Census 1841

[alig99]

I am not very knowledgeable about the detail of census but have managed to trace back to an ancestor, was the 1841 census the first census?Also I why would lots of young boys working as sweeps be living together? Here's the url: http://search.ancestry.co.uk/browse/view.aspx?dbid=8978&iid=KENHO107_491_493-0355&pid=3226034&ssrc=&fn=Joseph&ln=Miller&st=g

my ancestor is Joseph Miller he is 10 in 1841 where do I need to look for his parents?

I'd greatly appreciate some help and advice on this one, kind regards Ali

[Guest]

wonder if this is his Baptism
Joseph Miller born abt 1831 Baptised 4 Sep 1831
Bromley Kent
Father Joseph Miller
Mother Mary Anne

[Elaine ..Spain]

my ancestor is Joseph Miller he is 10 in 1841 where do I need to look for his parents?

You really need to find him in a later census, e.g. 1851/1861 as that will give his place of birth. Unfortunately the only information you get for place of birth in the 1841 census is whether the person was born within the county of the census or not - and even then the reply wasn't always accurate! Any census after 1841 should show a place of birth.
Did he marry? His marriage certificate will show the name of his father and his father's occupation, useful info for helping you find his parents.

If you have him in a later census, then give us the details and we can see if we can help at all.

[keldon]

Also I why would lots of young boys working as sweeps be living together?

The abuse of young boys in chimney sweeping is often the way we view the trade now. Young boys being forced up narrow chimneys sometimes with a fire lit underneath them to get them to climb all the way up the flue.

These boys in the 1841 census were living probably with their master.
I recommend Mayhews London's Labour and poor where he conducts an in-depth investigation into the trade. Use the search engine to look for references to sweep/sweeps.

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=8wUnC2Gv6BYC&pg=PA179#v=onepage&q&f=false

[alig99]

Thank you both for your information.

Elaine, I think I've found Joseph in 1851 http://search.ancestry.co.uk/Browse/...h+Arsenal.8.10 but the name is recorded as Millers as for the 1861 census

So I'm thinking I have got the wrong person in the 1841 census.

[Guest]

it says born in Kent for that one on 1841

[alig99]

Hi Val,

Woolwich was once in Kent its now part of the London Borough of Greenwich. I used to live and work in the area about 20 years ago, way before I started researching my family history. It all a bit odd to think I probably have tread the same streets as some of my ancestor's. In the 1861 census, if I have got the right family connection, Joseph and his father worked in the Royal Arsenal. 20 years ago I used to work in the building that was the Gatehouse of The Woolwich Arsenal probably they walked through the gate twice a day, the thought of it sets the imagination going.

[margaretmarch]

The best way to be sure you have the right person is to go backwards from the 1911 or 1901 census using the information you find as a check as you go back.

The one 1851 doesn't look right as he is with parents and apprentice carpenter - why would he have been 'farmed out' as a chimney sweep in 1841 then come back home?

Perhaps you could say what exactly you had to start with and where you got it from so we can see how best to help.
Margaret

[Uncle John]

To add to what Margaret has said, you do need to connect him at death and if he married, and work backwards through the censuses. Some families are difficult to trace but many are dead easy because of names and ages matching from one census to the previous one.