I have another equally confusing example. 1871 Census: St Issells John Edwards Residence: Kingsmoor Occupation: dwarf, 3ft 1" Deaf/dumb etc: Dwarf He appears in the 1851/61 Censuses in Begelly without any reference to his infirmity. In 1881 census, he again is shown as a dwarf but, in 1891, shown as an "imbecile", with no reference to dwarf. (there is a discrepancy in ages between the 1891 census and the previous returns so this may not be the same John Edwards although highly likely). So, what if any guidance were the census enumerators given about commenting on dwarves? Its not clear and comments seemed to have been added on a whim. I checked who the St Issells enumerators were for 1871/81/91 censuses. The same man seems to have enumerated the 1871/91 censuses while somone different did the 1881 census. Perplexing lack of consistency. Jon

The enumerators were probably not given any guidance on this as there was no need to be politically correct in those more enlightened times. It's likely that the enumerator just copied whatever was on the sheet handed in by the householder or whomever. Whether John wrote dwarf himself or someone else wrote it you'll probably never know unless you have a clue to his level of literacy from other papers. And even then ... Bob -----Original Message----- From: Jonmein@aol.com [mailto:Jonmein@aol.com] Sent: January 13, 2005 1:33 PM To: WLS-PEMBROKESHIRE-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [WLS-PEM] Reply to Sandra I have another equally confusing example. 1871 Census: St Issells John Edwards Residence: Kingsmoor Occupation: dwarf, 3ft 1" Deaf/dumb etc: Dwarf He appears in the 1851/61 Censuses in Begelly without any reference to his infirmity. In 1881 census, he again is shown as a dwarf but, in 1891, shown as an "imbecile", with no reference to dwarf. (there is a discrepancy in ages between the 1891 census and the previous returns so this may not be the same John Edwards although highly likely). So, what if any guidance were the census enumerators given about commenting on dwarves? Its not clear and comments seemed to have been added on a whim. I checked who the St Issells enumerators were for 1871/81/91 censuses. The same man seems to have enumerated the 1871/91 censuses while somone different did the 1881 census. Perplexing lack of consistency. Jon ==== WLS-PEMBROKESHIRE Mailing List ==== National Library of Wales http://www.llgc.org.uk/