Is this record wrong ??

ColinM0288

First tell me to go away if I annoy you all too much.

I really do try to do my fiduciary bit to answer questions myself. But I guess I'm easily stumped.

Let me summarize the problem.

Summery: (most of which is based on advice given by Adrian Bruce1)

We have found a record from a census that everything appears right but they have put a middle initial incorrectly for the person. Unless I'm wrong, very good chance of that. Being uneducated in this things I wanted your opinions.

So you have helped me get on board with GRO and freebmd.org.uk which seem helpful in their own ways.

Specific Data:

Herbert Wilfred (or Wilfrid) Hall it appears was born to Mother "Perry" We learned this from GRO. He was born in 1884 in Pontypridd Wales.

We look up the name Hall in freebmd.org.uk we get the husbands name. James Hall.

Now I KNOW that Herbert's fathers Name was "James Hall" based on Herbert's Marriage certificate. That is a FACT. So from this we know as far as these records are concerned that Perry Sarah Ann Married Hall James. in 1884.

I could not find Census info on freebmd, but on Ancestry, James Hall and Sarah Ann in 1891 in Pontypridd, I get the following on the following two pages.

Here is the problem:

The name for son Herbert is " Herburt a " Now I dont have a problem with Herburt "U" but the "A" seems so far off. Now for father James, on page one it says that he is a Railway Engine Driver. And on the marriage certificate for son Herbert it says that father James is a witness and is a "Engine Driver" Thus, the age of Herbert is right, e.g. he is 7 now and was born in 1884, the Mother seems right, father seems right, location seems right.

Soooo,

Do you think this is the census for Herbert W Hall? It does provide a lot of info eg. Unknown family members. I tried looking for a Herbe(u)rt A Hall born in the same time but could not find one. If the name has been transcribed incorrectly then you would not find a birth by this name or time period.

BTW ...

BTW the listing of Herbert is wrong in listing of this record in Ancestry, and who knows how much this has been replicated down the line. I cant see if freebmd has census, reports, but if you look at ancestry you see two errors in my opinion, see below. Herburta should be Herburt a, and Fall should be Hall. If you look at it, yes it could be Fall I suppose, and I'm no judge of another's work. But logic and the writing I think says Hall.

Sorry for my verbosity. But I must talk it out in my head to make sense of it all. And this is helpful to me.

Regards.

Áine Ní Donnghaile

In 1891, each householder completed a form which was then transcribed by the census staff on the forms we see. If the householder was not literate, census taker would have helped.

In other words, you have several opportunities for the handwriting to have been semi-legible and/or copied incorrectly.

My advice - don't get too hung up on middle initials from a single record. Look at a larger sample - every record you can find for the family. I have a man I was researching recently whose middle initial has variously been transcribed or indexed as D, T, J, and F in the records found. On his US social security application, which he would have completed himself, his middle name is written "Jay."

Look especially for evidence in a record the person wrote, at the time, not something written after his death (death registration or obituary).

Shannon Potter Wilcox

@ColinM0288 I copied your question and sent it to the ENGLAND RESEARCH page to have some of the group take a look at it over there as well. In order to talk in the discussion, you will have to join the ENGLAND RESEARCH group if you are not already a member of the group.

ColinM0288

Thank you again, Áine Ní Donnghaile

Thanks Ms. Mod, also. I will look at signing up.

Regards.