Bedford Census Surname Indexes at the Family History Library

How surname indexes can help locate a person when a computer search of the large census databases is unsuccessful.
England ; Bedfordshire

Today, there are many useful websites and computer indexes for all of the England, Wales and Scotland. These include those found at FamilySearch.org, the UK National Archives, Ancestry.com, FindMyPast, etc. These are a good place to begin your search for people in the census.

There are, however, times when you cannot find your ancestor in these large indexes. Perhaps, a mistake was made when these large indexes were made, or a person's name was not easy to recognize in the census enumeration book, or the surname was spelled differently. In such a situation, you may be able to find your ancestor in the census by using a smaller surname index for the parish or town of interest. When looking at a smaller index, it can be easier to pick out an alternative spelling of a person's surname. These indexes are also ideal for finding all of the people with a specific surname in a specific location.

Many of these are available, in book and microfiche form. The Family History Library (Salt Lake City, Utah, USA) has a large and growing collection of these smaller indexes.

How to use this table to find indexes at the library.
Below are links to alphbetical lists of placenames within this county and the corresponding library call numbers at the Family History Library for census suname indexes in its collection for each placename. The call numbers are generally shown for the census years from 1841-1871 and 1891-1901, however there are a few indexes for other years. The surname index tables show the placename, its parish and the year for which an index is available.

The 1881 surname index books have not been tabulated in this reference table since the FamilySearch has a large nationwide computer surname index for this year or it can be found on microfiche #6086201-207.

Click on the below link to go to the alphabetical list that contains the placename you are looking for a census index.

England ; Bedfordshire