Indexing error? 1870, 1880 federal census for Giles County, TN
I wish there was an easier way to flag things like this! It seems as though all the records for the 1870 census in Civil District 10, Giles County, Tennessee, have specified the place in the index entries as Civil District 10, Grainger County, Tennessee. This is very confusing, and leads to inaccurate data in the individual profile pages. I corrected one record, then realized the problem was with the whole data set.
Here's a link to one record, as an example, but please note that all records have this error: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-DC3S-9YC?view=index&action=view&personArk=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AMD81-5TM
It appears to be the same for 1880: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYB2-34J?view=index&action=view&groupId=TH-1942-25159-36886-24&personArk=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AMD74-LB2
Best Answers
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@kkmcdonald It is not an indexing error. It's a placename standardization problem. N Tychonievich is the person who will escalate the issue to the team making the corrections.
If you search in the community on "placename standardization," you'll find many such reports.
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Yes, that's the place name standardization algorithm creating problems. In this case, at least it is in the same state.
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Answers
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@N Tychonievich Without the (original) breadcrumb, it's a guess, but the placename at the top of the written page is Giles County, Tennessee, while the index shows Grainger. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-DC3S-9YC
Thanks.
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Yes, that's the problem, thank you for simplifying & clarifying! I can change it on individual records, but I could not find a way to correct it for the many thousands of index entries all at one go.
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Thank you, Áine, for all your help! Grainger is a completely different county from Giles, not another name for the same place. Do all those issues fall under place name standardization? (I'd like to be sure of the right place to go, as I'll undoubtedly see it again.)
BTW, I really appreciate the efforts on familysearch to get place names right, and for the right years. It's super helpful, especially in countries whose borders and governments have changed over the years.
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@kkmcdonald Thank you for the report of the error. I am actually no longer sending these reports up the line. The group that works on these sorts of things have indicated that they have all of the examples that they need and are working on a solution to the general problem.
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@N Tychonievich Could you arrange for a Community announcement to that effect? That's the first I've heard of it.
Or perhaps the head of that team could let us know their process and progress?
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@Áine Ní Donnghaile I have let the Community admins know. I'll let them decide how best to get the word out.
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@kkmcdonald While this error can be corrected individually, we understand that you are concerned that more than one record needs editing. If you want to report errors like this, the easiest ways is to the team directly over this record set. Many pages in FamilySearch have a tab where users can report feedback. These reports are page-specific, so leaving feedback on the page where you encounter a problem is the quickest way to pass your concern to the team that can address it. Here are the steps for reporting an issue through the Feedback tab.
- Click on the Feedback tab.
- Choose an emoji (face).
- Give a detailed description of what you expected vs what actually happened.
- Leave your email address so the team can reach you if they have any questions or need more detail.
- Click Submit.
Please note that the tab does not work if you have ad or popup blockers turned on.
If you get an error or you get a message sending you to the Community even though you do not have an ad blocker, please start a new post in General Questions. Provide a screenshot and the link to the page where the tab did not work properly so we can know where it failed.
Thanks for your support and patience as we do our best to serve you.
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