Why do some children get the mother's surname added, when the surname is not specified in the source
Best Answers
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I looked for information on this record and learned that the database is from MyHeritage. In other words, it's not FamilySearch indexing, but that of MyHeritage.com.
https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/2790465
Cite This Collection
"Sweden, Household Examination Books, 1880-1930." Database with images. FamilySearch. https://FamilySearch.org : 19 July 2024. From "Sweden, Household Examinations, 1860-1930." Database and images. MyHeritage. https://www.myheritage.com : n.d. Citing Various Lutheran parishes, Sweden.0 -
@BirgittaLjunggren You may want to review this thread from the SourceLinker Group.
The records of children in the family have been indexed correctly with no surname on My Heritage and are brought over to FamilySearch the same. When you search from My Heritage, the child comes up with no surname. When you search the FamilySearch collection, the name is shown in search results "incorrectly" with the mother's surname. It has been explained to engineers that the problem affects the entire collection (ticket dated 17 July 2024).
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Answers
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Is this a source record or a profile in the tree?
Can you be more specific and perhaps share the URL or the profile number (PID)? That way we can see exactly what you are seeing and possibly give a better reply.
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This is an example, G9GK-KHB, the first source is correct without the surname of the children, but the second source has the children given the mother's surname
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This appears to me to involve incorrect indexing only - the original image does not give surnames for the children.
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How do we fix it? This was only one exampel of many. And also all the chidren have inherid their patents wedding date. Its look to me as a system error?
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That record set may have been computer-indexed rather than indexed by humans.
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My thought too. That means it will continue to make mistakes, without change.
How do we fix this? As it is now, people will copy in the mistakes from the sources.
That's how I discovered it. Someone had changed my grandfather's surname to his stepmother's surname.
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Since the set - index and all - came from MyHeritage, I think any fix has to be at the MyHeritage level. I suggest contacting Customer Service/Help at MyHeritage.
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My theory is that the indexers marked those surnames blank, and then a post-processing step "filled down" with the nearest surname, as if those blanks represented ditto marks.
Wherever it came from, the index is correctable on FS, so you can fix your family's entries at least (and prevent future "helpful" folks from perpetuating the indexing errors for that small portion of profiles) — but you're right that this sort of systemic-and-systematic error needs to be addressed at a higher level. (Despite all evidence to the contrary and exhortations against it, people will always take indexes as Gospel.) I just don't know how to communicate the problem to such a higher level, since I don't even know who (which company/organization) is really responsible.
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Yes I think the person taking the discussion with MyH should be a native English speaker with knowledge of indexing. I am neither.
Anyway, I gave it a shot. I contacted MH and received the following reply which left me none the wiser.
Thank you for being in touch. My name is Jose and I'm happy to help you.
I understand that some information is not being reflected properly in your family site. I will assist you with this.
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I look forward to your reply.
Kind regards,
MyHeritage Support team0 -
Sounds as if Jose didn't quite understand the question.
My feeling is that the question needs to be addressed at a higher level at MH - not individual consumer-level support but between the corporate entities.
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@Ashlee C. is this something you can escalate to whoever in FS is responsible for the data quality of this feed from MyHeritage?
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I have now been contacted by someone from MH who understands the problem. He writes:
Thank you for being in touch. My name is Fabian and I'm happy to help you.
I understand your situation and will investigate this matter.After investigating this matter we will escalate this case to the department in charge for further investigation.
In order to do so, we would need the links to the MyHeritage records that showed up in the search results before clicking on them and being redirected to Family Search.
The problem now is that I don't understand what he is talking about. Can someone help me?
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I don't think he understands that we access this information via a FS Collection whose index is fed by MH. This means that you cannot provide what he is requesting - however the FS back end team could provide this information - @Ashlee C. one for you.
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On MyHeritage, the collection is https://www.myheritage.com/research/collection-10180/sweden-household-examination-books?s=497690641
The specific record Birgitta mentioned, in the MH version of the record set, is https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-10180-21095040/oskar-emil-karlsson-in-sweden-household-examination-books
And, on FS, it is https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QG5J-G33B
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@MandyShaw1 Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I'll see what I can find out.
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@SerraNola thank you for your clear communication of how FS is working to resolve this problem (and also for clarifying the root cause).
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