Thoughts on Correcting Errors in the Records
Comments
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Samantha Beam said: My Aunt Linda's mothers name is not Louise. It is Lonnie. Please correct if possible. thank you
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1...0 -
June Wittmer-Shawver said: This is not a name problem, Geraldine Ginste Blinzely death is listed as a Birth. Which should be Geraldine Ginste, daug of Charles Ginste and Claire Beecher. Can this be corrected?
She was born in 1919 and died in 1973. the record lists her as being born in 1973 under a married name.
Thank you for supplying such a great site.0 -
Marianne Bradley said: I am annoyed by arbitrators who do not follow your directions, and correct things that you have clearly stated that the indexers are to do. One, is for children under 5, we are to enter a blank for where they lived in 1935, even if the census taker recorded something. The arbitrator should check this possibility. Another is the spelling of place names for the counties & states. I have a book on all of the counties in the US by state, and I correct name spellings. I recently entered "Allen" for the Minnesota county, the arbitrator could not read the A, and corrected the county to unreadable when the llen were readable. Also, census taker wrote Carleton for a county, and when I indexed it, it was "colored" to indicate an error. I corrected it to Carlton (which it is), and the arbitrator corrected me. I have also many times looked into the 1930 census to verify a spelling if it is very questionable in the 1940 census.and when it is obviously a certain way in 1930, I feel this is a better method of ascertaining the name than guessing. This is very irritating to me. There definitely needs to be some way to indicate your reason for your indexing input.0
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Juanita Seneca said: Regarding the record for the state of New York, County of Cattaraugus, Town of Persia, page 29 is a duplicate of pg 280
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RedDirtSurfer said: I agree, something needs to be done to allow for corrections. I've found several transcription errors here. The most recent one, today is on the 1870 census. It shows a whole bunch of Quinn children living with their maternal grandfather at the top of page 15, with no parents in sight. On ancestry the parents are shown, so going back to this site, I found that the parents ARE on the census, at the bottom of page 14 with 2 more children - but they were excluded from the transcription!0
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Jo Ann Aaron-Crosby said: There should be some means whereby we may add a note to the info. For instance I am a descendant of James and Rozina Aaron of Bedford=Decatur Co. TN.
When I was researching for James' father, I found in the census Aron, J. Wilson. I entered in the note that he was possibly the son of Moses and brother of James. As I researched furthur, I found it was recorded wrong in the census. The name should have been Wilson, J. Aron. by researching the census record and no relation at all. By all the census records, I found that Sarah was possibly ten years older than Moses.In view of the names of their children and the family tradition with names, it was more likely that Moses was James' father. So many courthouses were burned in TN, that is has been interesting. LDS Jo0 -
Gay Lynn Hopper Blackley said: I wish there was a way to fix all the problems with my side of the family my brother is very much alive but they have him dead on here I would really like to fix that one.
My mother was born in Okla not Ark, and I could go on, so when other people get on here and want to find their family history or my family it is all WRONG, I find this very sad.0 -
Cox said: Prior to publishing the records is the best time to get the record correct. It is not a guessing game, the facts are out their about each person. As an indexer, if the poor spelling census taker wrote Mallens and I KNOW the correct surname is Mullins because I researched it rather than guessed at the misspelling, what is the mechanism to index Mullins so that the record can be found by searching? The rules state to copy what is clearly there. That rule seems wrong to me. Isn't the purpose of indexing to make a helpful searchable database for people to find ancestors? I will probably never see this post or an answer, but I hope that it helps to create a more helpful and accurate database.0
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Jean Keener said: help0
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glwr said: RE: Implementation of a correction process needed quickly.
Subject: Correction process: "eu" vs "en"
I first thank all transcribers working on this mamouth project. However, the correction process and not the transcribers is the concern of most it seems.
Even with 3 sets of "eyes", errors are occuring. In checking, as others have indicated, the 1930 Census or City Directories, it is easy for any one of the 3 and especially the 3rd arbitrator to discover and discern and identify the error.
In this specific instance, even with the handwriting of the census taker being neat, it can relatively quickly be identified (i.e., that Sardeuga should be Sardenga). A quick search for Sardeuga did not even pull up the name Sardeuga anywhere in the county/parish at all so that would be a big clue.
see: https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1...
When we see errors, the longer it takes to get them posted to the public in some fashion, the more likely they are to be forgotten which leaves someone unable to find their family. We are all happy to help when these errors are discovered just as soon as the process is implemented.0 -
AnneOKeeffe said: I do not know how it has happened but the same couple has been recorded as children parents and grand parents??? I would love to correct this if possible0
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Susan Assmus said: This has happened to me a number of times as well.0
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Susan Assmus said: Ancestry.com seems to have a pretty good system where corrections can be submitted and then appear in brackets. The name can then be searched by the original indexing or by the corrected name.0
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Leon Morse said: Accuracy should have equal standing with quantity. Records indexed incorrectly are very likely not to be found. I have found several in my own family and have been lucky to eventually uncover them. But have I found all of them? You have resources - the people using this database - to correct these problems. Unfortunately you lose some of these resources daily. Times a wasting! Generations who follow need to find these "invisible" records.0
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Karen Pederson said: Ancestry.com has a way for us to add 'additional' information to a record. It does not change the original record but anyone looking at the record can see the corrected information, Why not ask them how they manage this feature.
