Using the censuses

Censuses are a great help to family historians. They give so much information about a family. Where they lived the occupations they followed, where they were born, who the family members were - often uncles, grandparents, in laws, future spouses can be found in the census. And do check the neighbours too - they may be relations!

National censuses started in 1841 and were taken every 10 years. The latest one available for viewing in the 1911 census.

1841 census of Scotland was taken on 6 June 1841
It gives limited information. Family relationships were;t given but nevertheless they are ordered like the later census with head of household usually the father first, then the mother, and children in order of age.
Ages were supposed to be rounded up to the nearest multiple of 5 - e.g. 15, 20 25, 30 but often the proper ages were recorded. Someone aged 15 could be 15-19 years old.
Birthplace was yes if born in the county of residence or no if elsewhere in Scotland. If born elsewhere the country was recorded e.g. I for Ireland or E for England.

1851 onward censuses gave birth town or parish as well as relationships and whether deaf and dumb or blind and how many rooms with at least 1 window the house had.

1871 -1901 censuses also record whether 1. deaf and dumb 2. blind 3. imbecile or idiot and 4. lunatic. They didn't mince their words. I'm not sure what the difference between imbecile, idiot or lunatic was.

The 1911 census records if Gaelic was spoken, and gives more information against the wife's name as to the length of the marriage and the number of children born in the marriage and how many were still living. I realised from this census that I was missing a child of my great grandparents and eventually  found him being born and dying in Rotherham, Yorkshire in the 1880s. The only place you can see the 1911 census for Scotland is by getting it from Scotlandspeople.

If you need to see the original image for any census you need to pay for it at Scotlandspeople.  All other censuses apart from 1911 have been transcribed and you can find the transcriptions on subscription sites such as ancestry and findmypast.

There is also freecen.org - good for 1841 censuses in Scotland.

But the 1881 census is free to view. You can access it via findmypast. You will have to be registered but you don't need to subscribe.

http://search.findmypast.co.uk/search-world-Records/1881-england-wales-and-scotland-census