| For general information see
Introduction to Census Returns |
The Exploring Family History Tutorial
The 1871 Census
Midnight Sun/Mon 2/3rd April 1871
| From Thomas
Horwood's
birth certificate (view)
we now know the names of his parents James Horwood and
Mary Town, and the address where he was born. From the
baptism records (view)
we know the name of three siblings.
Task: Find him, as a child with his parents, in the 1871 census |
The 1871 census is online and accessible on the Ancestry web site. A search was made using the following terms:
| First Name | Thomas William |
| Last Name | Horwood |
| Birth Year | 1863 |
| Birthplace | City |
An examination of the list of possibilities led to the following household living at:
Goswell Terrace, Parish of St James, Clerkenwell
| Mary Horwood | Head | Widow | 30 | Laundress | St Lukes |
| Thomas Horwood | Son | 8 | St Faith, City | ||
| Maria Horwood | Daughter | 4 | St Faith, City | ||
| Thomas Horwood | Cousin | Unmarried | 66 | News Agent | Clerkenwell |
| Result of
Investigation
If everything was OK with the family we would have expected to find James Horwood as head of the household - and two of the expected children are missing. It would appear that James must have died between the conception of Maria in 1866 and the census in 1871. The fact that the widow, Mary Horwood, is described as a laundress suggest poverty, and his father's death could explain why Thomas did not follow his father's occupation as a butcher. |
| Comparison with the
Bible
There is one significant area where the Bible provides information which could be hard to find. Child mortality was high and (unless there are baptisms in the same parish as siblings) it can be difficult to discover children who died in infancy. The Bible includes Elizabeth Horwood (1862-1862) and Alfred (1865-1868) and it is not surprising that they are not listed in the census. James (born 1864) is not listed - and a search of the 1871 census failed to find him living elsewhere. Maybe he was stillborn, or died almost immediately and this was not recorded because it was well known. Another possibility is that he died between the time the entry was made in the Bible and the 1871 census. General Note: There was a high death rate among infants and young children and if there are no family records they can be hard to track down. Often a study of local burial registers is the only way. The difficulty in tracking down infant deaths leads to a common error in amateur research - where a baptismal record is assumed to be an ancestor - yet the burial register shows the individual died in infancy, and cannot be anyone's ancestor. |
Page created November 2005