Whole family missing in 1881

[bluemumsbluedog]

I've done quite a lot of my family tree but am now a bit lost as to why I can't find my great great great grandmother and her family, she appears in 1871 as a young widow and again in 1891. Anyone know how I can find her in 1881?

How young was she?

Workhouse?
I presume you've tried searching for the children and variations of the surname?

What have you tried so far?

Were they poor and itinerant at that time and missed being counted?
I've just read a book called The Five and it's all about the women murdered by Jack the Ripper. Anyway, one of the huge messages of the book was how quickly and often whole families; particularly those headed by women, fell through cracks and became destitute, only to claw themselves back some kind of livelihood later on. Being a young widow in 1871 must have been so, so hard if she didn't have a pension from her husband or other means.

I don't pretend to be an expert on these things but I hope you get some good advice soon. Good luck with your searches.

Or, could they have been abroad and then come back?

Could be a transcription error. My G grandmother Susan is transcribed as Lucy on one census.

That said, she and my granny can't be found on the 1891 census. I've tried everything I can think of, but no trace, although my G grandfather (and their son) is on it, living with his mother. It's so frustrating.

Maybe moved somewhere else then returned, or it could be they were staying with someone that night who simply didn't put them down.

Sometimes people go missing on censuses (?) because they were visiting a friend on the night the census was taken. Its feasible they were in different locations that night particularly if their living situation wasn't secure.

I eventually found one missing relative in a guest house on the coast, he was holiday!

If you're on Ancestry try Find My Past. Or vice versa.

I couldn't find one family on the census on Ancestry but they were on Genes Reunited, who i think are now FMP.

Have you tried searching for the address she was living at in 71 and 91 instead of searching the name to see who was living there in 81. That's presuming they haven't moved house though.

I found a ‘missing’ relative in prison with an incorrectly spelled name, I contacted the local record office and it turned out he was doing a 7 day stretch for not having a dog licence!

Echoing what others have said, often it’s a transcription error. Have you searched other family to see if she’s with them?

Are other addresses in that area available for 1881? Sometimes a census for an entire area can be lost, damaged by fire or just not uploaded online yet - there are various sections of my family not traceable in that way.

One of my relatives was missing on an old census but when I mentioned it to my gran she recalled the eldest dd who was 12 had to go to live with her gran who was poorly to look after her for a few months.

It's an uncommon surname Quick. That can probably be spelled numerous ways at the time. I'll go back and see the addresses, I'm curious as when she died she was living in the house my Nan was born and died in so the house was in our family for 4 generations. I have got ancestry subscription but not find my past.

Thanks everyone for the help I found them at their address they had been transcribed as quish not quick

That's great!