How do I report an Error? index of Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionar
I need to report an error on an transcribed/indexed entry in the Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War, 1775-1783.
Record erroneously transcribed/indexed the event location as Andover, Oneida, New York, United States. As clearly shown by the source document itself, he was from Andover, Massachusetts, and served in various Massachusetts regiments.
Record citation: "United States Rosters of Revolutionary War Soldiers and Sailors, 1775-1783," database with images, FamilySearch
(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QG2M-JQ68 : 1 March 2021), Caesar
Russell, 05 Mar 1781; citing Military Service, Andover, Oneida, New York,
United States, Citing various published state rosters, United States; FHL
microfilm 101711090.
Original image from the published book:
The title page of the book states Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War, 1775-1783, as seen at URL https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS3Q-C38F-W?cc=2546162&wc=WD6Q-RMJ%3A1588791498
Please correct this error. My ancestor lived in Massachusetts all his adult life.
Answers
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This looks like an auto-standardization error, except it is missing the "event place (original)" field that those normally have.
These kinds of errors have become ubiquitous on FamilySearch of late due to a change in the search logic: place fields are no longer searched as text, but as entitites linked to the places database. This means that there are millions of index entries with place fields that need to be expanded into full place references that are associated with said database.
In most projects, the original indexing only recorded as much of the placename as is on the actual document: "Andover". ("Index what you see.") Given that the book is about Massachusetts soldiers and sailors, this clearly means Andover, Mass., but the automated processes that FS has been using to expand these incomplete place fields fail to take such common-sense details into consideration, and therefore Get It Wrong more often than not.
FamilySearch needs to address this problem. I think it is bad enough to require recalling all of the automated changes and starting over. (The problem affects not just place fields, but dates and genders as well.).
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You can edit the indexed record by going to the dark bar at the top and click edit. Then it will show you the fields that you can edit. There is a good knowledge article that gives the instructions: "How do I edit or delete a correction that I made to an indexed historical record?" Until FamilySearch can fix the error, that is the best solution.
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