In a message dated 06/10/2007 19:57:45 GMT Standard Time, [email protected] writes: On the 1841 census there is Thomas CARRIER 25 Edge tool maker living with his wife Sarah. In the house is a female servant - Mary TAYLOR described as 10 years old. I think this must have been an error on the part of the enumerator when he transferred the work to his enumeration sheets and the possibility is that she was 18. Hi I do have proof of children as young as 10 years at work scrubbing and cleaning or kitchen maids. Sometimes they were set to look after a baby. However you must realise that the ages in the 1841 census were usually rounded down. Instructions to enumerators "Write the age of every person under 15 years of age as it is stated to you. For persons aged 15 years and upwards, write the lowest of the term of 5 years within which the age is. Thus -for persons aged 15 years and under 20 write 15; 20 years and under 25 write 20; 25 years and under 30 write 25; ........... However as 10 years is written this must be the age. Can you trace her ion the 1851 census where ages were not altered. I hope this is some use to you. Regards JUDY ELKINGTON [W.R.Yorkshire, England] www.elkingtonfamily.com [email protected] www.one-name.org/profiles/elkington.html

Yes, I know ages were rounded upwards and I also know that children as young as 8 were put into service but I know that Mary was born in 1822/3 because she married her first husband in 1844 and her second husband some years later. She was then visiting the CARRIERs in 1861 with her youngest child. I would find it very difficult for the CARRIERs to know two Mary TAYLORs...although I know it would be possible. I am quite sure the two Marys are one and the same. The figure 18 can easily be mistaken and written as 10, I've often found it difficult to check the censuses myself and the enumerator could very easily have mistaken the two figures. Just because 10 is written does not mean she was 10 years old as explained above. Even if he saw her, he wouldn't write up his sheets until he returned to his home and if he didn't know the family (and he wouldn't remember all of them) it would be very easy for him to make errors. Cross-checking with all the censuses proves that Mary was 18 in 1841 and that she knew the Carriers has been proved. I have her right until her death in 1896. What I'm interested in finding out is the marriage of Thomas CARRIER/CARREER to Sarah. Cheers LIZ www.btinternet.com/~e.newbery OPC for Street, Somerset ----- Original Message ----- From: [email protected] I do have proof of children as young as 10 years at work scrubbing and cleaning or kitchen maids. Sometimes they were set to look after a baby. However you must realise that the ages in the 1841 census were usually rounded down. Instructions to enumerators "Write the age of every person under 15 years of age as it is stated to you. For persons aged 15 years and upwards, write the lowest of the term of 5 years within which the age is. Thus -for persons aged 15 years and under 20 write 15; 20 years and under 25 write 20; 25 years and under 30 write 25; ........... However as 10 years is written this must be the age. Can you trace her ion the 1851 census where ages were not altered. I hope this is some use to you. Regards JUDY ELKINGTON [W.R.Yorkshire, England] www.elkingtonfamily.com [email protected] www.one-name.org/profiles/elkington.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.488 / Virus Database: 269.14.2/1052 - Release Date: 05/10/2007 18:53