E - Enumerator

Being an Enumerator is by no means a full time role or a career with long term prospects for the majority. It's an opportunity which comes around once every five to ten years in most countries when the government sets the date for a national or state census.

These days I guess Enumerators are mostly sitting at a desk in front of a computer, entering or manipulating data. Our census forms have like many aspects of life become an online paperless exercise. It wasnt that long ago though that forms were delivered door to door by hand, one for every person living in the house with instructions to complete the form on the given night. Then over the next few days or a week the Enumerator would return to collect the completed forms and begin their task of documenting the data before submitting their completed enumeration district to their superior.

Even earlier on, when literacy levels were not as high as today, the Enumerator might have been responsible for completing the data, not just collating it onto a summary sheet. I have studied the census' for the parish of Raddington in Somerset for each decade between 1841 and 1911. It is a small parish so has been quite easy to map. I've placed markers for each farm or cottage and below I have listed the names of the Enumerators for each census and the route they took (or is it just the order they transferred the information to the summary sheets ? If it was the route they took, many of them are very higgledy-piggledy. Of course they may have found nobody home on their first visit and needed to double back at a later time. Who knows ?

Several of the Enumerators for Raddington are members of our family, I have included their relationship to me. I have also noted the name of the place of residence for each Enumerator and listed the route they took or the order they added the information to the summary sheet. No Enumerator was named in 1851. James Nicholls the Enumerator in 1861 was the only one who did not live in the parish.

6 June 1841 John Yeandle, 1C5R, Upcott.

Upcott, Moorhouse, Blackwell, Mill, Parsonage, Poor House, Kingston, Batterams, Chubworthy, Notwell, Littlewilscombe, Battscomb, Waterhouse

30 March 1851 not named

Upcott, Kingston, Chubworthy, Littlewilscombe, Waterhouse, Poor House, Moorhouse, Blackwell, Batterams, Notwell, Parsonage, Batscombe, Spring Cottage, Smiths Cottage, Lower Mills

7 April 1861 James Nicholls

Higher Batiscombe, Lower Batiscombe, Chubworthy, Spring Cottages, Bathams (Batterams?), Kingston (Manor House), Parsonage, Church House, Waterhouse, Washer's, Raddington Mill, Blakewell (Blackwell), Upcott, Notwell, Little Wiveliscombe.

2 April 1871 John Palfrey, Notwell

Little Wilscombe, Chubworthy, Battscombe Cottages, Spring Cottages, Church House, Parsonage, Washer's, Raddington Mill, Blakewell House and Cottages, Upcott, Notwell. (Kingston, the Manor House was not enumerated so presumably nobody was living there, while the Davys family were in Bedminster. They appear on the census there with most of their children employed in the Drapery business.)

3 April 1881 Thomas Davys, 3xG Uncle, Kingston

Church House, Parsonage, Washer's, Waterhouse, Raddington Mill, Smiths Cottage, Blakewell Cottage, Upcott, Notwell, LittleWilscombe, Chubworthy, Spring Cottages, Battiscombe Cottages, Batterams Cottages, Kingston.

5 April 1891 John Yeandle, Grandson of John Yeandle & husband of  1C4R, Upcott

Kingston, Church House, Batrums, Rectory, Batrums, Spring Cottage, Lower Battiscombe, Higher Battiscombe, Manor (Chubworthy), Little Wilscombe, Notwell, Upcott, Blakewell Cottages, Washer's, Raddington Mill.

31 March 1901 Tom Tarr, Notwell

Notwell, Chubworthy, Upcott, Blakewell Cottages, Little Wilscombe, New Cottages, Battiscombe, Kingston, Kingston Cottages (Batterams ?), Parsonage, Washer's, Raddington Mill, Church House, Spring Cottages, Blacksmith's Cottage.

2 April 1911 Arthur Heywood, Chubworthy

Kingston, Buttersham, Parsonage, Washer's, Raddington Mill, Blakewell Cottages, Notwell, Little Wilscombe, Manor House (Chubworthy), New Cottages, Spring Cottages, High Batscombe, Upcott.

It is census night here in Australia on 10 August 2021, I wonder who might be looking up family in a hundred or so years after they have sifted through our social media footprints in their genealogical journey.