Karen Pederson0 -
Joy Worthen Kuoha said: There are so many errors recorded in our family names from the "California, Birth Index, 1905-1995", the middle names alone are blended into one name when they should be separated into 3 middle names. I would love to be able to go in and correct all our family names, especially my children! When will we be able to fix the errors that were not caught? I hope they can be fixed before others perpetuate the names again and again!0
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Beverley Faith Teata Serle said: Hey I know how everyone is feeling as I am only starting on my tree and have found mistakes with my own name and two of my children as I was not the one who put them there, I can not correct them and it just irritates me. I can put a note on there about the mistakes by spelling them correctly but then you can't edit that once it's done either!, confused???????0
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Rev. Heather M McKay said: I feel that Familysearch is thoughtful in our feelings about there being changes made to allow members to enter corrections, but I also agree as I work in IT and Communications, it should not take this long to implement these changes.
I see many errors in my ancestors filings, and even multiple entries, that I consider wasteful...take the most accurate Ancestral info and index it and eliminate the one's with inaccurate and poor or lacking information.0 -
Peter Samuel Taylor said: Any such programme MUST be searchable, EDITABLE and have a secure data storage system. Just common sense! I have several forebears with the same name and the wives and children are input all over the place so the whole lot is totally screwed. I would like to start over from the beginning but I can't touch inputs made by other (Church) people. Also, pls take into consideration that people have to make a few mistakes to learn how to use it. So, sorry. Even as genealogical rep, I cannot recommend this programme as it is to the ward. My best advice is - until it becomes fully EDITABLE - use MS Excel instead. ^his will mean folks on the other side waiting a bit longerfor ordinances, but at least they'll get sealed to the right person.0
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Larry Cloud said: I found my family but the last name is spelled incorrectly! What is the point of a massive project like this if there is no mechanism to correct a fundamental error like the complete misspelling of a last name?0
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Samuel Levee said: The error in my grandparent's and aunt and uncle's last name in the 1940 census is clearly an error by the transcriber. How do I know this? The enumerator was my aunt. There should be a simple process for me to have this error corrected.0
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Tom Huber said: A means to correct or annotate the index is definitely needed. The problem is exasberated by the desire to fully index the LDS collection of books and films as allowed by contract. However, some of the errors are not the fault of indexers, but those who have set up the indexing. On a record I looked at today ("United States Census, 1920," Ora E Woods in household of Cary A Woods, , Scioto, Ohio), the location was missing the town (Portsmouth), which is clearly labeled on the census page. In working on the 1940 Census, I have no input for the page heading information. Your current indexing method will never catch this kind of error and needs to be fixed, both at the initial setup of the pages to be indexed, but also in being able to submit and have such an error corrected.
Update: I just ran across the 1940 census record for my father and family. Everything was fine, except for the name of my Grandmother, which was incorrectly indexed as "Jerrie" instead of "Jennie". I could not find her in the system because the misspelling even baffles "soundex" and "similar sound" searches. The only way I was able to locate the record was to search on other members of the family in the same household, and the only reason I knew who to search on is because I was born to the family four years after the census was taken and was raised by Jennie when my mother (her daughter) died when I was five.
This problem needs to be given the highest possible priority so that, as we run across these problems, can correct the indexes (or get them corrected). Otherwise, the longer that this problem persists, the less likely it will be that we will return to correct the errors found. Family Tree will provide the means to record the correct information and who will care enough then to go and fix an indexing error.0 -
Rosalind Loretta Barrow said: My topic is about my great grandfather John Huse Munday. he is my grandfather Charles H. Kelly's mothers father. Charles H Kelly> Greenberry C Kelly married to Margaret Evelyn Jane Munday>her father John Huse Munday married to my great-great grand- mother. That means that he was over 8 years old when he fathered eleven chidren wouldn't you agree?
I have been a part in getting my family line Temple work done. I am pleased I could be active in The work toward eternal families.
Coments, please? Rosalind Kelly Barrow
Email:wbarrow001@comcast.net Thank you!0 -
Rosalind Loretta Barrow said: What have I done? I do not know. Rosalind Kelly Barrow0
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fivetravelers said: I have mixed emotions about this topic. My family background is german and the transcribers are obviously not so a large number german names are just misspelled. However, being forced me to plod through the individual images to find the individual records has given me the courage to trace my wife's previously unknown lineage too. While it is disappointing that others who merely search won't be able to make a family connection. The ability to view digital copies of records more than makes up for the inconvience. In fact, while I've transcribed a few records, are there volunteers to digitize records (with or without pending transciption)?0
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n6ac said: multiple family members with name errors in the 1940 and 1930 Census Index.
PLEASE make it possible to post the corrections while we who are aware are still around!0 -
Katrina Donae Thompson said: I understand that you are looking for ideas on changing errors in indexed names My Grandfather is one of these mistakes. He is listed as Owen on Family search. And looking on the record I can see it is Orven, which is correct. I am thinking that if there is a way of suggesting that something is incorrect like a button that would be good. I know that this wouldn't work on records that have been done on other sites it may also not work for older records. Just a thought.0
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Leon Morse said: It's been over a year since "Thoughts on Correcting Errors in the Records" was posted. Can we at least have an update on the plans to implement a solution? Even if there has been no progress we will have an idea of where we stand. Those of us who are older may have to include the corrections in our will.0
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Clio said: To bad! Some people remine lost just for those errors!0
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Mary P said: Some arbitrators should be told to open up a counties page and do some of their own correcting. I have had a couple that I know are wrong and how they come up with some of their RIGHTS is too hard to explain. don't they give a hoot what is happening?0
This discussion has been closed.