Index to UK prisoner of war records needs location reviews
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
Answers
-
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 -
@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
