I obtained my great grandparents 1939 household list for £5. They lived at 2, High Street, Ross. My surprise was to find my great great grandmother who I had thought had died in London was living with them. I had purchased two death certificates for her which turned out wrong, and I had given up hope on finding out where and when she had died. So that's another brick wall to come down. George.

Me moaning again. This survey they claim will have a more than 98% accuracy but that's way out, I've looked at a large part of the Monmouth area and would say they'll be lucky to have 75% correct. It seems like a rush job by the government in 1939 with probably very poor training. Somebody given a survey form book and told you go that way and write down all their names etc, they probably didn't trust households to fill in a postal form. All these years later people who have never written with pen and ink struggle to read the forms.

Within towns and streets you'll probably find people easy enough but don't count on it. I e-mailed and told them households are missing and was basically told I don't know what I'm doing "People might not be living where you think they were" but that doesn't explain why the addresses don't exist. As I said half of Wyesham is missing and all beyond the church, the next page maybe? it includes large country houses, probably 20 households, I searched for Wye Vale a large house where George Tippins lived, no Tippins in Monmouth according to the survey.

I went to check out The Buckholt on the Hereford road out of Monmouth but the survey ends at Mansons Cross, so about 20 households not included up there. Mansons Lane is named wrongly, and I tried searching over the border at Welsh Newton but Welsh Newton isn't included in the survey either, just Welsh Newton Common which for some reason is said to be part of Leominster and Wigmore District about as far North in Herefordshire as you can get. Was this a different Welsh Newton? No, Florrie Rogers appears, I was postman up there for 10 years.

One of the main problems is that unlike the census we get to see, there is no way to offer corrections for obvious errors. Does anyone know who transcribes these documents, are people paid to do it? If I struggle to read a place name I use Genuki, chose the county and click on list of towns, villages, and parishes, so easy, how can anyone make sense of a list without having a map and layout in front of you? As we all know you can't beat local knowledge, and asking a group like us to read through and offer corrections would make sense to me. Will I be around for the 1921 census? That's if they decide to transcribe it, last thing I heard they were unsure about doing that.

I just used some credits to view my grandfathers brother in Berry Hill, my father worked on the railway as part of the Lydbrook Junction gang and sometimes lodged with his uncle Ernie at the Kings Head. To highlight the problems I've been moaning about it lists -
Ernest Beach plus birthday and year 91(1891) occupation, they couldn't read but it clearly says Innkeeper, they're living in the Kings Head but that didn't help them read it,
Wife - Lilian when it clearly says Zillah
Two of the household blanked out, their son and daughter probably?
Then Wilson Smith who was Zillah's brother, but his name was Milson.

If you try a search using this Survey a few thing worth noting
Yes it gives actual birthday but it does not say where born. So if you are unsure where the person you are searching would be geographically in 1939, and if they don't appear with other family members, and you have no idea of the birthdate, then you'll be relying on something else, occupation etc.
Also remember people who would be less than 100 today will probably be blocked like my mum who died 20 years ago. I have to buy a subscription to Findmypast and then use credits to use their registered deaths to update and unlock the black strip that covers my mothers name.

I'll say sorry and shut up about it now. Fred