Contents:

1. Our welcome message.

2. Featured Article – How Censuses Work and How They Can Help You By Isla Campbell

3. News from Ancestry.co.uk Liverpool has played a central role throughout Britain's history...

4. Next Months Featured Article: Family Tree Digital Video by Margaret Ravenscroft

1. Our welcome message.

Here in the UK the beautiful Spring weather has given way to much cooler and wetter days... back to normal then! Lets hope the next month lives up to it's 'Flaming June' tag.

Since retiring 18 months ago, my wife Carol has had many field trips both with me and with friends. We still however have several 'brick walls'. This 'challenge' is part of the enjoyment of family history research. If information was easy to obtain then our research would soon become boring!

Keep plugging away, meeting new friends and distant relatives and you'll never become bored with family history.

2. Featured Article:

How Censuses Work and How They Can Help You - By Isla Campbell

The history of the census is a long one, but in its most recent incarnation, the census that is performed in the UK is utilised for a number of tasks. Primarily, it acts as a way to count the population. This is what the census has always been for -- a way to accurately record how many people there are in the country, who has died and who has been born. In the last century, the census has been amended to include more information, such as relationship between household members, religion and other details. However, these cannot be accessed by the public due to the 100 year rule which does not allow members of the public to see any records in the last century. Since 2011 is a census year, 1911 has just been made accessible.

The 100 year rule doesn't really stop people from having access to many excellent resources when tracing their family trees. Censuses going back to 1841 include information on the names of people in households (after this it sadly records just numbers). From 1851 onwards, the people were not only named but their relationship to the ‘head of the house' was also listed, meaning you can see whether or not they were related to the head of the house or worked as a servant. Censuses also recorded the ages of citizens, though these were not always accurate: the age was frequently rounded down to the nearest five years. Still, this means that ages are at least a close approximation.

Censuses can be highly useful when attempting to trace one's ancestors. If you have names, locations, ages or any other information then you can search through census databases and find your ancestors' entries recorded into the census. This is a fantastic resource that thousands of people have turned to in the tracing of their family tree, and is one that can only be expected to get better in the future as every upcoming census strives to be more informative than the last.

One thing that you should remember, however, is that although censuses are impressively accurate in the recording of population numbers, census takers weren't always as thorough when recording birthplaces: sometimes, the place of birth was written as the place the census was taken when this may not be correct, so bear this in mind when using censuses to help you trace your ancestors.

Using a census is an excellent source to help you trace your ancestors and a wonderful addition to the many resources you will also be using in your hunt.

Isla Campbell writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.

About the Author
As a fan of article content and as a professional working for a digital marketing agency, Isla Campbell hopes you enjoyed her article but urges you to treat it as corporate content with business interests in mind. Click here to view more articles by Isla Campbell.

3. News from Ancestry.co.uk

Liverpool has played a central role throughout Britain's history. The city docks have ushered in industrial revolution, suffered from civil war, and welcomed generations of arrivals from Ireland, Wales and further afield. Follow your family's story through these changing times with our Liverpool parish records. Liverpool Parish Records

4. Next months featured article: