

The 1861 census places Martha in her home county along with her parents and siblings, through the census searches i had followed Martha through a marriage, births of children and three counties, quite a trip tbut the census returns helped to locate her birth record and the marriage for her parents.

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