In a message dated 08/05/2004 21:00:07 GMT Daylight Time, small32@ntlworld.com writes: could someone please tell me what the abbreviation of A O W is, I have come across it twice while transcribing a census . Alison . It would help if you gave us a few more clues, such as: Which census was that (they are not all the same!)? and Which column was it in? . If it was in the "Occupation" column, then it might fall into the category of "standard occupational abbreviations" of which the best-known are MS and FS (male servant and female servant respectively) in the 1841 census or "HFW" (hand-frame weaver" found in many Lancashire censuses, or so I'm told. It coulld even be possible that you have mis-read "O O W" ("out of work")! . The fact that you need to ask should be taken as a warning to all those present-day researchers who are overly-keen to invent their own abbreviations. Unless everyone knows what it stands for then using an abbreviation tends only to add confusion to a situation. No doubt the enumerator would have said his notebook was for the eyes of the census officials only and not for the general public, so his use of what might have been an accepted abbreviation in that context was all right. However he would not have anticipated the census being as widely used today (and for non-demographic purposes as well!) any more than he could have anticipated the use of microfilm, microfiche, CDs and computers! . Geoff Nicholson . 57 Manor Park, Concord, WASHINGTON, Tyne & Wear NE37 2BU Ask for details of NBL/DUR family history research in depth by THE local expert, working for YOU.