Thoughts on Correcting Errors in the Records
Comments
-
guadalupe valerio said: FYI
This is a new area of Mexico which has been very helpful, church records: Los Cinco Senores, Santander Jimenez,Tamaulipas baptism records of 1749-1818 several areas seen, but if you look at image 173 of 569 it states death or interments rather than baptism, It's all good for me, since I/m able to find numerous ancestors in a different location baptism or death I'm able to connect, just to let you know there are death record mixed with baptisms.0 -
Michael W. McCormick, AG® said: Awesome! Awesome!0
-
Michael W. McCormick, AG® said: Ooooo Aaahhh Shiny... #5 makes me think that the browser based indexing promised here (https://familysearch.org/blog/en/futu...) last August is actually going to be the same thing as user contributed corrections. Of course this makes sense technologically, and is good news for the users. I wasn't sure what new things FamilySearch could excite us with this year. RootsTech 2012 had so many exciting FamilySearch new technologies like Linking, Family Tree, and the mobile indexing app. I wasn't sure this year's RootsTech could be quite as good. I am becoming more excited for it.0
-
Michael W. McCormick, AG® said: PS I hope the new experience will work on mobile devices. That might need another year of programming, but I'm hopeful. That would also fix the mobile Indexing app needs of users.0
-
Eric said: Logan Allred,
For some reason your link above is not clickable or it just won't go to new webpage.
I am on Windows 8 64 bits and Firefox 18.0.1 if it matters.0 -
Logan Allred said: The link is just to a comment farther up on this page from robertkehrer from 1 month ago that states it is scheduled for the latter half of 2013.0
-
John Gavin said: Amen! We should all be more tolerant of those who have donated there time both to create the data sources and transcribe them.
We know that many of the people taking census information in centuries past were not very literate and many of those who were providing the information were not able to read or write or even spell their own names.
This means we must stop assuming correctness and, instead, become detectives and interpreters who make our own judgements/guesses as to the final selection of the correctness of the data.
I like the way Archives.com allows tree-makers to add notes to each entry on the tree. Every birth, marriage, death or census record can have its own comments that can be used to explain the differences or mistakes that become evident while searching the evidence. By using these notes, it helps one to organize the confusing findings, make sense of them and keep track of where evidence was found.
Every family tree should have such a way to keep notes for these purposes.
Have fun growing your trees, everybody!0 -
Toby Turner said: I concur. I found place after place where the indexer may grievous errors. Often, I could not understand at all why they did so. The writing/etc. was clear. Other times, it required knowledge of the area to recognize the ghastly errors. There needs to be a way to flag the familysearch to go back and look at the mistakes. Otherwise, this site is not as useful as it could be.0
-
Marjorie Cecilia Sorensen said: Thanks, Robert, for this good explanation about census errors. I hope that errors that had been corrected earlier are included with the census record. For instance, in the 1930 US census for Salt Lake City, Utah, my father was listed as Alma Barlser instead of Alma Barker. The error was found and corrected a couple of years ago.0
-
John Von Steenburgh said: It wood be nice to be able to correct the errors since I'm still alive and they have my name misspelled.0
-
Larry Newsome said: I have done extensive research on my wife's family and was i suprised when i looked them up on the new FS and saw all the mistakes. They have one of her uncles name as part of his fathers name, her great grand father goes to the wrong parents and numerous other mistakes as well as missing information. The problem is we cannot change or remove this misrepresentation of our ancestors. Even if the correct information is entered, the old incorrect information stays listed also. To me this is totally unacceptable from someone like FS, who has been such a fantastic research source in the past. With all the improvements and new information FS has been adding, they should have only gotten better, not worse. I just hope this is corrected soon, before too much misinformation is used by people that are just startind and do not know better and wind up with family trees that are useless and confusing.0
-
Joan Pitsch-Welke said: frustrated
Johanna Pitsch 7 days ago
There is mix up with my Great-grandmother in the Fuchs/Fox book. It has my her married to the wrong man, She is the daughter of Theodore Klein and Anna Freund, her name is Anna Gertrude Klein aka Gertrude Klein married Sebastian Vierheilig.
They have her married to Johann Joseph Bauer. The lady that married him is Gertrude Anna Klein, daughter of Herbert Klein and Mary ? However to many people are believe in the Latter Day of Saint. I do their death cert. as proof. that is on the site of Seeking Michigan. My e-mail is welkelj@att.net. I am Joan Pitsch Welke. This is a big big head ache for me.0 -
Joan Pitsch-Welke said:
0 -
Joan Pitsch-Welke said: Anna Gertrud Klein
Ancestral File
Anna Gertrud Klein
Pedigree Resource File
birth:
19 December 1828
Arft
marriage:
1861
Saint Mary's Catholic Church, Westphalia, Michigan
death:
November 1913
burial:
Saint Mary's Catholic Cemetery, Westphalia, Michigan
parents:Theodor Klein, Anna Freund
spouse:Johann Joseph Bauer;Joseph Bauer
children:Peter Bauer, John Peter Bauer...
