1911 census on Ancestry

[carolegif]

I have just looked at the 1911 census on Ancestry (I usuall use FMP) and it appears that it is just some sort of summary of the census, I couldn't make head nor tale of it at all. Family members seem to be in a list with other people, not the rest of my family.

I cannot find my Auntie Alice (Davidson) who was born in 1893 in Hunts Cross, Lancs. I have tried to find her in 1911 when she would still have been single as she didn't marry until 1918. I can't even find her working as a servant somewhere which is what most of my female relatives did until they married - they lerned how to make lovely food though as I can vouch for when I stayed with them!!

[Rose Maybud]

OK, there's two questions here!
First the Ancestry 1911 Census
I also subscribe to FMP and haven't until now bothered with Ancestry. I see what you mean. I did a test run on a known record and it was very difficult to find someone I knew was there. I should think it nearly impossble to find someone from scratch.
This is what worked in this instance: I entered the county for 'Residence' (Gloucestershire) although convention has it if you live south of the river it's Somerset. Then I entered Bedminster in the 'More' box and it came up with a whole list of the heads of household. In my case it was 'Mr Cox'. My Mr Cox was on the second page. It gave the address correctly and the number of males/females in the household correctly.
So this is a very different animal to the FMP 1911 Census. The summary books produced by the enumerators. More an admin tool for the Census organisers I think from this one instance.

[Rose Maybud]

As to Aunty Alice, in short, I can't find her either!

I found her in 1901 - daughter of Thomas & Ellen? Two of her older siblings married in the time 1901 and 1911, but she wasn't with them. It might be worth checking cousins etc.

Another option is mis-spellings. The nearest I found is an Alice Davies, age 17, wardmaid at Highfield Infirmary, Knotty Ash, birthplace stated as Liverpool.

I'll have to leave it there for now - back later.

[ironmonger]

I have been notified by Ancestry that these are only Census records summary books and that the full census for 1911 will be releeased as soon as possible this year at no extra cost

[carolegif]

Thank you both. I will investigate the Alice Davies, I kmow she worked as a 'daily' in later life, and in her 70's she worked as a cook in an old People's home, so she must have had some experience - her cooking was wonderful, she could make something out of nothing.

[carolegif]

She is the daughter of Thomas and Ellen. Her two sisters married two brothers, one of whom went down with the Lusitania. His wife died soon after and Alice brought the two sons up with her own, so raised 4 boys after her husband died of Spanish flu'. She was quite a woman!!

[Rose Maybud]

I have looked again but with no success. Found sister Jane with her intended - she married Mar 1912 to another Keegan as you say. John and Mary Ellen were both at home with Thomas & Ellen. Looked for Thomas & Ellen's marriage to find her maiden name - Corns? - in the hope of finding Alice with with her grandparents (Thomas & Elizabeth Corns?), but I think they would have died by 1911. There were loads of Corn(e)s in the area, so needle in haystack job to sort them out :(
One last idea - to look for her future husband - which William Evans was he?

[carolegif]

The Corns are a large family, I have had contact with lots of descendents. Thomas was born in Aspatria but I cannot find his family either, his father is on his marriage cert as John who was born in Carlisle, but an exact age is not given. Alice married William Evans who was a seaman, their two sons worked for Cunard. John was my grandad, but he was gassed in WW1 which damaged his heart, he died in 1945 aged 48. I will ask my Dad if he knows anything, but it is my Mum's family and she is in a home with Alzheimer's so cannot help.

[Iolanthe]

If you are just searching on Ancestry, using the 1911 summary, it is unlikely that you will find family members that way at the moment, as the summary only gives the name of the Head of the household, in most cases a man, and the first name is not given in most of the examples that I have looked at. They are just termed Mr Jones, Mr Smith etc. which is like looking for a needle in a haystack!

Unless you subscribe to the Finmy past 1911 websirte, at the moment, I doubt if you will find what you are looking for, and that can work out expensive (speaking from experience). Eventually, Ancestry will have the whole 1911 census on it so, if you already subscribe to it, you may have to wait a while. I think there is free access to the 1911 at Kew, and other big libraries, but I can't speake from experience about that. I've almost finished my credits with Findmypast, and won't renew it yet again, as I have no more I want to search for. (I have found the transcriptions for 10 credits, are often inaccurate, and I'm not using 30 credits just to look at one original page - too expensive. I'll wait for Ancestry, as both my husband and I certainly get our money's worth there.