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Archiver > TMG > 2000-01 > 0946903460


From: "Hugh Wilding" <>
Subject: Re: TMG-L: Source Surety Values
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2000 12:44:20 -0000


Lee Hoffmann wrote:

> Because we do not know who responded to the enumerator's questions, the
> integrity of the enumerator, we usually cannot give a high surety value to
> the census. That a person is listed is _usually_ reliable and comparisons
> of earlier/later census entries for that person can corroborate certain
> data, but even so I wouldn't assign a Surety Value higher than "2" with an
> occasional "1" (or even a "0") assignment to certain data.

I'm agreeing with all of this but at the same time beginning to feel a
little uneasy. I use surety levels thus:

3 Primary/contemporary document
2 Good secondary source
1 Unproven/dubious secondary source
0 Hearsay/assumption
- Known to be erroneous

If I now come across an English census entry roughly where I expected to
find it, it's the family and names that I expect to see and other details
correspond, then IMHO the fact of enumeration (i.e. the Census tag) warrants
a 3 in respect of principal, date and location - after all, that was the
primary function of the census and the recording was contemporary. The
other data can certainly be treated as you suggest with 2,1,0 and even -
where appropriate although I may use a 3 where a medical condition is
identified.

FWIW English Census data between 1851 and 1901 is both modest and
consistent - for each person: full name; exact age; relationship to head of
household; sex; occupation; parish and county of birth; and various medical
disabilities (deaf, dumb etc.). Employment status was also recorded in 1891
& 1901. By contrast, the Federal Census of 1900 seems almost like the
Spanish Inquisition - I thought yours was the Land of the Free? <g> No
wonder you have these debates about how to handle census data!

Hugh Wilding
Berkshire, England

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