How can FamilySearch relocate an entire county to another province? (Canada 1871 census)
I've been reviewing sources for a profile and thought it odd that this person was b. in Ontario but in 1871 had moved to Nova Scotia. I dug into it a bit more, and found that no, he was in Guelph, Ontario for the census but FamilySearch's location "normalization" had moved him, his family, and I assume everyone from that city from Ontario to Nova Scotia.
Here's the record https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4D9-B6L . I've seen some similar issues in the community but they suggest that the issue is in converting the Event Place (Original)" (which presumably is from the indexer) to "Event Place" (which has been automatically normalized). In this case both are identified as in Nova Scotia, when in fact the census entries were taken in Guelph, Ontario. Normalization did have an effect - it dropped Guelph, which isn't a geoname in Nova Scotia, and moved Wellington to a municipality in Queens County, Nova Scotia. (Wellington is itself a county in Ontario).
Just to corroborate my analysis I dug up the same person on the Library and Archives Canada census search page http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=census&id=40521746&lang=eng . While FamilySearch unfortunately doesn't provide images for this census you can confirm that the page, line, microfilm reel etc. all match. It's the same entry, only LAC places it in Ontario, not Nova Scotia.
Or, I suppose this could be really simple like FamilySearch simply attached the wrong province to a bunch of census pages (in which case the location normalization did the best it could given faulty information).
Answers
-
The placename standardization algorithm is the culprit once again
@Mike357 o @N Tychonievich could you please add to the list? Thanks.
0 -
I thought so at first, but I see "Nova Scotia" on the (Original) event place as well - shouldn't the normalization leave the original event place alone?
0 -
@SheamusPatt,; as you have suggested, this does not appear to be an issue related to the place standardization process that FamilySearch uses. Evidently, the record was incorrectly indexed in the beginning: showing Nova Scotia rather that the correct province of Ontario. The indexing error affects over 10,000 records on that film.
I will forward this issue, to be reviewed and resolved by the appropriate team. Hopefully, this problem can be fixed without re-indexing the records. If re-indexing is the only solution, there is less likelihood that it will be fixed, sadly.
Notwithstanding the error, you can attach the source to the Family Tree record of your ancestor, without the incorrect index record details page, by using the Source Box. The following Help Center articles pertain to this process:
Thank you for making us aware of this problem. With you, we look forward to its correction.
0 -
With some additional research, I find that this problem is a known issue and has been documented in the Research Wiki page, Canada Census, 1871 - FamilySearch Historical Records/Known Issues. The specific issue is addressed at the bottom of Question 2.
Having acknowledged the problem, via the wiki page, and providing what information as you see there; there is little chance that the Event place name will be corrected. You can attach the record to an individual in Family Tree and then edit the Source information to provide correct information (e.g., the Source title, and Notes section) and indicate the error that was made.
You might also use the Source Box to create a Source and citation, which circumvents the indexing problem.
I am sorry that I don't have a better answer for you.
0 -
That makes more sense - what I've seen referred to elsewhere as a "batching error". I'd hope it can be corrected in some automated fashion - reindexing (if by that you mean manually re-entering the location) should not be necessary.
0
