Sue Durant (sdurant1 @t yahoo.co.uk) of Wincanton is Searching the very elusive James Durrant, shoemaker, wife Ann and family who were in Essex until about 1844.  Not in Essex 1851.  In 1853 there is an Emma Durrant born Ware.  George (born 1844) enlisted in the army from Ware 1863.  Not in Ware itself 1851 census.  Ann died in 1877 in Hoddesdon, family not in Hoddesdon in 1871 census.  James was in workhouse, Ware in 1881 and I think died there in 1895.  Can anyone help with a census for them for 1851, 61 or 71 please!.

The 1851 census has been indexed - but the index is only publicly available at HALS, and is organised parish by parish. The 1861 and 1871 censuses are not generally indexed and so one really needs a more specific location. I cannot do look ups on material I do not personally hold as I live so far from HALS - where most of the records are available, but perhaps someone else seeing this message can help.

You don't give the address where Emma Durrant was born, which will be on her birth certificate. If you are simply relying on the registration district in the GRO index, the place given can be misleading, and a lot of people waste a lot of time by failing to get a copy of the certificate. "Ware" will cover not only the town of Ware but also the 13 other parishes in the Ware Union. The fact that James Durrant was in the Workhouse in 1881 strongly suggests that he was a resident of the area covered by the Ware Union.

You say that James Durrant was a shoemaker, and someone from this occupation might be either self-employed or work for someone else. In the first case he could be listed in a trades directory and while a check for "Boot and Shoemakers" in the 1851 Trades Directory index of the Post Office Directory was negative. Luckily I found what I was looking for in the 1866 edition. This lists a James Durrant as being a shoemaker in Stanstead Abbots - which is one of the parishes within the Ware Union. Earlier and later editions of the directory may give further dates when he was in the village - but if he was in the workhouse in 1881 it is not surprising that he is not listed in the 1882 directory.

In these circumstances it would be sensible to concentrate your efforts on the village of Stanstead Abbots.

There are web pages for Stanstead Abbots

If you can add to the information given above tell me.