Census address

Is there a hidden way of searching for an address in Ancestry, I've hit a wall
with a search for my Whalleys in Blackburn in 1901. At a guess their surname

Phil C....

I had great trouble finding my Wool(l)eys in 1841 on Ancestry. I'd
hunted for them under every version I could think of, including
Whalley, Walley, Willey, Waley, Wiley etc. By a roundabout route I
eventually found them transcribed as Molley. I'd never thought of that

John Cartmell...

And it's hard thinking of alternatives when you've grown up with a name - "how
could anyone possibly get that wrong?" ;-)

I do think an address search option is a big gap in Ancestry's resources
though. Should I be looking at a better alternative to Ancestry for my
searches?

one!

Anne Chambers...

That's when you do a search on forename(s) plus date/place of birth -
you might get a few score (or even a hundred or so) possibles, but
sometimes the mistranscription leaps out and hits you in the face (look
for letter patterns - the *olley would have been a clue) and a check of
the image reveals all :)

Another way is to search with initials - doesn't work as often, but my
Horatio Nelson FARMER in 1841 showed up as H FARMER

Phil C....

In this case I found it easier to use Origins Network during one of
its free days - they'd got the name transcribed accurately - and then
check back at the address to see how Ancestry had it. The best way to
search obviously depends on what information we've got and what the
likelihoods are - I wasn't even sure where they were living at the
time let alone any DOBs etc. My best guess was based on a trade
directory entry for 1835.

It would be nice if Ancestry let us enter our own search ranking
priorities instead of deciding them for us - sometimes the hit that
leaps out is well down the list. E.g It took me a while to find a
"Sarah Ann" because Ancestry chose to rank exact name higher than
place - I'd have ranked them the other way round for that search.

has been transcribed wrongly. I think they could be at 32 Walnut Street (or
thereabouts) but I cannot go straight to the address. Am I missing the obvious

ecunningham...

J: Well, now that we know they moved, to save your eyes a bit there is a
Eliz. Whally, mother-in-law, widowed, age 60, living with Lucas
Haworth and wife Doris at 13 St. Stephen Road, if you are interested.
RG13/3905, Folio 141, page 6.

John Cartmell...

Much too old - but many thanks. She could even be the husband's mother - but
I've no info for her first name!
If I did a Whalley one-name study I could perhaps jigsaw them all together -
or pehaps not. ;-(

method or do they really expect you to browse through the whole lot?

Hugh Smith...

If you can't do it on Ancestry, a simple Address search for 32 Walnut,
Blackburn on the 1901 census at
your Whalleys are not there, the details of the occupier will allow you to
go back to Ancestry for further searching.

John Cartmell...

But that means paying for 2 search engines for one search! ;-((

John Cartmell...

And I've lost a Cutler family at 18 Hill Street Blackburn. I know they're
there - I've transcribed them in the past - but I just want to check their
neighbours. I wonder if it's worth looking for Butlers? ;-(

Jo Taylor...

I suffer from CUTLERs too.

Butler, Butter, Cutter, Culter, Bulter, all those with a G, then with second
letter 'o', a final 'n'...

The variations seem endless. (Mine are mostly around Stourbridge, later in
London, just in case.)

John Cartmell...

Mine started in West Bromwich - but moved north!

I'm not getting to my research now until gone 11pm and, by that time, my eyes
and brain are swimming. Forcing my way past Ancestry's refusal to cooperate is
just too much. ;-((

brightside...

Walnut Street even numbers 116 to 2=20
1901 England Census > Lancashire > Blackburn > Blackburn, Northern >
District 40>Pages 1 to 9 (of 49).
Walnut Street odd numbers 1 to 49
1901 England Census > Lancashire > Blackburn > Blackburn, Northern >
District 39>Pages 9 to 12 (of 37).

John Cartmell...

They'd moved (of course) but I should be able to locate them in the area -
with fresh eyes!

I wish you luck with the handwriting!

John Cartmell...

