ERROR REPORT - Mitchell County, Georgia records and place standardizing algorithm
One of my ancestral families lived in rural Mitchell County, Georgia for over a century. Just when I think there can't be another error in the place algorithm, I'm proved wrong, again.
This example is a 1920 death record which appears to have been moved around half the state. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JD6D-F8T?lang=en
For the same family, the 1870 census has migrated from Mitchell to Effingham County. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MC3F-BB8
While the 1880 census has been shifted to Glascock County on the fly: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M8GN-SKV
Now I understand why I've been receiving requests to edit my Findagrave memorials to places where this family never lived or died.
Thanks for reviewing.
@SerraNola please.
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Like you said, it's hard to imagine there could be any more ways that one name gets morphed but, in reality these are all common ways that the algorithm trips up when trying to standardize the name of a county. I have categorized collections by the types of errors and by far this is the most common. In Georgia, military districts had names so that is also coming in to play as the algorithm looks for a match to "Mitchell".
I do not know when a complete resolution will be found for place name errors but progress is being made. The important thing I am focusing on now is isolating the collections where the error most affects search retrieval. For example, in the Georgia Death Records, search finds your person in Mitchell as well as Glascock and Dougherty counties:
In the 1880 Census, ditto:
But in the 1870 Census he can ONLY be found in Effingham county, NOT in the correct county of Mitchell. That's a concern:
As always, thanks for reporting!
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Thanks.
In case misery loves company - at one point some programmer or algorithm at that big for-pay genealogy site decided that a Georgia Military District reference meant the person was serving in the military. All the tax records for 90-year-old widows, in the late 19th century, became military records.
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😂
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