Why is researching family history never simple? I think Jennifer has given the definitive explanation of searching for sea going vessels. When census checking for ancestors with maritime occupations their home location is also important. I am OPC for Burnham-on-Crouch and the Dengie 100 which is a rural area in Eastern Essex with a long coastline and two major rivers hence a significant percentage of the population had occupations connected with the sea/river. But in the 1800's the majorities of our quays were comparatively small and catered for fishing boats, small ferries, farm boats, dredgers and the most important of all - Oyster Boats, most men lived on dry land . Virtually all of these boats would be at sea for hours or at the most a few days at a time and would not venture far from land and as such the crew appeared on the census lists under a great variety of occupational names although legend within the family may well put them down as mariners or marriners or even marinners. Given the seasonal nature of some water based occupations many also doubled as labourers or even had skills like carpenters and boat builders to further confuse the issue. In view of our circumstances only of few local men are found listed under vessels. I suspect that this is true of many similar areas with martitime traditions but small quays. The notable exception to this rule of non residency in our area was Thames Sailing Barges with a crew of one man, his wife and a boy tended to live of their barge and mostly seemed to evade census, this may have been accident although I suspect design based on tales of their activities!!! The PRO holds Crew list for all merchant ships from 1830 onwards but of course that entails a trip to London. These lists include details of vessels as well as individual names and dates of birth of the master and crew so the trip may be worthwhile if the mariner is important to your family history. There are several good websites including http://www.mariners-l.co.uk/ and http://www.theshipslist.com as well as sites for specific occupations like coastguards and lighthouse keepers. Peter www.essex-family-history.co.uk -----Original Message----- From: essex-uk-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:essex-uk-bounces@rootsweb.com]On Behalf Of Jenny De Angelis Sent: 07 July 2008 10:46 To: Jennifer; ESSEX-UK@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [Ess] 1851 Census question Hi Jennifer, The 1851 census was the first English/Welsh census to record Ships and their crew & passengers but only those ships that were in English/Welsh ports at midnight on census night, all those at sea or in foreign ports were ignored. Having said that the 1851 census on Ancestry, and no doubt on findmypast etc., does not include ships in port because the Nat. Archives don't seem to have either kept those schedules or they have not released the details from those schedules to the site owners to be included in their online censuses, I am not sure what the case is but the I do not believe that ships in port will be found in the 1851 online anywhere. If you find a man using Mariner as a keyword in a search of the 1851 my guess is that he will be at home and not on a ship in port. You should not only be searching using Mariner as a keyword but also use seaman as well as any other seagoing occupations you can think of. Personally I would not use such keywords in the 1851 as they may be stopping you finding your man simply because he could have used a word for his seagoing occupation that you haven't thought to use. With the 1861 census you can do better than just using the keyword mariner in your search if you can't find your mariner ancestor at home in this census. The 1861 census is the first census to include British registered ships that were in foreign ports and those at sea, each master being given his schedule before departing on the voyage that would take his ship away over census night. These images you should find on line on Ancestry, and maybe the other online census sites. You need to type in the persons name and in the Civil Parish box type Vessels rather than a place name. Once you find the person you seek in the 1861 on board a ship you will see along the top of the image, for example, "Vessels Eliza Jane" Eliza Jane would be the name of the ship and if there were more than one ship by that name then each is given a number to distinguish it by so remember any such number for the following move. Click on the name wording Vessel Eliza Jane and this will take you to a listing of ships names where you can look for Eliza Jane, plus any number your ship might have. Once you find the name in the list you will see two links, click on the right hand link which reads something like "View Description of Enumeration District" this will take you forward to where you can read the first page of that ships schedule which gives details of the vessel herself, her home port, her tonnage, her trade, where the master was handed the schedule and the date and including her position at midnight on census night, these can be compass points if she was at sea. You can print out or save this image just as you would an ordinary census image. This page and the image of the crew listing are what made up the two sides of the original schedule for that vessel so should be kept together in your files. If you find your man on board a ship then the mariners mailing list can be helpful at finding out more about her. The Mariners website gives information about finding records of mariners and also has the links for subscribing to the mariners list if you should want to join. http://www.mariners-l.co.uk/ Regards Jenny DeAngelis. Spain. <<> My question to you is about the 1851 census, and I know someone on > this list will be able to help me with this. I am trying to locate a > "mariner" in the 1851 census. Is it possible to search this list with > that keyword on Ancestry? I know it is possible in 1861 census, but 1851 > comes up a blank. Any suggestions about how I might find this info?>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Any problems, please contact the List Admin: Essex-UK-admin@rootsweb.com ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ESSEX-UK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message