Hello Chris,

The BB administration sent on your message which you sent to me at their address, asking "Ive looked at the reseach site and census - but it just gives me number at side of the person (I presume are reference number) at the moment I am writing number down then tracing all with that name to find other people with same ref number
do I need to obtain the CD to look at the full census? If so can I buy this from the FHS at the musuem or do I need to buy online?
we are coming to IOM next week and I am trying to get together a list of thing I may need to obtain while we are there"

As Frances wrote, those index numbers help find the household on online websites like Ancestry.co.uk, or on the CD which you can buy online - however it is far too late to order this before next week. You can join Ancestry pretty well straight away - if you go into Ancestry.co.uk they will ask you if you want to join when you try to look at something. Sometimes they offer a free 2-week trial. But don't trust their census indexes - it was because they are so bad that Brian published his index on the FHS website. Use his first two numbers, for Piece and Folio, not his last one (Page), because Ancestry arranges their index differently.

If you haven't joined the IOM family history society (details on that same website as the census index), I suggest you do so as soon as possible, because they will help you in their library - they hold burial transcripts, MIs, etc., and will also help you with advice. They have maps to find graves, such as the one in the old yard Onchan.
You can also look at records at the Manx Museum library, and again the staff are very helpful.

Sue