By AMBER BLAIR
blair@du2.byu.edu
After 11 years and more than two-and-a-half million hours of volunteer labor, the largest census ever to be automated is now available on CD-ROM for home use. The automated 1881 British Census contains information for over 30 million individuals. The data comes from England, Wales and Scotland.
The story behind this project is one of great participation and the cooperation of thousands dedicated to the creation of the most complete, complex and largest census database ever created to date, said Elder D. Todd Christofferson, executive director of the Family History Department.
Begun in September of 1987, the automated index is the result of a collective effort of volunteers from the Federation of Family History Societies in the United Kingdom and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Every effort was made to reproduce the information as it was originally recorded by the British census takers in 1881.
Even obvious errors were left to allow users to make their own evaluation of the information, Christofferson added.
Managing director of the Family History Department, Richard E. Turley Jr. explained that every entry was carefully checked and evaluated by trained individuals to protect the integrity of the data.
The census will be published on 25 compact discs. To make the census indexes more manageable and easier to use, the data has been divided into eight regions: East Anglia, Greater London, Midlands, North Central, Northern Borders and Miscellany, Southwestern, Wales and Monmouth and Scotland.
Another benefit of the census includes enumerations for the Royal Navy in 1881. That means it lists all the people living, working or traveling on a boat or ship at the time the census was taken, said David Rencher, president of the Federation of Genealogical Societies.
The census is available for purchase in its entirety or by region through the distribution outlets of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The cost for the entire census is thirty-three dollars. Orders can be placed by phone at 1-800-537-5971 or on-line at www.familysearch.org.
The Family History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is committed to producing high-quality products for the family historian.