How to get missing census reports to show in Family Search?

Question

I often create or source a profile and find missing census reports in FamilySearch that are clearly published on Ancestry and I know they must be available on FS also. I'd prefer to find them on FS because it's free. I simply cannot seem to turn them up in FS.

In the search, I have tried changing the given names to initials, ensured that any misspellings were tried, and even tried searching for other family members. I tried using the filters in FS to narrow down the location. Still nothing.

This happens frequently, on nearly every person there are one or more census reports missing from the sources tab and not showing up in a FS search. But they are on Ancestry.

Has anyone "cracked the nut" yet on how to get census reports to show up in FS when you know they must be out there but FS cannot find them?

Comments

Laura, clarifying question: Are you using FamilySearch's "Search Records" feature, or are you going directly to FS's version of the particular census, and searching there?

I frequently find that FS does not display census results when using the first, so I've resorted to going directly to the FS version of the specific census record and searching there.

I access the FS census version directly simply by googling

1850 census familysearch [or whatever year]

Answer 1

All the above are good suggestions. Sometimes you want to delete other criteria from the search, like the spouse, parents, birth/death locations and even birth/death dates. I will often try to find a sibling or someone else in that household (or as noted, the household next door).

If you are using the WT Sourcer, from the Ancestry record click on the [1] and in the option for Search Family Search follow the > to the menu that opens and select Search the same collection for the same record.

Another thing that I will sometimes try is to see if the person (and their relatives) have a FamilySearch FamilyTree profile and if that person (or the relatives) have the census that you are looking for attached as a source.

Comments

Kay,

Thank you for that new suggestion. I have never tried the features beyond the little ">" on the menu "Search FS."

For the families I have been struggling with this past week, the census is not there for any of them.

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Kay, this is the ticket. I have tried it several times and it works. Not only that, it is quick and easy. You saved me a lot of frustration!

Answer 2

If you can see the page on Ancestry, look for a neighbour on that page with an unusual name, and search for that on FS.

If that doesn't do the trick, you can always try navigating to the page you want on FS via the 'Browse all images' button and working your way down.

Either way, once you're on the page, see the 'image index' tab at the bottom, and click on the page icon on the left by the record you want.

Comments

Occasionally, I do this and still come up empty. I end up needing to search for someone on a previous or following page. It usually happens because the whole page has been very badly indexed by a volunteer.

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Matthew,

That is a great suggestion I never thought about. Thank you.

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Regan, I worked on indexing (or rather proofreading the auto-indexing) for the 1950 census. Human volunteers were only about half or 2/3 finished when FS ended the project because apparently, they wanted to get the census "out there" faster. That's unfortunate. I was finding and correcting a lot of errors, the biggest one being families not being indexed together and the indexing pointing to the wrong places on the form, which can prevent the information from being put together correctly. That was more common and more difficult to fix than spelling errors in the transcription.

Answer 3

To add to Matthew's suggestion, if you go the route of browsing all the images of the year of the census you are looking for, you will find all the details (City, Ward, ED, Election District, and page number under the details of the Ancestry image. That will speed up the process.

Once you locate the image on FamilySearch, at the bottom will be list of the names indexed. You can scroll until you get to the name you are looking for and to the left will be an icon by which you can attach it to the Family Search person's profile.

Comments

and it not being found probably means it was indexed incorrectly,  so you may have to correct that too.

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Thank you Nancy