----- Dennis stated: > Elaine, > > Any census record is as questionable as the census taker is. I have found > ages off by 3 years, wrong sex, wrong birth place, or anything else. Go by > the preponderance of the evidence and list every source and its contents > even when you know it is wrong. Hello everyone ! Merry Christmas all! Dennis is "right on"* !! I have the same experience! ( *ok ok That's Canadian slang for being correct in his assessment!) On this side of the pond my experience with various census in Ontario AKA Upper Canada in times of old, is that there are all kinds of errors. Some of the errors are transcribers who, believe me, try hard to be correct and God bless them for their efforts! Always look at original records where possible! Other errors are a result of either the enumerator or the family member in the interview being incorrect. Census anywhere give one an idea of family members at the time of the census, but do not forget that only the people living in the domicile subject to enumeration are included in the census. So children out, living on their own, are not counted etc. Yes errors do occur with spelling, ages, and members missed. A census is a good beginning. One has to research further based on it. That is true here in Ontario and there in Ireland. All the best! Rob McGinn in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Researching Story of County Cavan Cooke of Cavan and Belfast, McGinn of somewhere in Ulster Province.

While I agree that many censuses are off by even up to 4-5 years, and first names and middle names are used alternately, I think it is really risky to assume too much with Irish first names, since this nation seems to Really use the same ten or so first names over and over again! I can't tell you how many times I have gotten excited by seeing a family with the same surname as mine, and they have a Joseph and a James and Mary and a Katherine! and....oh....so does every other family........so I don't think you can say with any surety that the two families are the same. Just my two cents, I have no special knowledge. Also, can you get a look at the original film? Because I had a transcription that showed what seemed to be a Margaret Somebody, yet the other names matched, and when someone explained to me that the transcribers were all using the same film, and mistakes are made because it isn't very legible, when I saw the original, I could see how it was mistakenly transcribed and was indeed my line. (BTW, the only way I saw it was that another researcher who seemed to match my family had gotten a copy of something from CANA House). Nancy