Strange Abbreviation

Gloswegian · Post by **Gloswegian** » Tue Aug 25, 2009 10:52 am

Hi there I am looking at a n entry in the 1841 census and under occupation are the letters V.K.S or U.K.S. It is quite difficult to read which.
Does anyone know what this means as I can't find anything on it elsewhere.
The person in question is the wife of the head of the family but he is not present on the return.
Thanks in anticipation.

Gordon

WilmaM · Post by **WilmaM** » Tue Aug 25, 2009 11:38 am

Could you give us a few more clues?

Some occupations are quite localised so knowing who & where we are talking of would help.

Common abbreviations are M.S. or F.S. for male or female servant
H.L.W. is a handloom weaver.

LKS is Lanarkshire? could it be in the wrong column?

Gloswegian · Post by **Gloswegian** » Tue Aug 25, 2009 11:47 am

The person in question is the wife of a Fisherman and they live in Whitehills which is a small fishing village in Banff.
Could it be to do with the head of the family not being present as I have noticed there are other wives on the same page with the same annotation and each time there is no husband present.

WilmaM · Post by **WilmaM** » Tue Aug 25, 2009 12:11 pm

Ah Fithills Fisher Folk!

Lovely wee place, not by any chance a Hay or a Milne you are looking at? About the most common surnames up there....

I'm not certain as to what the abbreviation is but the S could mean Sea , if all the wives have the same then it's something simple, maybe MorayLass will enlighten us?
Or another North-East expert.

Gloswegian · Post by **Gloswegian** » Tue Aug 25, 2009 12:51 pm

not by any chance a Hay or a Milne you are looking at? About the most common surnames up there....

I'm chasing Robertsons and it has brought me into contact with quite a few other surmanes and surprisingly neither Hay or Milne are amongst them............yet!

I hope someone knows or has seen this before.

Thanks

Gordon

Moray_Lass · Post by **Moray_Lass** » Tue Aug 25, 2009 1:10 pm

Hi Gordon

LOL Unfortunately I am not much help, most of my fishers were Salmon Fishers, but I had a 3xG Uncle who was a Herring Fisher out of Buckie and one census when he isn't around, there is no Head, and his wife is down as 'Sailor's Wife'. There is nothing VKS or UKS on that page. But I'd guess S = Sailor

There is also nothing that fits under the Occupation Explorer in Moray LibIndx. It may be back-to-front but have you tried running your family through the 1841 Freecen and see what they make of the abbreviation? It isn't finding anything under VKS or UKS in an occupation search there.

Does anyone know if there were any standard abbreviation handed out the the enumerators, or did they just make them up themselves?

edit
Just thought - this site might be of help if the folk you're look at are fishers - they may have come across it before.
http://www.buckieheritage.org/

JustJean · Post by **JustJean** » Tue Aug 25, 2009 1:24 pm

Hi Gordon

Still a bit baffled by what you're seeing. I'm looking through the SP 1841 images for for Whitehills and not seeing anything that resembles the entry you have described. According to Ancestry there are 626 good citizens on the Whitehills index and I've scrolled quite a few pages. I've also had a look at FreeCen to see if anything pops up there but so far nothing unusual. Are you tracing the Robertson surname there or some other? I'm only finding a handful of that surname but nothing that matches what you have described. I'm intrigued...please give more info so I can find the page you're on!!

Best wishes
Jean

Gloswegian · Post by **Gloswegian** » Tue Aug 25, 2009 1:30 pm

Hello Jean,

Thanks for contributing.

The page i'm on is 149/00 001 015.
If you are looking for the family, The mother is Jane Urquhart and my GGGGrandfather is William Robertson age 5..

Thanks again

Gordon

Gloswegian · Post by **Gloswegian** » Tue Aug 25, 2009 1:36 pm

Unfortunately I am not much help, most of my fishers were Salmon Fishers

Strangely, when my GGGGrandfather married Isabel Cameron in 1837, he said he was a salmon fisher. I was not aware of such an activity that close to the sea (Morat Firth) so have assumed he may have been on a fishing boat. The strange thing is that he was away for both 1841 and 1851 censuses.

JustJean · Post by **JustJean** » Tue Aug 25, 2009 1:39 pm

Thanks Gordon...I'm with you now!

Looks like FreeCen solves the mystery for you...

URQUHART Jane F 35 Various Kinds Of Labour Banffshire Boyndie

Best wishes
Jean