Early Dorset Censuses

[Phoenix]

FindMyPast have digitised and indexed a book transcribing some early censuses for Puddletown in Dorset. This is an absolutely amazing record, and I left a family history society because they failed to review the book when first published.

It was the vicar's visiting book, and contains lots of additional facts so he could ask the right questions when he called. Okay, one parish, but if you have ancestors there, as I do, you're in luck!

[ElizabethHerts]

Originally Posted by Phoenix

FindMyPast have digitised and indexed a book transcribing some early censuses for Puddletown in Dorset. This is an absolutely amazing record, and I left a family history society because they failed to review the book when first published.

It was the vicar's visiting book, and contains lots of additional facts so he could ask the right questions when he called. Okay, one parish, but if you have ancestors there, as I do, you're in luck!

I don't think my Dorset ancestors lived there but they should have been very near.

[Phoenix]

It never occurred to me at the time, Elizabeth, because my Dorset ancestors weren't rich (and I was so excited because they lived at the location of Thomas Hardy's "The Quiet Woman") but he was only recording the poorer families. No need to record the lord of the manor as he would have been insulted by personal and prying questions, while the turnover of servants on farms was probably annual, so even if your ancestors happened to be living in Puddletown at the time, they might not appear.