If you're a part of any family history forum or group, it's not unusual to find a genealogist bemoaning the spelling and handwriting, or casting aspersions on the intentions of a particular Census Enumerator. We recently shared this image on our Facebook page and our followers certainly appeared to see the veracity behind the humour:
However, we then came across this poem which seems to lay at least some of the blame at the feet of our ancestors!
(Please note that this was published in 1881, and we haven't been able to see the original)
We complain about the enumerators; they pass the buck on to the public. It seems that in the taking of the census, the old adage needs updating:
