Why are places shown in some UK Census records so badly wrong ?
Can somebody please explain the mechanism that translates a record sourced by a 3rd party, such as FMP, and then presents it as data in FS. I am begininng to wonder whether the source data is actually correct, but it is being altered as the record is incorporated into FS or it is correct in both but is being altered before it is presented.
Example:
Address as shown in actual census record : "11, Nelson St., Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England"
Place name shown in FS record : "Holy Trinity King's Square, York, Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom"
Source record: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KZL1-YPG
I think that the parish name is being used to mess up the place. The parish is shown as "Hull Trinity St Mary", and this is non-standard, so I think that the automatic place name standardization routine is using a best guess and altering the data to become Holy Trinity York.
What I'd like to know is whether this is done on-the-fly and thus is able to be corrected by a change, or whether it was done when the collection data was imported, in which case, it's now like concrete: thoroughly mixed up and set.
Answers
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I've always previously found, when investigating such matters, that the underlying data as obtainable via the FS Records API is fine and that the 'disappearing census information' grief happens only when presenting the information on the screen.
However on this occasion these lines
Full address Nelson Street, Holy Trinity, Hull, Yorkshire & Yorkshire (East Riding), England
Street Nelson Street
appear on the FMP transcript but are not reflected in the underlying FS data (or, anyway, not in the JSON version of it that I can see). (NB the FMP transcript doesn't show that it's specifically number 11 Nelson St.)
@Ashlee C. can you raise this with the relevant team please?
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As indexed on FMP
Title
Jr
First name(s)
David
Last name
Lightowler
Sex
Male
Relationship
Son
Birth year
1850
Age
21
Census year
1871
Birth town
Bradford
Birth county
Yorkshire
Birth county as transcribed
YORKSHIRE
Birth country
England
Birth place
Bradford Yorkshire England
Marital status
-
Occupation
Hotel keeper
Full address
Nelson Street, Holy Trinity, Hull, Yorkshire & Yorkshire (East Riding), England
Street
Nelson Street
Parish
Holy Trinity
City
Kingston upon Hull
County
Yorkshire, Yorkshire (East Riding)
Country
England
Registration district
Hull
Sub-district
Humber
Enumeration district
1
Parliamentary borough or division
Kingston upon Hull
Municipal borough or ward
Humber
Archive series
RG10
Piece number
4786
Folio
4
Page
4
Schedule
8
Record set
1871 England, Wales & Scotland Census
Category
Census, land & surveys
Subcategory
Census
Collections from
Great Britain, England
@Re Searching if you are in the PQS group, you'll see a recent thread where I asked about the placename algorithm and the mangled indexing of an Alabama, USA, death record. The place of death had been changed multiple times from a place that was standard and correct into an absolute mess.
I'm hopeful that the PQS will shed light on the placename issue and that visibility will lead to eventual correction.
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There has been a general problem in establishing where the fault lies when census records are passed across from FMP to FamilySearch. In the past, one has blamed the other for what ends up (or doesn't) on the FS database. I have noticed a particular problem when I have been adding these census sources lately, via the new source linker. I have added a lot that relate to a Yorkshire residence and the format of the place names has been quite awful. The county name has been repeated ("Yorkshire, Yorkshire") and there have been other weird appearances, which at least we are now able to standardize with the facility of the NSL, before moving across to the respective profiles.
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