About Census Indexes

Whether using census images on CD, microfilm or online, indexing is the key to productivity, helping you to find the entries you want quickly. However using poor and inaccurate indexing just leads to frustration, so the quality of the indexes is paramount. Recognising this, RootsUK have used accurate indexes from their sister site, The Genealogist, to create a searchable census transcript, which is linked to online census page images. Below is some information on Census Indexes.

Creating census name indexes

RootsUK's sister site, The Genealogist, began writing name indexes as a volunteer project when the first census CD sets were released, but it was soon realised that the volunteers on their own wouldn’t be able to create all the necessary indexes in a short enough time scale, as it was a mammoth task which rapidly grew as more census CD sets were released.

So a strategy was devised to speed up the process, whilst still retaining the necessary control over the project to ensure that the end results would be of the highest possible accuracy.

The original census transcription is now being carried out by a carefully selected specialist company in India. Transcripts done abroad have come in for much criticism in the past, so the company were supplied with specially designed databases and tools to help them. Quality control checks are carried out on each batch of transcribed data as it arrives in the UK, with substandard batches being rejected for reworking.

Meanwhile an elaborate, multi stage checking and correction system was set up at the The Genealogist's UK headquarters. Custom written checking and comparison software examines the data, looking for any unusual entries and flagging any that look suspicious. Their in-house team of transcribers then check and correct the flagged entries where necessary. Only the Forename, Surname and Ages are checked to begin with, so that the Name Indexes can be released as quickly as possible for subscribers to use.

Using Census Indexes

Whether using film at the local library or census images on CD, the surname indexes will speed up the process by helping you locate the entries you want to view.

The index supplies the Piece and often the Folio number for the page containing the name you are looking for, so you can quickly locate the required page on film. You will also find the full reference to enable you to locate the exact page on the British Data Archive CD image sets.

If you are not sure what Piece and Folio numbers are, take a look at the Anatomy of a Census Page section.

View a sample census page
(.pdf format; Adobe Reader required)

Accuracy and omissions

Remember that the enumeration books themselves are only a transcript of the individual household census forms, so the enumerator may have transcribed the information incorrectly in the first place or the information may simply have been wrong. Also some people managed to miss being enumerated at all, whilst others manage to be in two places at once. However, to help find these awkward entries that have been misrecorded, an ability to use wildcard searches, or to look for nicknames and surname variants is used.

Follow the other census links to find out about census transcripts, which is what RootsUK offers: