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Index to UK prisoner of war records needs location reviews

NancyUpshaw
NancyUpshaw ✭
May 23, 2022 edited July 30, 2024 in Search

I’m browsing the new index to the UK prisoner of war records included in the current What’s New list.

Since I’m interested in Virginia area War of 1812 prisoners, I did a search for records including Virginia in the record. While perusing the list, I noticed an abnormal amount of records listing Orlean, Fauquier County, Virginia as a birth place. Further scrutiny shows that these records are French military men (as their names suggest). I think the birthplaces listed as Orlean, Virginia, in these cases, should instead be Orleans, France. While it is true that there were Frenchmen in the US, it would not be true that they were born in Virginia.

I think you need some folks more familiar with locations around the world to review this index for accuracy. It will save a lot of people a lot of time in the long run.

Thanks,

Nancy Upshaw

Strasburg, Virginia

0

Answers

  • Áine Ní Donnghaile
    Áine Ní Donnghaile ✭✭✭✭✭
    June 3, 2022

    The images are available on FindMyPast, so I took a look. I suspect that these were not reindexed by FamilySearch volunteers but that the FMP index was imported. And there are known issues with place standardization on FamilySearch.

    @N Tychonievich This may be a place standardization issue. Could you please take a look? Thanks.

    This is the database on FMP https://search.findmypast.co.uk/search-world-Records/prisoners-of-war-1715-1945

    A sample record from Orléan on FamilySearch: https://www.familysearch.org/search/ark:/61903/1:1:6FXN-Z3T6

    On FMP: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=GBM%2FPOW-GALLIP-NAP%2F40503668

    First name(s)   Michel

    Last name   Margis

    Age   28

    Year   -

    Rank as transcribed   Novice

    Rank   Novice

    Ship or corps   L'Alexandre

    Ship name   L'Alexandre

    Birth place   Orlean

    Prison camp or ship   Norman Cross

    Country of imprisonment   -

    Conflict   Napoleonic Wars

    Document details   General alphabetical list of prisoners of war, c1755-c1831.

    Archive reference   ADM 103/539

    Archive   The National Archives

    Record set   Prisoners Of War 1715-1945

    Category   Military, armed forces & conflict

    Subcategory   Regimental & Service Records

    Collections from   Great Britain, UK None

    0
  • N Tychonievich
    N Tychonievich ✭✭✭✭✭
    June 4, 2022

    @NancyUpshaw Thank you for pointing out the error in birthplaces showing in the search results of this record collection. We've confirmed the problem and reported it to our engineers. We cannot predict how long it might take for a correction to be in place. Our apologies for this error. It does make it difficult when you want to find records for a specific place and the search results do not reliably identify the place.

    Interestingly the error is not showing when you click to view the record details. The actual index only shows Orlean as the birthplace, without associating it with a state or country. Which is good, because you can attach it as a source in Family Tree without bringing in the erroneous state and country.

    1
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