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Dear Briercliffians,

A month or so ago, I began to undertake a fairly enormous task. Driven by the desire to try and ascertain just which of the Briercliffe homes my ancestors had lived in, I began to pull together all of the available census data.

Now, whilst back in 1841/51/61/71, the various censii do not contain house numbers, the later censii do. I've started with the early ones - thanks to some generations donations from Mel of the 1851, 61 and 71 transcriptions - and have been transcribing the 1841 census myself.

The problem with the early censii - if you're not already aware - is that, apart from not containing house numbers, they are also assembled in a largely random order. For example, the enumerator takes the details of each Holt Hill house, and then transcribes them in a haphazard way.

This is why, to work out who is living where, we need to trace the address back, year by year, from the censii which *do* have house numbers on them.

I've been doing this by collecting the censis details into a template (eventually ending up with just one field in for each household) I've then been piecing the various years together like a jigsaw and cross-referencing the various census years against each other. They fit together quite well and I've been having a well over 50% success rate with tracing householders from one year to the next with, for example, the 11 Cockden addresses all achieving some sort of connection with previous and later years allowing us to see who was in each house when.

Obviously, directories would help further with this, but I've yet to place my sticky hands on any.

So here's my plea - does anybody want to help me with this? As I said, I'm persevering with the 1841 census at the moment, but this still leaves the 1881, 1891 and 1901 censii to be transcribed. It's not that scary a job in actuality. I've been trying to do two pages per day. Another way of helping would be to scan in some Briercliffe directories from the relevant periods. I'd then be happy to type these up myself and slot them in.

Once the work is complete - or near completion - I will, of course, share everything with the Society. As I've said before, I've never received such help on any of my genealogical lines that I've received from you lot, and I'm always happy to give as much back as I've taken!

Stephen

I have 1891 and 1901 here - looks like they might be complete for Briercliffe. I never attempted the 1881 as it is available online for free on the Fmailysearch website. I never completed the 1851 and therefore hadn't made it to the 1841. Email on way

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Mel

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Mel,

Indeed 1881 is free, but it will still be a chore to transcribe because of the format it's in. I wish I could get it in a nice, friendly Excel file!

Thanks a million for the email, though!!

I'll make a start on the 1881 when I've finished the scanning. I need to make this a priority as the scanner is only on temporary loan and I don't know how temporary the loan is. Could get a call requesting it back at any time!

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Mel

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Definitely the priority, then!

I've finished concatenating the 1891 data onto my spreadsheet. Of the 347 households, have managed to definitively link 95 of them to 1871, (just over a quarter) and that's just with a few hours work. I'll continue to dig deeper and increase the correlation.

Also, that's with a gap of 20 years between the two censuses, so I'm hopeful of getting over 50% correlation when we get the 1881 to bridge that gap.

Off the top of your head, d'you know if the 1881 census for B'cliffe contains house numbers?

Not sure Stephen.

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Mel

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Would like to help Stephen but at the mo my internet connection is down---all good fun. I willl be in touch when I get back on.

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Gloria

I'd be dangerous with a brain.

Not the same having to use the library for an internet fix is it. Can't have a cuppa at the same time
Hope it's sorted soon Gloria - you deserve at least 3 months free from them!

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Mel

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Now that I have completed the slides, I hope to complete the 1851 census. It's something I can do with my laptop from the comfort of the sofa - unlike the slides that had to be done at my main pc seeing as that was where there was room for the scanner

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Mel

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Mel,

Best of luck. I need to find some more time to crack on with 1841!

Stephen

Made a start this morning. There's only about 5 pages to do for the 1851. Should have it done today. Will email it to you as well as add it to the site once complete.

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Mel

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For those interested, I've now managed to 'map' 75% of the 1891 census to the 1901 census. The importance of this is that, as the 1901 census is the more recent, its road names and addresses are more in line with what we know today.

The changes include such things such as:
1891's "Haggate" becoming 1901's "Halifax Road" and "Nelson Road" and "Acre Street"
1891's "Lane Bottom" becoming 1901's "Halifax Road"
1891's "South View" becoming 1901's "Burnley Road"

Although only cursory work has been done on the earlier census mapping, the 1871 census is 19% mapped to 1901, the 1861 census is 15% mapped, and 1851 is 12% mapped.

All of these %s will continue to rise as I put the work in. Also - as Mel has kindly volunteered to transcribe the 1881 census - we'll be able to bridge the 20 year gap between 1871 and 1891 and help to map the earlier ones this way.

Hopefully, when this is complete, it'll prove to be an excellent guide to looking at existing houses and seeing who lived in them at earlier points because, as anyone who's looked at the earlier censuses will tell you, anything before 1881 is so vague as to be largely useless unless someone is in a named house or farm.

Stephen

Got it slightly wrong re: the 1851. There were only 5 pages left for the Briercliffe section but then the next section covers Extwistle. Still, it's not too big.
I have added all that I have done so far to the site.

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Mel

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Mel,

How do I get to the latest data...?

Btw, 83% of 1891 now mapped onto 1901. Some very confusing changes to work out in that lot!!

Stephen

To search for individuals, you go to the census page on the main site.

I'll email the file to you shortly. I've just completed it but I have to go and walk the dogs before one of them chews my big toe off. She is desperately trying to get my attention!

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Mel

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