With the obvious caveat that I never went above undergraduate level and so can't really call myself a historian, I'd agree with parrot_knight.
Out of curiosity, what period are we talking about here - or, indeed, is it just census data in general down to the present day? Early census data is considerably less reliable than later data, accuracy improving substantially in the middle of the nineteenth century.
my ancestors have contrived so far to be mistaken (at best) and downright mendacious (at worst)
I know that feeling. I have not progressed very far on researching my own family history, because it is a task that requires considerably more energy and concentration than I can give it at the moment; my family divides into people who don't talk about their past at all, and people who don't let the facts get in the way of a good story. Most of the census data about my ancestors isn't in the public domain yet, as they arrived in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, although mother did find my great-great-grandmother's immigration papers (signed 'X') when clearing out her late parents' house.
no subject
Out of curiosity, what period are we talking about here - or, indeed, is it just census data in general down to the present day? Early census data is considerably less reliable than later data, accuracy improving substantially in the middle of the nineteenth century.
my ancestors have contrived so far to be mistaken (at best) and downright mendacious (at worst)
I know that feeling. I have not progressed very far on researching my own family history, because it is a task that requires considerably more energy and concentration than I can give it at the moment; my family divides into people who don't talk about their past at all, and people who don't let the facts get in the way of a good story. Most of the census data about my ancestors isn't in the public domain yet, as they arrived in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, although mother did find my great-great-grandmother's immigration papers (signed 'X') when clearing out her late parents' house.