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Should we believe all facts stated in census returns?

Should we believe all facts stated in census returns?

Posted: 21 Nov 2014 1:42PM GMT
Classification: Query
Should we believe all facts stated in census returns? I am trying to trace a marriage between Thomas Edward SMITH and Mary Emma ABBOTT. The 1911 census states they had been married for 24 years and the children's birth certificates state the mother's name as Mary or Emma Smith formerly Abbott. However I have not been able to trace anything.

Re: Should we believe all facts stated in census returns?

Posted: 22 Nov 2014 1:56PM GMT
Classification: Query
No, you cannot believe everything in a census return, since the accuracy depends upon who is providing the information and whether or not that person knows the facts.

Suggest you post exactly what you do know on the relevant county board, including the names, birth dates, and birth places of the children. Someone is bound to be able to help you.

Re: Should we believe all facts stated in census returns?

Posted: 22 Nov 2014 5:36PM GMT
Classification: Query
This is what I feared. I may be chasing a marriage that never happened. Many thanks for your insight.

Re: Should we believe all facts stated in census returns?

Posted: 23 Nov 2014 12:07AM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 23 Nov 2014 12:09AM GMT
Were the children born in England? If so, you may be in luck. Both the father's and mother's names appear on the certificates (see http://home.clara.net/dixons/Certificates/births.htm#COL5) . If only the mother's name appears, they may have never married. Certainly worth buying a birth certificate to find out.

Re: Should we believe all facts stated in census returns?

Posted: 23 Nov 2014 12:20PM GMT
Classification: Query
Yes all the children were born in England and I have all the birth certificates. However some show the mother's name as Mary Smith formerly Abbott, some Emma Smith formerly Abbott and the census of 1901 and 1911 show the mother's name as Bridget Smith. I would have thought that if all the birth certificates stated the mother's name as Smith formerly Abbott there would have been a marriage somewhere but as yet I cannot find one.

Re: Should we believe all facts stated in census returns?

Posted: 24 Nov 2014 2:48PM GMT
Classification: Query
My only suggestion is to post what you do know on th appropriate location board -- wherever the first child was born.

Good luck!

Re: Should we believe all facts stated in census returns?

Posted: 8 Jan 2015 5:36PM GMT
Classification: Query
Thomas Edward Smith married one of either:

Annie Britnell or Alma Abbott

April Quarter 1885 Wycombe, Buckinghamshire - Volume 3A Page 800
per page

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