You won't find the England & Wales 1881 census at FreeCEN (other than Cornwall) - sensibly they have concentrated their resources on censuses that aren't available free online. The 1881 LDS transcription comes in for a surprising amount of criticism from people who don't realise that is was done by experenced volunteers - then again, some people will whinge about anything. Where I find it stands out is not in the transcriptions of the surnames, but the places of birth. To clarify earlier points about the findmypast transcription: unlike Ancestry who add corrections as alternates (but leave the original), findmypast replace the original with the correction - thus differences will arise because of user-submitted corrections, and don't indicate a different source. Peter On 31 Aug 2011 at 10:12, Chris Watts wrote: > The transcriptions of the "LDS" 1881 census were actually done by > volunteers (all genealogists) mostly from theFamily History Societies > local to the area being transcribed (and so familiar with locale > family and place names) - and a second checking copy was also done by > different persons. The LDS's contibution (which was very large and > greatly appreciated) was primarily in the data entry and IT areas. > > So I think, Nancy, your presumption about quality is far off mark. > > Chris > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Nancy Frey" <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2011 5:52 AM > Subject: Re: [SOG-UK] 1881 census > > > > Has anybody tried FreeCEN (http://www.freecen.org.uk/cgi/search.pl). > > These transcriptions were done independently by volunteers who were > > all genealogists. Probably a better transcription that anything > > anybody else did. > > > > Regards, > > > > Nancy Frey > > Newcastle, Ontario, CANADA > > OPC for Ansford & Castle Cary, Somerset > > Owner/Moderator of Yahoo! FULFORD_North Devon Group > > Owner/Moderator of Yahoo! DAVIDGE Connections Group > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Rosemary Morgan" <[email protected]> > > To: <[email protected]> > > Sent: Tuesday, August 30, 2011 5:23 PM > > Subject: Re: [SOG-UK] 1881 census > > > > > >>I share your frustration, Paul, as my own great grandparents are > >>missing > >> on all the 1881 censuses you mention, which are indeed all based on > >> the original Familysearch transcription. > >> > >> As far as I am aware there is just one company who is / has been > >> re-transcribing the 1881 census and I think it is The Genealogist > >> but I can't find any reference on their website so I can't be > >> certain. > >> > >> Rosemary