England & Wales census sources incorrectly imply person at top of page (in original) is head of hous

LegacyUser

Paul said: Frequently, a large family in these census returns was split over two pages. Unlike other websites, FamilySearch's citation references do not allow for the whole household to be indexed as one unit. The result is that a child is often shown as being the "head", because there is no link to the parents and siblings on the previous page. In a large town, and for a common surname (e.g. Smith) it is very difficult to locate the other record. Also, ostensibly it appears one or more children are living completely alone.

If there is any way to address this situation (or at least add clarity to this not uncommon position) it would be most appreciated.

(Incidentally, I did indeed discover on one occasion that a child WAS the head of the household. On closely examining the original I found a note at the bottom of the (1911 census) page showing, "Mother in hospital, father at sea". Further research showed an assumed "happy ending" to the children's situation, as the whole family later emigrated to Australia!)

LegacyUser

Tom Huber said: This gets back to what I wrote about marriage records in your other post.

Person centric sources are not the best choice in the universe. Citations need to be source-centric and for a title of the source, such as a census enumeration:

Philip Wrightson in 1911 British Census Enumeration

The citation would bear sufficient information to locate the person down to the page of the enumeration, but not necessarily the line number (although that would be helpful).

LegacyUser

Tom Huber said: The place enumerated should also be part of that title.