How do you record and document your census files

[Paulc]

Hi, Just wondering how different people store document record the census information that they accumulate? I know that there are various pre-printed forms but thinking more along the lines of a pc based system. Over the years I have accumulated at least one hundred census docs, which I have added to my tree and transcribed into my own word document, but this soleyl depends on me remembering whats where as i have no way of searching through it easily. Any advice as always is appreciated

[Little Nell]

I have a PAF [Personal Ancestral File] software programme on my puter. You can download it free on www.familysearch.org. I put the census info in the additional notes for the individuals and copy and paste for everyone in the family.

But I also keep a paper copy of my tree, with individual sheets for each person and brief details of where they lived at each census and what they were doing.

[margaretmarch]

I file all mine in folders for the name concerned and each is labelled by the year. You could use a spreadsheet to record which census you have for who and say where you have filed it ie have columns for each piece of data and then you can sort the data by whatever criteria you wanted to find what you're looking for.

I also (in the early days) printed out each one and filed it in a plastic wallet for that person along with any certs that I had for them. I put a label on the front to show what was in the wallet this also helped me see what I was missing as I listed what was possible for each person and ticked off as I found it.

I stopped doing that after a while as the house wasn't big enough and OH wouldn't agree to an extension LOL
Margaret

[borobabs]

I keep all my computer ones in family named folders all in one place on descktop ,,the paper trail I keep in file adding as and when think about it lol ,,I use FTM family tree maker in which you can store the source and also a image from your computer into the file , this I then back up into my external hard drive and my tribal pages tree , so have paper copies hard drive and also external site back up ;;

[Paulc]

thanks for all the tips my system sounds similar to margarets, but really wanted to convert all my word files into a spreadsheet format so i can pull data together and search it easier, would it be easy to convert word files into a spreadsheet format

[Mary from Italy]

I'm no great expert in Excel, but I think a Word table could easily be converted to Excel.

[Paulc]

is it possible to attach a word document on here as its probably easier if i put it on here then you will see what i mean

[fronteria]

I add a photograph or scanned copy of every document to the relevant persons scrape book; this includes copies of all certificates and church records.
Marriage records are also scanned or photographed and added to the relevant person’s marriage scrape book.
I store them in Family Tree Maker scrape books, and as photographs, and everything is backed up on a 500 GB external hard drive.
I just stick the originals in box files in alphabetical given name order under the relevant surname.

[JBee]

I have paper copies of the census in a big file.

For each census year I have a divider and have filed the transcription with image attached in alphabetical order behind it. I can then look in the right year and see if I have the census

I haven't yet mastered keeping my notes/files online but use ancestry and tribal pages.

[Anne in Carlisle]

I don't keep copies of all the census pages I have with reference to my families but I transcribe the details into an Excel file. I have one file for 'Mum's side' and one for 'Dad's side' of the family and then use a separate workbook (tabs along the bottom of Excel) for each census year. I can then quickly find the people I need if I want to check up on them. The main problem with this is remembering to add new details to the file!!!

The advantage of an Excel file is that I can have a column at the end of each entry fo any notes I need to add. I keep these in red; such as 'cousin of xxx' of 'died later in 1861'

Anne

[Paulc]

hi Anne, would you mind sending me a copy of your spreadsheet to see if i can merge my existing word documents into a spreadsheet thanks

[Anne in Carlisle]

Yes, happy to share my census spreadsheet.
Anne

[Paulc]

thanks Anne just received and previous post amended

[Mary from Italy]

If you already have a table in Word, you can just copy and paste it into Excel, I think.

[Paulc]

Hi mary, was kind of hoping it would work like that, just wanted to do a test run using Anne's spreadsheet to see how easy it is too merge the two. I'm guessing knowing my luck that the format ive used will not copy over easy enough. Sounds like a job for my son when he next pops back from Uni

[Paulc]

anybody else offer anymore advice and tips on what they do themselves

[Christine in Herts]

I use Excel for my genealogy. I did have a proper (Mac) GedCom programme, but found it very clunky. Because I've used Excel a lot both for work and for church/social things (e.g. rotas) I just found it was easier to devise a set of conventions in Excel than fight with a programme which didn't function very intuitively.

Christine

[Paulc]

hi christine, if you don't mind could you send me an example of what you use in excel for census details then i can have a mess around and see if my word documents transfer over into excel, thanks

[Glen in Tinsel Knickers]

I would go down the excel route to be honest. Working at the museum we use excel as the basis of most of the Collection Management System, for example over 34,000 maps and plans are indexed in one database, 18,000 images in another. The advantage is that a propriety programme may have limitations or be superceded, it's far easier to add an extra column onto Excel if the need arises.


Columns could be set up to record

Year
Census ref
County
Parish
Enumeration District Number
Head of House
Age of head
Occupation of head

Household members, ages, places of birth and occupations can be recorded in separate columns or in one as notes. Cross reference the document to other census returns as required.


Record each document as a separate entry, give each entry an index number, note that index number on the (hard copy)document in the same place (in pencil) and file in numerical order. That way you don't have to worry about surnames, children who leave home and duplicating documents to cover the lifespan of a relative.

[borobabs]

Glen that sounds like a brilliant idea if I knew how to set up the columns etc , lol not very good with word/excel ;;