The
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Transcribers |
| No.23 |
One of the FreeCEN TeamsPick a Parish |
January 2010 |
| Hello
again, Firstly our belated greetings for a Happy New Year to you all! Thank you for the various Christmas greetings, weather reports and family information we've received. We were particularly pleased to receive a photo of Lynne (even if she was disguised as a dancing Santa). It's quite fun for us trying to imagine what you all look like, so any more contributions welcome! It's been a while since we were given anything to add to the "Meet the Team" page, too... Secondly, a warm welcome to the team for Richard and for Marianne, a welcome back into the fray to Janet, and a special welcome return to Ruth who's been "off duty" for some months. On the other hand we say "Goodbye and Thankyou" to Julie who's had to drop out for health reasons, and to Tom who's taking a break. We are so appreciative of whatever time people can find to help get the Census "out there"... ...talking of which, four new pieces went on line just before Christmas; 569 (Hellingly), 611 (Petworth), 617 (Manhood), and 622 (Sutton). You'll see, too, that the 1871 Census is also on the move; Keep up the good work, and "may all your enumerators be legible". Simon
and
Chris
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The NumbersActive team members 27(25)1861
Census
Pieces in the Census
74
Pieces that have survived 73 Pieces on Line at FreeCEN.org.uk 63 (59) Percentage of population on line 85 (80) Pieces being transcribed 6 (8) Pieces being checked 3 (5) Pieces being validated 0 (0) Pieces waiting to be checked 1 (1) (numbers in brackets show the
situation last time we wrote)
1871 Census
Pieces
in
the
Census
101
Pieces being transcribed 12 (9) Pieces being checked 2 (0) Pieces being validated 1 (0) Pieces waiting to be checked 1 (3) |
![]() Who are the other people
working with you to put the 1861
on the web for free? The
Brits... In EnglandBrian, Heather, Audrey, Simon and Chris, John, Marianne, Ruth and June, all in Sussex, Graham in Berkshire, Barry in Milton Keynes, Paul in Oxfordshire, Janet in Hampshire, Sue in Nottingham, Phil in Somerset, Richard in Tyne & Wear,and Keith in Kent. In ScotlandJanet in Caithness In AustraliaTrish and Julie, both in WA In the Solomon
IslandsSteve In the USA
Karen in California, Donna in Michigan In CanadaJennifer, Dave, Tom*, all in BC, John in Ontario, Elizabeth in Nova Scotia
In New ZealandAlison in Queenstown In Spain Lynda* In SwedenLynne *Currently inactive |
Hints,
Tips
and
Reminders "As Is" It may sound obvious, but our task
as transcribers is to produce an accurate
version of what the enumerator wrote. This is why the
phrase "as is" keeps being used. We need to put on line what the
enumerator said, not what he meant to say, or should have said.
Sometimes we have to abbreviate his entry, especially in the occupation
column, but otherwise we try to copy exactly (assuming we can read it
in the first place!)
Some forenames need a second look: has he put Harriet, Harriett, Hariot, Haret, or Harriott this time? Is it Louisa or Lousia? Elizabeth or Elizebeth? Ann or Anne (or Anna)? And is it Frederick, Fredrick or Frederic? Not to mention all the variations on Philadelphia! Placenames and addresses can also need care: Seddlescomb, Sedlescombe, Sedelscomb and so on... Auto-repeat, where Excel guesses that what you're typing now is the same as an earlier entry, can be a nuisance as well as a help. Be careful! Punctuation
Nineteenth Century medical men (and others) did love their
qualifications! Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, Licentiate of
this or that..., East India Civil Service etc. Here we do often
need to squeeze things to get them into 30 characters. MRCP is
fine (and preferable to M.R.C.P.) Please don't put mrcp, though, as the
computer will change this to Mrcp, which could be confusing. There are
examples in FIELDS for
abbreviating details of Farmers and their employees.NR
Several of us have been mystified
by these initials which sometimes appear in the address column or
occupation column of the census return. As they always seem to belong
to a visitor we're guessing that they stand for "Non-Resident", that is
a visitor from outside the area rather than a local. In any case
they can be ignored for our purposes, as can most of the additions made
later in a different handwriting from the enumerator's.
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Talking of
Transcribing...![]() Boring? Tedious? Hard work? Sometimes, yes, but here are a couple of unsolicited testimonials from members of the team: Donna (after a brief break): "I have missed my work so much.It is so therapeutic!" Ruth: "I got so engrossed today I forgot to cook Sunday dinner!" |
Who lived here in 1861?![]() The War Bil In Ton Inn at Warbleton In 1861 the Innkeeper was Walter Jenner, aged 71, born in Hailsham. The family consisted of wife Phebe and unmarried children Benjamin (age 40) a tailor, and Sally (30). Find them at RG09/0569 (Hellingly) Folio 106, Page 14 (Thanks to Lynne and Dave for working on this piece) |
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