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1841 census – Castle Barn, Dowdeswell
The 1841 census is considered the first modern census and the one that produced the earliest genealogically useful information. Enumeration forms were distributed to all households a couple of days before the census night (6 June 1841) and the completed forms were collected the next day. If the head of the house was illiterate or had any problems completing the form the enumerator would assist as much as necessary. The information from the individual forms was then copied into enumerators' books, which are the records we can view images of today. The information asked for included: Name of street, avenue, road, etc; House name or number, Surname of head of household, Name of persons who had spent the night in the household, Age, Sex, the Person’s occupation and, Where born. This column asked two questions: 1) whether born in same county, and 2) whether born in Scotland, Ireland, or Foreign Parts. Possible answers and abbreviations were: Yes (Y), No, (N), or Not Known (NK), while for the second part, abbreviations were used: Scotland (S), Ireland (I), and Foreign Parts (F). A major problem with the 1841 census is that it was written in pencil rather than pen so much of the data has faded.
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