Census records are one of the most useful tools when seeking ancestors. What information can we derive from them? Well, generally, Name, Where recorded in terms of Town and Road (and sometimes house number or name), Relationship to head of household, Age, Male or Female, Marital status, Occupation and Where born. Among these you find the clues that take you back further, give you details of children or siblings, and show the exact position of that person upon midnight at the start of the census day.

You will soon discover as you look at the census records for Whitstable and Seasalter that in many cases the head of the household is not present, or a wife is listed as the head and she isn't a widow.

In most of these cases the male head of the household would have been at sea, perhaps locally as a watchman guarding the oyster beds or as a mariner anywhere around the world. This is true also of the divers and makes it so much more difficult for us to track them and fill in our missing links.

This is the reason that Oystertown.net is compiling the details of these men and their whereabouts as a partial answer to this problem. It is not a complete answer for the following reasons:

• Ships census records do not show a persons home address.
• There is no proved link from someone on a vessel to his family.
• The areas covered are limited to England, Wales, The Isle of Man and the Channel Isles.
• A person can appear both on these records and residential records.
• The forms were filled in by the Ship's Master, or person in charge. Handwriting can be difficult to read.

They give us historical information about the work of these ancestors. With this we can deduce more about them. On the 1891 records we have been able to add an additional page about the vessels themselves and from this you can work out the specifics of their trade. When you compare this information to that published in books such as Wallace Harvey's "The Merchant Ships of Whitstable" it will add to your knowledge. At this point you will find that you are getting much closer to knowing that person than the basic dates of Birth, Marriage and Death can ever tell you. Now you are beginning to paint the picture..

There are a few more clues hidden in these records that can assist you even if your ancestor is not shown. Supposing you know what ship he was crewing on around the time of the census. Having now pinpointed the ship's position you can conduct a search of the local town it was berthed at as only the men on board are shown. Perhaps it was in Sunderland and this gives you a link to his future spouse. Such things are not uncommon.

Inevitably, on this site we have people recorded more than once in different sections, but we have no way of knowing that they are the same person. If you can prove this to be true with anyone then please let us know so we can put a cross-link between the records. This not only enhances the site but helps other researchers who in turn may know something that you don't - yet.

We are also including a bonus page for the wider genealogical community. This was submitted by a contributor, Suzannah Foad, and is of the crews of vessels moored at, or off, Whitstable at the time of the 1881 census, wherever they were born.

Whitstable born people found on Vessels at Census times. Transcriptions made so far:

| 1871 - Coming soon. | 1881 | 1891 | 1901 - Coming soon. |

Ships details from:

| 1891 |

All crew members recorded at Whitstable on the census of:

| 1881 |