Asket Hall Census History....

Post by **chameleon** » Tue 15 Jan, 2008 11:45 pm

My wife has been deeply involved in Geneology for many years now and some time ago, assisted in transcribing some of these original manuscripts into clearer English for transfer to microfiche.I remember well the, erm, 'grumbles' which where uttered at regular intervals during that task as she tried to decipher the writing!

Post by **cnosni** » Wed 16 Jan, 2008 8:56 pm

chameleon wrote: My wife has been deeply involved in Geneology for many years now and some time ago, assisted in transcribing some of these original manuscripts into clearer English for transfer to microfiche.I remember well the, erm, 'grumbles' which where uttered at regular intervals during that task as she tried to decipher the writing! Not half as bad as the grumbles i have with Ancestry and its census transcription for its search engine.Though i believe much of the transcription takes place abroad,so its no wonder those poor so and sos make an error or ten with names and place names.

electricaldave · Post by **electricaldave** » Wed 16 Jan, 2008 10:15 pm

I know exactly why some of that transcription is poor, and it has little to do with foreigners.Several of the early 20th Centry census documents have been in the process of being put onto digital formats for the past five or so years, maybe a couple more.This work has been undertaken in several prisons,http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/ ... tmlFigures I have seen quoted are that at least 68% of prisoners have a reading age average of 13 years old or less, that prisoners literacy and numeracy levels are so low as to make them unemployable for over 90% of jobs.These were the ones doing this work, add in an overrepresentation of prisoners whose first language is not English, add to that that those 1901 census documents are written in copperplate handwriting, even I find I have to study carefully to read them and you can see the problems.Anyone who has chased down their own family tree will be well aware of how difficult it can be to read contemporary records of their ancestors.Even those with good or average levels of literacy can struggle to decipher these documents, you can imagine how much worse it is for young men, speaking almost a differant English language to the authors of those documents.Do not be misled by the so-called rise in the number of prisoners gaining qualifications in literacy either, because what is actually happening is that the same offenders are doing the revolving door thing, and the same ones keep gaining the same qualifications each time they visit - its so much easier to teach people that you know will pass the tests and it makes the figures so much better - or am I being cynical?http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/Databas ... ml#Prisons

Post by **chameleon** » Wed 16 Jan, 2008 11:41 pm

Aside from the questionable transcription with which even quite skilled and individuals complete witha vested interest in accuracy struggle, the much hyped venture into the world of technology by the Public Records Office was a disater at the time. With the 1901 census about to become available under the 100year rule, this should have been a monumental step forward in terms of access.Monumental it was as I'msure many users here will recall, the demand upon the site grossly outstripping capacity and it being many months before there was any surity of logging on at all, let alone stability from their network.The sheer number of people in the ordinarily quiet fraternity of geneology fanatics coming to the fore had been seriously underestimated and caused chaos - a shame their presence didn't show in the census results of the day!

Loz123 · Post by **Loz123** » Wed 16 Jan, 2008 11:56 pm

Hi all thanks for all the msgs... yeah it is fair to say i am well and truely addicted to looking things up on the census pages the harder the better... weird arn't i...Totally agree with you all ancestry can be wrong as can the ennumerator and the clerks... i have been doing my own geanology for a few years now and have found that with out viewing the actual census page i cannot be sure of what it might say as peoples names, ages, occupations and relationships have all been wrong when researching my tree....So if you know anyone who needs any look up you know where to come...very interesting points...

Loz123 · Post by **Loz123** » Thu 17 Jan, 2008 12:04 am

Hi just uploaded the 1891 census for Asket Hall, as this actually calls it Asket Hall.... do you want to see the others if you interested that is....let me know...

wiggy · Post by **wiggy** » Thu 17 Jan, 2008 10:13 pm

Loz123 wrote: Hi just uploaded the 1891 census for Asket Hall, as this actually calls it Asket Hall.... do you want to see the others if you interested that is....let me know... go on then lass...

Post by **cnosni** » Fri 18 Jan, 2008 1:31 am

wiggy wrote: Loz123 wrote: Hi just uploaded the 1891 census for Asket Hall, as this actually calls it Asket Hall.... do you want to see the others if you interested that is....let me know... go on then lass... Wiggy are you coming up for the party?Hopefully there will be some sausage rolls,potted meat sandwiches and brandy snap (as afters of course)for us Leeds 9ers.Would be good to meet you.

The Parksider · Post by **The Parksider** » Fri 18 Jan, 2008 8:45 am

Loz123 wrote: Hi i read the earlier thread and was in agreement that the house was lovely, it also got me thinking who could possible live in a house like this in leeds and not be well known to us...i started to look in the census pages after much research i found...What does veryone else think? I think that your research was superb - thanks

Jimbo5553 · Post by **Jimbo5553** » Fri 18 Jan, 2008 11:18 am

Thomas Green & Sons took over the 'Smithfield Public House' and made it their offices ( opposite Lovell Park, North Street ), the building stills exists ( listed ), the factory long gone was behind between North Street and Regent Street and was at one time part of the Hawker Sydney Aircraft Group,Jimbo