Waiting

Well, I'm patiently waiting until the 1st September so I can upload the 1891 census transcription - yes indeed it is definitely all ready to go!

I also sat down and made a list of all the half-finished webpages lurking on my computer, then prioritised them so I know exactly what else will likely get finished off this year. But it's a secret, so I can't tell you :)

I can tell you another old alternative spelling for Wing I came across though - Waengh! Unfortunately the deed it comes from is undated.

Census update

The 1891 census has now been fully transcribed, checked and corrected. So it will definitely be converted to HTML and uploaded to the website as part of the September update.

In other news, you may be aware that the LDS have been working on a revised version of their Family Search website, which can be viewed at http://pilot.familysearch.org. I'm going to try and reserve full judgement on it until I've had more of a chance to experiment with it, but I will say that standard Firefox keyboard shortcuts don't seem to work in it, and some things seem like a great leap backwards. For example, they have partnered with Find My Past to obtain their index for the 1861 census however the FamilySearch version has less search fields available - that said, the fields in the free search results are also slightly different on each site so, if your finances won't stretch to getting a copy of the census page itself, using the two searches in conjunction will get you more information than either site alone.

Distractions

Oooh, farms in Wing!

(I will now drag myself back to the previously scheduled census task)

1891 census update

Everything's ticking along nicely - I've now checked and corrected all the entries from the first enumeration district, which makes up 27 pages of the total 62.

Enumerator George CLEAVER has some interesting spellings - "Violet" is consistently recorded as "Voilet", Florence and Florance are used interchangeably, and the charwomen are invariably down as "chair woman". There's some other interesting things to look into, like George SMITH, Eliza CUTLER and Betsy FOUNTAINE who are all in their 20s, from Woodford "North Hants", and within a few pages of each other - I wonder if they are siblings? I've also located another brickmaker, Frederick WAKEMAN from Middlesex, although he's listed as a visitor so it's not clear whether he might have been working at the Littleworth brickyard or not.

Wing wives and postcards

Another five pages checked in the 1891 census, which makes 10 out of 62 done. Time to pick up the pace! Five or six a day for the next ten days will see the checking complete, so that's the pace I need to aim for in order to be ready for the September update.

In one of the pages I checked today, the enumerator had accidentally written "Wing" instead of "Wife" for Elizabeth ROSE's status. I know how he feels.....

And in other news, I received today a postcard I'd purchased on Ebay - it's a nice colour one of All Saints Church in the early 1900s showing the old gate and fence (since replaced with the lychgate memorial to Rev Tatham). But the message on the back was just as interesting! Posted in 1910, it reads:

"Dear F [Miss F East of Camberley Surrey] - Just a line to let you know that I have got a job: after three weeks at "Ascott" Leighton Buzzard Bucks L De Rothchild. Yours truly W Morgan".

Anyone recognise these MORGAN and EAST correspondents? And does anyone have any Wing postcards to or from their family members in their collection?

Labels

All blog posts have now been labelled with topics, names, or whatever else seemed relevant. You'll see a new labels bar listing all these over on the right hand side of your screen, or you can click on a label on the bottom of any post to search for other posts with the same label. This should prove to be a very useful feature.