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I'm trying to cite the 1881 census for England and Wales and am stuck on what jurisdictions to include. The census page shows city of Carlisle, township of Caldewgate (also municpal ward) and ecclesiascital parish of Trinity.
Shown on the target: Superindentant registrar: Carlisle, Registrars Sub-District: St. Mary, ED 17.
The path that Ancestry gives is County (Cumberland) Civil Parish (Caldewgate) and ED. However, Caldewgate is not the civil parish.
From what I understand the city of Carlisle has 2 parishes, one of which is St. Mary and the township Caldewgate is within St. Mary and Trinity is a church within the parish of St Mary. I would think given how large the city of Carlisle is it would be important to include. However, if I want to find the record at Ancestry it's not necessary. It begs the question if the citation I came up with below should include the path or if it would be repetitive and if not, would vital information be missing.
Census of England and Wales 1881, Cumberland, Carlisle, St. Mary, Caldewgate, ED 17, folio 112, p.9, schedule 57, household of George Telford; digital images, "1881 England Census," Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 7 October 2020) image 10 of 45; citing The National Archives, Kew, Surrey, Engand; RG11/5159.
For reference: https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7572/images/CULRG11_5158_5162-0376
Hendrickson, you've made a…
Hendrickson, you've made a sound judgment call. Remember that a citation has two purposes. "To find the source again" is the one we were taught in middle-school. The second purpose—too often ignored but just as important—is to capture enough information to evaluate the source and understand the circumstances or situation that are being documented by the citation.
As an alternative way to cite this record (one that uses a different website), you might see David P. Slager's Q&A at https://www.evidenceexplained.com/content/findmypastie-census-collections.