THE 1841 DEVON CENSUS PROJECT
The project is being jointly organised by Devon Family History Society and FreeCEN.
The two co-ordinators are Terry Leaman (DFHS) and Lesley Dawson (FreeCEN) - our contact e-mails are at the bottom of the page.
The completed transcriptions will be put into the FreeCen database for free access on the internet and also passed to the Devon Family History Society for use in whatever way the Society may wish
The intention is that we will be transcribing from CDs which are being loaned, free of charge, by The Devon Family History Society in conjunction with Archive CD Books- the quality of which are excellent. These CDs will be passed from the transcriber once he/she has finished to the checker and then to a validator. Unfortunately there is no fiche or film available to us for this project. It is our intention that helpers will be allowed to choose an area of interest to them, but this may not possible if it is being done already by someone else and we would encourage folk to help in any event on the basis that someone is helping you and you can help them!
Anyone can help, no matter where they are in the world, and for the transcription stage we can utilise MAC as well as PC users
The data must be done to the FreeCEN format, using the SSCENS software, this is spreadsheet based and will allow you to work with a split screen using the data from census CD and any spreadsheet programme that will accept .csv format,
SSCENS spreadsheet template is supplied free, (this is on the data disc)
* Transcription must be done "AS IS" even if you know the enumerator to be wrong - transcription means just that and not interpretation!!
The 1841 handwriting (or the amount of ink the enumerator used) can be variable - please don't worry unduly about reading the CD. Just make your best guess and move on - there are 2 more people who will be eyeballing the same data after you who might just be able to read it. Take heart in that the enumerator changes after so many pages and sometimes you do get used to a certain hand!
You will need Acrobat Reader software on your computer to enable you to read the census data on the CD, and some of the files you should have downloaded from the list above, if you have not got it click the link below to download it for free from the Adobe web site. It is quite a large download- so we will also include it on the census CD that we will send you , so that you can install it from there if you would prefer
The 1841 census differed from all later census in that it used the old "Hundred" divisions instead of the Registration districts which had been introduced nearly four years earlier. To to go to a map to give you an idea of the way the county was divided
There is a dedicated 'Helpers' list where you can post questions, address below, though in the first instance we would prefer that you contact either Terry or Lesley to help; we are here for you! Finally, we would just reinforce the point to READ the information supplied with the SSCENS package and usually there is an answer there in the Help file or the FAQ, or NQTM. We would ask that after you have completed 5 pages you send it to Lesley to check that everything is in the correct format so that the final data is not having to be re-jigged!
To
send an e-mail to:-Terry
Leaman just click on the name
OR
To send an e-mail to:- Lesley Dawson just click on the name
WEB ADDRESSES ETC THAT YOU WILL FIND USEFUL
Devon Family History Society
FreeCEN Home page which shows all the different projects
http://freecen.rootsweb.com/project.htm
FAQs which will probably answer any queries - please print, read and refer to!
http://freecen.rootsweb.com/censfaq.htm
CSVCHECK is available from
http://freecen.rootsweb.com/software/incens/SSDOWN.HTM
Archive CD Books website
MAILING LISTS
Every helper should be subscribed to the FreeCEN 'HELPERS' list by sending an e-mail to:
UK-CENSUS-HELPERS-L-request@rootsweb.com
with subscribe in the body of the e-mail
if you prefer digest mode
UK-CENSUS-HELPERS-D-request@rootsweb.com
again with subscribe in the body of the e-mail
There is also a help list especially for those working with the spreadsheet version of the software
UK-CENSUS-SS-HELP-L-request@rootsweb.com
again with subscribe in the body of the e-mail
(This list is not compulsory as it only deals with queries and no announcements are made on this list.)