I'm beyond that now. Need sleep ... zzzzzzzzzz

brightside...

P.S. 32 Walnut Street is on page 7 of 49 in district 40.

Dave Pickles...

The first page of each section is the enumerator's summary sheet, which
describes the boundary of the area covered and lists all of the streets
within it. To view this on Ancestry click on the 'View description of
enumeration district' link. So you don't need to go through the whole
lot, just all of the page 1s for the town.

John Cartmell...

That's 131 pages! ;-(

I may well end up printing the 300 or so index pages for Blackburn and Preston
- but if there's a better way to identify which run a particular street is in
it would be good to know. I can maybe justify printing 300 pages for those
towns but, when I come to need a one-off search in West Bromwich or Bromsgrove
I don't want to be doing the same there!

Anne Chambers...

Have you tried a search on forenames and place/date of birth ?

John Cartmell...

John
Blackburn

! ;-)

OK some of the children have odder names - but it still won't make it do-able.

But thanks.

Anne Chambers...

Tell us the names - you never know :) It's a fairly common technique
when surnames may have been mistranscribed.

John Cartmell...

parents - married 10 August 1895 St James Blackburn:
John Whalley (labourer) b c1872 (son of John Whalley (dec'd) contractor)
Elizabeth Ann Whalley (nee Dewhurst) b c1871 (dtr of James Dewhurst shoemaker)

in August 1895 he was living at 90 Walnut Street and she was around the corner
at 66 Plane Street.

children:
Alice b c1896
James (but baptised Joseph in error and always called Jim) b 19 May 1898
Elena (always known as Etty) b c1900

All the information is from John & Elizabeth's marriage cert and James' birth
and marriage certs and notes from a record of family names and dates kept by
my grandmother. It's the only line I haven't been able to confirm through to
the early 19th century. I've given up in the past because of the proliferation
of Whalleys in Blackburn. The family were still in the same area as Walnut
Street in the 1920s and 30s and Jim was at 44 Poplar Street (same area) in
1924.

They were at 32 Walnut Street in 1898 when James was born.

I'm about to do some intensive searches. ;-)

Anne Chambers...

I couldn't find them on the Index - by using keywords (in this case
'Blackburn St Michael' the ecclesiastical parish for 32 Walnut Street
according to the National Archives index) it's possible to narrow the
search down, but no combination of dates of birth, parents' names etc
produced anything.

Walnut Street and Poplar Street are in the Blackburn Northern
sub-registration district, Districts 39 & 40 - No Whalleys there that I
could see.

In case you want to trawl the whole area, other St Michaels districts are
16, 17, 18, 35, 38, 41, 42

Is it possible that John was in the Army and Elizabeth Ann moved back to
her parents ?

John Cartmell...

Elizabeth's parents* were in the same area - at 14 Beech St - in 1891, but I
cannot find them in 1901. Maybe the whole family had gone to Blackpool for the
week? ;-)

James Dewhurst age 44 in 1891
Alice Dewhurst age 41 in 1891

The Whalleys and Dewhursts are my problem families from the first time I did
serious research 20 years ago which is why such recent links are still
unresolved. I gave up then because there were just too many of them with
similar named children.

Very many thanks for checking.

Anne Chambers...

I did, later, find Elizabeth's mother - widowed - in 1901
RG13; Piece: 3908; Folio: 146; Page: 16 (District 41)
51 Logwood Street

Thomas Bennett 21 nephew
Alfred Dewhurst 19
Alice Dewhurst 51
Edward Dewhurst 23
Nellie Dewhurst 16
Walter Dewhurst 21

John Cartmell...

Great stuff. *Very* many thanks!

but no Elizabeth Ann - I really think the only thing will be to trawl
through the enumeration districts image by image in the hope that for
some reason they were left off the index but not the census :(

John Cartmell...

I'm going to take my time and log all the addresses in the area and check if
any are left blank (no return) that may house the family.

All much appreciated. ;-))