Jim et All, I have found contacting the Harris Library at Preston very helful for finding people in the 1891 census. They have a name index and can point you to the right fiche. They may even be kind enough to check the fiche for you. Martin in Sunny Sydney -----Original Message----- From: Jim Howarth [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, 6 August 2001 11:07:pm To: [email protected] Subject: Howarth's of Longton and Preston Hi everybody, I am trying to trace a Mary Ann Howarth and a Frederick Howarth. They probably had three daughters, Ellen born 1888, Alice born 1893 and Hannah born 1895. If anyone has access to the 1891 census I would appreciate a lookup. Does anyone know if the 1901 census is available yet? ============================== Search over 1 Billion names at Ancestry.com! http://www.ancestry.com/rd/rwlist1.asp IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail and any attachment to it is intended only to be read or used by the named addressee. It is confidential and may contain legally privileged information. No confidentiality or privilege is waived or lost by any mistaken transmission to you. If you receive this e-mail in error, please immediately delete it from your system and notify the sender. You must not disclose, copy or use any part of this e-mail if you are not the intended recipient. The RTA is not responsible for any unauthorised alterations to this e-mail or attachment to it.

Hi, Martin, You mention the Harris Library and fiche. I think this item about fiche falls into the group that is often dismissed by the comment 'Oh, everyone knows about that'. The Harris Library has had some superb support from locals and ALL the census films, 1841 - 1891, have been indexed by surname for the Preston area. These indexes are available in book form on the open shelves in the Library. Not much good for me, says you Martin, from Down Under. However, surname indexes to many of the Censuses for several of the Lancashire towns are available on microfiche from the Lancashire Family History & Heraldry Society (LFH&HS). Details of this Society are on its web-site www.lancashire-fhhs.org.uk These are only surname indexes. For each Piece of the Census, they tell you what surnames are recorded and on which folios they occur (a folio is a leaf of the book comprising two pages, front and back). They do not normally tell you forenames or any other information. For the full information you use the reference to find the entry on the Census. The Census were originally supplied to Libraries on microfilm, but the 1891 Census was also available on microfiche. Some of the earlier Censuses are now available in that form as well. These film or fiche copies are photographic copies of the original enumerators' booklet showing all the vagaries of the original, surnames in the same household with different spellings, etc. I understand it is possible to obtain access to these film copies through your local Mormon Family History Centre. The LFH&HS page also lists its other publications on fiche. These include copies of various baptism, marriage and burial registers and of monumental inscriptions. These copies are usually in some sort of tabular form to enable manipulation on a computer. They are not usually precise word for word transcripts as the one I quoted the other day from the Catholic Record Society for John WILKINSON. Remember, if the event is a key event in your family, then try to see a copy of the original Register to check the transcription. Many of these LFH&HS fiche have been prepared from filmed copies of the Registers, but for some the work has been done from the original Register with the co-operation of the Church concerned.