Thanks to England playing again last Sunday, I had chance for one final free session on Findmypast and managed to plough my way through the rest of the list of 1911 census entires I had worked out.

One thing that really struck me was that most of the families had lost at least one child, some several more. There were very few that still had all their children (of whatever age) still living.

I knew that infant and child mortality was higher years ago, but seeing it written down in the parents handwriting really brought it home.
As mentioned in the previous post, the column showing the number of children born alive during the marriage aslo brought a few surpises and new avenues to track down.

My great, great grandmother, Sarah Jane Martin, had had 8 children, of which five were still living! I was only aware of her daughter, Sarah Jane Maria!

So today’s task is to see if I can track down the rest of this Martin family.

Thanks to the recent publication of the 1901 census of Ireland on the internet, and a time-limited offer of free access to their records during England’s matches at the World Cup, from the Findmypast website,  I have some interesting additions to many of the families that make up our tree.

These are currently being added to the database and the webpages will be updated once this is complete.

The 1901 census for Ireland enabled me to locate the family of James Theophilus Mountifield in Kimmage, Rathfarnham, Dublin. It also cleared up one query I had in that I had been trying to find Nelson James Mountifield in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, in the 1911 census but had no luck so far. I found his birth registered in Ireland as James Nelson Mountifield but I wasn’t expecting him to show up on the census as Alfred Nelson James!

If I hadn’t have found the family on the Irish census I would still be looking for Nelson and I would have probably thought the Alfred who shows up, with no other name, on the 1911 census for Portsmouth with the family,was another child. In 1911, married women had to specify the number of years married, the number of children born alive, the number still living and the numbers of those who had died. James and Kathleen had had 10 children but only 7 had survived to 1911. This matched up with other information I had.

The biggest surprise so far on the 1911 cenus for England came when I found the entry for John Howard Ross and his family. For the last 30+ years I had believed John and his wife Emily had had 7 children. Recently I found another daughter, Emily Sophia Ross, born in Dublin in 1880, dying within 3 months. A close look at the family’s census return in 1911 showed me that they had had 10 children and there were just 4 surviving. My next task? To track down those other two children if I can!

I do have a list of other families to find in the 1911 census and I have planned a visit to The National rchives in August 2010 to see if I can fill in any other gaps!