Above branches round the table

[ladybird6]

looking at a 1850's census, I came across this to describe the children of an household, what does it mean ? any help please

[Quizmonster]

This is purely a stab in the dark, but might it have been that the people in the household who had to be listed were those who actually sat down for lunch, say, on Census Day?
Branch means offshoot, of course, so children and other relatives there may have been so called.
Probably utterly wrong, but it's a suggestion!

[THECORBYLOON]

I'm using a 'phone so I can't post a link and you've probably lost interest anyway BUT I found a bit about an entry that read 'olive branches around the table' and it's from 1851. In to berkshirerecordoffice and put echo 55 in the search box. There's a bit about it on page 2 I think it is