"Lorne Pearcey" <lorne.pearcey@talk21.com> wrote : >Many thanks for the suggestions that people have made. Unfortunately, I >don't >have a computer image available or I would happily upload one! But you presumably have names and address - other list members may have access to the census images and could offer opinions based on their own viewing of same. If you post more details, which has been suggested by several others, you may get a better answer. >There is no doubting that the first letter is a 'V' and the second a 'T'. >I have >checked this against other instances of the same letters appearing >in the same >enumerators handwriting. The only slight query is over the >middle letter, but '&' >seems most likely. 'V' simply is a most unlikely option, as is 'T'. Unless we have all been led horribly astray, the relevant columns did not provide for such entries, suggesting that this is a misinterpretation of mid-19th century script. Presumably these entries appear in the columns after the occupation ? >I am tempted by the suggestion that it may refer to 'Visitor' and >'Traveller' or the >like, as this would also tie in with family hearsay. >It would also seem logical - if >they did not know where they were from, >who is to say whether they were born in >the same county or not. >Unfortunately, the occupation is the ever abundant 'Ag >Lab' which doesn't >help much. Following from my previous comment, this indicates that 'V' and 'T' really don't seem likely. 'Visitor' and 'Traveller' do not fit into the last 2 columns of the census form which were about birthplace. If this was an unknown quantity, the columns would probably have been left blank. Family hearsay is often a dangerous animal. Post the census reference, names, address etc and you will allow others to make a judgement from their own viewing of the image. Large chunks of 1841 are available on-line on at least 2 websites, and much is also available on CDs. >Anyway, in the absence of any firm answer I shall keep an open mind! Which may well be unnecessary if you would follow the advice given to you. This is becoming horribly like pulling very difficult teeth, and quite unnecessarily so. John B Leic., Eng