My experience has been similar to Karen's. I waited patiently for my pre-ordered 1861 Durham Census to arrive and spent several months of spare time hunting for my Dixon family, but along the way found lots of Dodds and other interests, as well as brushing up my geography. You find children from larger families lodging next door, or apprenticed and living down the street a bit. I think I must have scanned most of central and south-western Co Durham before I found my missing family in Grape Lane, Durham. I also confirmed my suspicion that family members who helped the enumerator in 1881 only had a vague idea about where the older members of the family were born (in Cumbria). Based on the 1881, I was looking in the wrong place. I now have added another 2 or 3 generations to my tree, both backward and forward in time. A person index for the 1861 would have been a help, and a better place index would have been even more useful, but I think I really value the opportunity to spend those hours searching and learning. Richard Merry -----Original Message----- From: Lynn Karen [mailto:Karen.Lynn@sglos-pct.nhs.uk] Sent: Friday, 27 February 2004 6:46 PM To: ENG-DURHAM-L@rootsweb.com Subject: RE: [ENG-DUR] Stepping Stones 1851 Census > From: GNicresearch@aol.com [mailto:GNicresearch@aol.com] > Sent: 26 February 2004 09:13 > > However, if you want to know whether > there are any > references to a name etc in a document there is no substitute > for line-by-line > searching to find out. Yes, it will take longer and no, it > will not be as exciting > as the instant gratification of an index, but instant > gratification is not > what historical research is about! Painstaking, careful, > thoughtful, research > is more to the point. I recently purchased the 1861 Durham Census from Archive CD Books, which is also unindexed. I would argue that it was actually _more_ exciting when I came across a family I was looking for having had to search through line by line. The value of searching through oneself is that of finding things I would probably have missed if I'd only looked at an index ... like finding cousins or future wives in neighbouring properties. And no, I'm not retired with endless time: I work full-time, study with the Open University, play in a quiz league, support a football team, have friends and relations to visit ... but a methodical record of where I've searched and using the odd 15 mins here and there gradually gets it all done. Karen --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.595 / Virus Database: 378 - Release Date: 25/02/2004