This article was originally published in the August 2004 edition of Soul Search, the journal of The Sole Society

Ed:  If you are having trouble finding your relatives in the census indexes just keep an open mind on spelling errors. Lynne has kindly given us the following examples

For my family the misspellings noted in the 1901 Census are as follows:

Amilia Solly instead of Amelia Solley.

Hally Solley instead of Hetty Solley.

In fact Hetty's proper name was Juliet, although she seems to have been known in the family as Het/Hettie/Hetty. The age/date/place of birth all fit for 'Hally'. I would guess that the 'e' was read as 'a' and the 't's as 'l's, but it is not a variation I would have thought of looking for in a million years!

Throughout the various census returns the use of the letter 'e' in Solley seems to drop in and out of use like a yo-yo within members of the same family in different households. But this is one variation I can usually cope with now.

A year or two ago checking for my maternal grandmother's family in the 1881 Census, when I eventually tracked them down my grandmother's name Louisa was actually spelled 'Lueza'!