Dont understand census?

Question

Im looking at my great grand father.

The census shows, the head, william jaynes, wife emily jaynes

then five children, which is fine but one of the children has a different last name, next to her name it says single, then it has children under her name with the same name as her, it cant be her children as it states she 16 and the oldest child under her is 14! im confused

Answer 1

I also looked at the ancestry.co.uk link you gave, and think the problem is the age difference between William and wife Emily. It shows him as being 27 and her as being 40 (13 year difference). Emily very easily could have been married previously to someone whose last name was Meiles. If that is the case, then children Elizabeth, Joseph, and James Meiles were William's step-children, while Ernest and Mabel were his by Emily once they married.

     Since this was the 1891 census, it IS simple math:

     1891 - 27 =1864 (William born)

      1891-40 =1851 (Emily born, so if she was  married before, she would have been about 24 when Elizabeth was born, and 26 when son Joseph Meiles was born in 1877)

       1891-16 =1875 (Elizabeth Meiles born)

        1891-14 =1877 (Joseph born)

Answer 2

Could you  post the image so that we can have a look at it, or for those of us with membership to ancestry .co.UK if you could  post the details so that we can have a look at it and give you our opinion.

I think you're spot on sweetheart. I don't think you suck at this I think you're doing really well.

Have you found a marriage year for William and Emily yet, do you mind if I go and do some search for them for you.

I think faithless has found Emily prior to her marriage to William as the 1881 census states that she was a *widow*  indicating that she had been married at least once before her marriage to William.

Answer 3

This looks like the Miles family in 1881.

http://content.ancestry.co.uk/iexec/?htx...

If it is right note the bonus grandma living with them (Emily's mother). Lucky.

Answer 4

Yep, so am I.