Chronicles of a NFSI*

I completed my first batch as an indexer, and (of course) I had to pick an advanced one:

1861 census for Tuscarora tp, Brant co., Ontario (then Canada West), Canada, p.1.

I'm comfortable with the layout of census images, and I'm usually pretty good at deciphering the enumerator's scribbles, but this was a bad one (and was well worth the label of "advanced").  The handwriting (the enumerator was Benjamin Carpenter) wasn't too bad, but the condition was terrible.  There were some dark spots but in most areas the colour had faded to almost unreadable.

Surnames included Carpenter, Miller, Fish, Bomssary?, Aaron, Maracle, Staats?, Johnson, Smith, Burning?, Green?, Lottridge, Coffee?, Givins?, Davis, and German.  Question marks indicated the ones I had trouble reading.

I think it was fate that I happened to get this particular batch.  Not only is my maternal family from that area (Brant and the bordering Haldimand co.), but Carpenter is one of my family names!  I don't know if - or where - Benjamin and his family fits in, but it was a thrill spotting a familiar name in a familiar place, from a batch picked at random!

Now I just hope I submitted everything alright.  The first few pages I opened looked like the tail end of a previous census district (no names, just lots of numbers and tallies), plus an inserted sheet with Brant co. township names.  I marked them all as unindexable, since they included no names....

* Newbie Family Search Indexer

Why I love W. D. Pigott, Or, A Snapshot of the 1851/52 Fitzroy Census

Who was William D. Pigott?

He was the man chosen to enumerate the township of Fitzroy, Carleton county, Canada West for the 1851/1852 census.  He was born circa 1795 in Dysart, [Queens co.?] Ireland and listed his occupation as "Officer [of?] Ordnance".  His wife was Eliza ?, born circa 1811 in Belcarrig, co. Wexford, Ireland.  Eight children are listed with the couple, ranging in age from 16 to 2, with birthplaces in Malta (2), Ireland (4) and Canada (2).  They also had a servant in the household, an Ellen Haridley, born circa 1811 in Tipperary, Ireland.   

Why do I love him?

Because of the gold mine he left for Fitzroy researchers.  He apparently didn't get the memo for the "less is more" approach, nor the directive that enumerators must have bad handwriting (though he does love the occasional squiggle and loop).

When it came to noting the birthplace of people, he wrote not only the country, but also (usually) the shire/county.

  

(click to enlarge)

Census of 1851, Canada West, District of Carleton, sub-district of Fitzroy (township),

schedule A (personal census), p. 10d, 11a (otherwise known as page 21),

LAC (accessed at Collections Canada, 14 January 2010)

For those born in Canada West (as Ontario was at that time known as), he even noted the specific place or township.  (see above example)

Sometimes, he even included further information.

(click to enlarge)

Census of 1851, Canada West, District of Carleton, sub-district of Fitzroy (township),

schedule A (personal census), p. 51d, 52a (otherwise known as page 103),

LAC (accessed at Collections Canada, 14 January 2010)

The birth locations circled in this example are the townlands of Cloughjordan and Toomyvara (spelled as Toomavarah), both located in Tipperary co., Ireland.