I was reminded this week why it is so important to know the first names of the family group while searching census records. Don’t believe it when you can’t find your relatives in the index. Poor penmanship by the census taker and the person transcribing the index who is totally unfamiliar with the ethnic names they are typing doesn’t help.
Always look at the original when you find it! I’ve seen perfect penmanship and correctly spelled names butchered by the indexer. Sometimes you have to search by first names only. If you’re lucky you have odd names that help to narrow the search down.