From: nemonews@hotmail.co.uk   
      
   On 20-Apr-18 12:14 PM, Richard Smith wrote:   
   > On 20/04/18 10:18, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:   
   >   
   >> So _do_ the "notes" say there _does_ have to be a head? I don't have a   
   >> copy of the notes, except for the 1841 one ("with the pencil provided").   
   >   
   > The 1901 instructions don't say there has to be a head.  All they say is:   
   >   
   >    In the column "RELATION TO HEAD OF FAMILY" write "Head" for Head of   
   >    family; "Daur." for Daughter; "F.-in-law" and "M.-in-law" for Father-   
   >    in-law and Mother-in-law respectively; "Serv." for Servant.   
   >   
   > I imagine most enumerators would interpret this to mean each household   
   > needs a head, but the head may be some who is absent and is therefore   
   > not recorded on the census.  My family comes from a coastal area and has   
   > many sailors who were often away for extended periods.  As a result I've   
   > quite frequently found families where the enumerator has listed a wife   
   > and children but without a head of the household listed.  But that's not   
   > universally the case.  Sometimes the wife (or if she was no longer   
   > living, the eldest son) was listed as head, presumably on the basis that   
   > she was temporarily head of the household.   
   >   
   > I don't recall ever seeing people in one house being listed by reference   
   > to the preceding house, even when they were definitely related closely.   
      
   I have FREQUENTLY found that Ancestry's transcripts have included a   
   household with the previous one when there was no Head recorded, thus   
   producing a transcription such as:   
      
   Jones, John - Head   
   Jones, Ann - Wife   
   Jones, Mary - Daughter   
   Jones, Edward - Son   
   Smith, Elizabeth - Wife   
   Smith, - Lizzie - Daughter   
      
   or even more confusingly   
   Jones, John - Head   
   Jones, Ann - Wife   
   Jones, Mary - Daughter   
   Smith, - Lizzie - Daughter   
   etc   
      
   where the second household has no parents present, just children listed   
   as Son and Daughter.   
      
   --   
   Jenny M Benson   
   http://jennygenes.blogspot.co.uk/   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)