Incorrect Citation
How do I correct a citation? I am looking at a record that is a birth register for Wayne County, Pennsylvania for the years 1893-1906. When I look at the record image, the "group data" is correct. When the record is attached to a person, the citation says that it is from the "Pennsylvania Delayed Birth Records, 1941-1976" collection, which is incorrect. I checked other people listed on the source and it appears to be the same problem for others on the page.
Answers
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In what way are you suggesting the citation is incorrect?
If I go to https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/3743274 I'm led to a page https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/95300?availability=Family%20History%20Library, from where I found the linked page that enabled me to get to the page you are referencing.
If you are saying these records should not all belong under this heading, I'm afraid you have hit a problem commonly found with FamilySearch indexed records. Somehow, records that belong elsewhere have been indexed as part of a project that does, for the most part, contain records for which the collection title is appropriate.
In my efforts over the years, I have not been successful in getting even records that relate to another part of the country to be relocated to a more appropriately titled collection. So, in short, it is doubtful you will be able to get the citation corrected once it has been indexed within even a totally incorrect collection.
Some would argue that you (and I) are still managing to find the records we are seeking, so why worry too much about such errors? Even though I don't quite go along with that view, I've learned to accept it is very difficult to get FamilySearch to take "corrective" actions in such cases and that I often need to assume a record will eventually be found in the last place I would expect to find it!
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The autocitation on the "Group Record" panel says:
"Wayne, Pennsylvania, United States records," images, FamilySearch
(https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89KN-Y5S?view=explore :
Apr 23, 2024), image 160 of 191; .On an individual index detail page, on the other hand, it names the collection differently:
"Pennsylvania Delayed Birth Records, 1941-1976", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:8DJ4-F83Z : Sat Mar 09 21:04:03 UTC 2024), Entry for Mary Spencer and Fred Spencer, 10 Jan
1901.The corresponding catalog entry (https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/95300) shows a mixture of regular and delayed birth records, but they're primarily delayed, so the latter title sort of makes sense. However, given that neither so-called citation gives any of the needed information for finding the record if the URL goes bad, I think my conclusion is to continue to ignore and not use FS's autocitations.
One of the perpetual items on my (not-actually-written-down) genealogical to-do list is to go through and add real citations to the index entries I've attached via Source Linker. The individualized nature of those sources makes this a highly tedious task, but I can reduce the work slightly by writing a citation that works equally for all of the people in the indexed event:
FamilySearch Film 7621703 Image 160 of 191 ( https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89KN-Y5S ): Register of Births, Wayne County, Penna; volume 1: 1893-1906 (letter S, page 13). Entry for Mary Spencer, daughter of Fred Spencer, merchant, and Mary Spencer, born 10 Jan 1901 in Honesdale.
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Thanks for the responses!
Yes, what I was getting at was that this record was grouped into the wrong collection, as it is not a delayed birth record. It doesn't sound like there's a lot of hope to get it moved. I also do usually write my own citations for my references, so that's what I'll do in this situation. I guess I was more so thinking about someone new to genealogy who could be confused by the different collections named.Thanks again for taking the time to respond! At least I know I'm not the only one who notices these things!
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