Hello fellow list members, I would like to respond to the comments made by Sandy and Edward about my posting concerning the launch of the Dumfries 1841 Free Census Project. I'm sorry for the delay in this posting, but it has taken me a little time to marshall my thoughts about this project. I volunteered to coordinate this project because I felt strongly that to have the whole of the Scotland census records available for searching on the web would be a terrific boon for researchers. I know that the 1881, 1891 and 1901 census records for the whole of Scotland are available (for pay) through www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk (with images available also for the latter two!). I know this since I have used this site to research my sister-in-law's ancestors in Scotland, and it has been invaluable. (Unfortunately, most of my own ancestors came from Ireland to Canada in the early 1800's, and due to the loss of most of the Irish census and parish records, it has been impossible to trace my own ancestry back to that country!) It was a fantastic resource to be able to find particular families in whatever county and parish they happened to be, particularly since one of them was a forrester and moved from estate to estate about every couple of years. This made it impossible to know where they would be each census, and the fact that these records for the whole of Scotland are available through scotlandspeople (and the 1881 census through the LDS as well) made it possible to track them. So when I saw that FreeCEN was aiming to make transcripts of the remaining Scottish census records (1841 to 1871) available in a searchable manner freely available on-line, I wanted to help, first as a transcriber, then as a coordinator. I volunteered to coordinate Dumfries since half of my sister-in-law's ancestors come from there (the other half came from Aberdeen), and it would be helpful for me to have these records available for searching. I had already used FreeCEN to research Aberdeen, and knew how useful the full county search could be (with 83.8% of the 1841 census currently available at FreeCEN: see www.freecen.org.uk). FreeCEN is aiming to start with the 1841 census for Scotland, making the whole of the country available for searching at one site. So when I volunteered and was accepted, I ordered the films (or rather CDs in this case) from the LDS, prepared a data base and web page to track this project, divided the parishes when necessary into manageable sizes, and did a lot of preparatory work to get ready for my launch. At the time I wasn't aware of the availability of any census records from the DGFHS. I was aware that the 1851 census for Dumfries (as well as for Wigtown and Kirkcudbright) is available freely online at: www.dumgal.gov.uk/services/depts/comres/library/census_search.asp, since I had used this site for research and am very grateful for its existence. But I didn't know about any publications about Dumfries census records. On the other hand, even if I had, I wouldn't have been sure which parish to order to be able to find the various families that I was researching. Only an on-line data base would have helped that. That is why I still feel that this project is important. I am sorry that Sandy and Edward don't agree with this. Of course I want the census records from 1871 to be available also (the records from 1881 to 1901 not yet having been approved by the GRO(S)), and aim to continue the project past 1841 if it proves feasable. I certainly invite anyone with census records already transcribed, and who would like to donate their transcriptions to this project, to get in touch with me. These records would be checked and verified against the original census records to testify to their accuracy, and then they can be added to the database for searching over the whole of Scotland at once. Failing this, I would ask anyone who would like to volunteer to make these records available freely on-line to get in touch with me, Thomas Daly, at thomas.daly@stgeorges.qc.ca. And anyone who is interested in seeing the scope of the Scotland project, please visit www.users.waitrose.com/~census/. Thomas Daly Dumfries Coordinator FreeCEN

Tom, You point out that 1841 to 1871 are not in an internet searchable format. Well, 1841 is in a format that is fairly convenient. So, skip it for now and do one of the ones that is completely inaccessible (ie. 1861 and 1871). This would be for the greater good of "the cause". Jeffery Davidson ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tom Daly" <tom.daly@stgeorges.qc.ca> To: <DUMFRIES-GALLOWAY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, October 25, 2004 8:09 PM Subject: [D-G LIST] Dumfries 1841 Free Census Project > Hello fellow list members, > > I would like to respond to the comments made by Sandy and Edward about my > posting concerning the launch of the Dumfries 1841 Free Census Project. > I'm sorry for the delay in this posting, but it has taken me a little time > to marshall my thoughts about this project. > > I volunteered to coordinate this project because I felt strongly that to > have the whole of the Scotland census records available for searching on > the web would be a terrific boon for researchers. I know that the 1881, > 1891 and 1901 census records for the whole of Scotland are available (for > pay) through www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk (with images available also for > the latter two!). I know this since I have used this site to research my > sister-in-law's ancestors in Scotland, and it has been invaluable. > (Unfortunately, most of my own ancestors came from Ireland to Canada in > the early 1800's, and due to the loss of most of the Irish census and > parish records, it has been impossible to trace my own ancestry back to > that country!) It was a fantastic resource to be able to find particular > families in whatever county and parish they happened to be, particularly > since one of them was a forrester and moved from estate to estate about > every couple of years. This made it impossible to know where they would be > each census, and the fact that these records for the whole of Scotland are > available through scotlandspeople (and the 1881 census through the LDS as > well) made it possible to track them. > > So when I saw that FreeCEN was aiming to make transcripts of the remaining > Scottish census records (1841 to 1871) available in a searchable manner > freely available on-line, I wanted to help, first as a transcriber, then > as a coordinator. I volunteered to coordinate Dumfries since half of my > sister-in-law's ancestors come from there (the other half came from > Aberdeen), and it would be helpful for me to have these records available > for searching. I had already used FreeCEN to research Aberdeen, and knew > how useful the full county search could be (with 83.8% of the 1841 census > currently available at FreeCEN: see www.freecen.org.uk). > > FreeCEN is aiming to start with the 1841 census for Scotland, making the > whole of the country available for searching at one site. So when I > volunteered and was accepted, I ordered the films (or rather CDs in this > case) from the LDS, prepared a data base and web page to track this > project, divided the parishes when necessary into manageable sizes, and > did a lot of preparatory work to get ready for my launch. > > At the time I wasn't aware of the availability of any census records from > the DGFHS. I was aware that the 1851 census for Dumfries (as well as for > Wigtown and Kirkcudbright) is available freely online at: > www.dumgal.gov.uk/services/depts/comres/library/census_search.asp, since I > had used this site for research and am very grateful for its existence. > But I didn't know about any publications about Dumfries census records. On > the other hand, even if I had, I wouldn't have been sure which parish to > order to be able to find the various families that I was researching. Only > an on-line data base would have helped that. > > That is why I still feel that this project is important. I am sorry that > Sandy and Edward don't agree with this. Of course I want the census > records from 1871 to be available also (the records from 1881 to 1901 not > yet having been approved by the GRO(S)), and aim to continue the project > past 1841 if it proves feasable. I certainly invite anyone with census > records already transcribed, and who would like to donate their > transcriptions to this project, to get in touch with me. These records > would be checked and verified against the original census records to > testify to their accuracy, and then they can be added to the database for > searching over the whole of Scotland at once. Failing this, I would ask > anyone who would like to volunteer to make these records available freely > on-line to get in touch with me, Thomas Daly, at > thomas.daly@stgeorges.qc.ca. And anyone who is interested in seeing the > scope of the Scotland project, please visit > www.users.waitrose.com/~census/. > > Thomas Daly > Dumfries Coordinator > FreeCEN > > > ==== DUMFRIES-GALLOWAY Mailing List ==== > FIND YOUR ANCESTORS > http://www.directcon.net/tomas/Ancestry/index.html/ > >