This needs to be corrected
As you read these two death cert. You will find the One is saying Gertrude Vierheilig, died October 15, 1903, born December 19, 1930 (she did changed her date of birth so she could be younger that her husband Sebastian he was born January 20 1929, she was born December 19, 1828) Her father is Theodore Klein and mother is Anna Freund
The other death cert. You will find the this one saying Gertrude Anna Bauer died November 22, 1913 and was born December 25, 1829, Her father is Hebert Klein
Corr would be
Anna Gertrude Klein
Parent Theodor Klein, Anna Freund
spouse Sebastian Vierheilig
children: Rose, Helena
Anna Gertrude Klein and Sebastian Vierheilig was married at Holy Trinity Church, Alpine Township, Kent County, MI on 09 May 1853
These two death cert. are proof of the Mix up, I am sure you would not like mistake on you files0 -
Joan Pitsch-Welke said:
0 -
Joan Pitsch-Welke said: The Story of St Mary's Westphalia 1836-1986, Of Pilgrimage, Prayer and Promise, is More right than Fuchs/Fox Book, Mr. Fox did not check out the two Gertrude Klein, he has them mix up. My Great-grandmother Anna Gertrud daughter of Teodore Klein and Anna Freund, did not marry Joseph Bauer. She was married to Sebastian Vierheilig. I would like to see this being corrected. I was good in the past that I was able to get my family records and I also was provided with originals, in which I had to read in German. I would like to see that Latter Day of Saints keep up their good work.0
-
Joan Pitsch-Welke said: Jane Fabiano-Turner, 616-866-2943, know how to get a hold of Phillip Fuchs0
-
Edwin Reffell said: I have written add-ons in FreeBMD and hope that helps family searchers. If you could do that in Family Search it would be a welcome first step. Surely it cannot be problematical not take long to give that possibility. Why has it not been done yet? However I can put up with all the variations (incorrect spellings) and am most grateful for all the generous work put in to make so much information freely available. It is just a pity that there is no way of adding helpful information to it.0
-
Russell Harland said: You said it yourself. It's an amazing project. So quit complaining. This is something that the LDS allows anyone to use free of charge, regardless of religious affiliation. Think about that for a minute. I'm Lutheran and thus have not contributed a dime to the operation of the LDS, yet they allow me to use this resource free of charge.
If they allowed people to "correct" entries, the result would be anarchy. There are "powers that be" no matter what one does in life, and that includes work. I'm careful to double check when the need arises. Tombstones, for example. This is ultimately a matter of personal responsibility. Even the census and immigration info was often only approximate. For instance, it is common for the actual year of birth to be the year prior or after that on the document as originally recorded.
You're really looking a gift horse in the mouth, and taking things too seriously.0 -
Russell Harland said: Don't take this the wrong way, but at a certain point you're beginning to turn over every rock and leaf looking for something to complain about. This is a great resource that makes doing genealogical research to be a much easier task than it has been. Why complain about it? The LDS also allows this free of charge regardless of religious affiliation. I'm Lutheran and have never contributed in any way to the LDS, but they allow me to use this resource. It does cost money, after all.
If this web site is so bad, why are you using it? It's because it's more convenient and accurate than what is found elsewhere. What isn't accurate can be double checked against other sources. For example, a photo of a tombstone. Even at that, this is still more convenient than the alternative. I should point out that even the census records often state that recorded immigration dates and foreign birth dates are approximate. So they must be verified. A record date of 1905 on immigration documents can be an actual birth date in 1904, as happened with a relative of mine. When the original document is approximate, it is just that. The LDS has no fault in this.0 -
Russell Harland said: If so much work goes into your family tree, take responsibility and VERIFY. It's what anyone else has to do. Instead, you are complaining about a service that the LDS provides free of charge to anyone of any religious affiliation. I get the feeling that people on here are looking under every rock and leaf for something to complain about. What sad little lives people must lead. This web site has saved me a lot of foot work. Many of the "errors" are approximations on the original government paperwork and that information can be found exactly with a very little additional effort.
If they did allow corrections, every Tom, Dick and Harry would have their fingers in the pie and accuracy would surely decrease.0 -
Thomas Dwight, Jr Rethard said: Every Tom, Dick and Harry and Shirley IS allowed to make changes to FamilyTree, many of which I've had to undo because they are now allowed to change or even delete verified correct data tha I have entered. It seems reasonable to allow us to correct (by addition of an alternative, as in ancestry.com) bad infor from indexing.0
-
Thomas Dwight, Jr Rethard said: Those of us who are LDS take this work quite seriously, as it directly supports one of the three-fold missions of the church. Considering the eternal consequences of not having the correct data, I find "so quit complaining" to be inappropriate. Please reconsider your attitude. If you at satisfied with mediocre or less recording of the data as recorded, that's your prerogative, but many of us are not.
As for anarchy? What we have now borders on anarchy, with data being entered willy-nilly with no way to correct it. Ancestry.com allows correction of entries, and it is hardly in a state of anarchy, at least as far as actual records go.
I apologize if I seem harsh in my attitude, but this data is far, far more important to me than it seems to be to you.0 -
Claire Brisson-Banks said: Wonder if correcting entries is any closer to being allowed?0
-
Edwin Reffell said: It only needs to be possible to add the corrected information. For example when it says DE KUNIS all that need be added is "= DE NUNIS" and in my family's case where it says Raymon RIPPLE add "actually Raymond REFFELL". Does that posssibility need to take years to be enabled?0
-
Janet Hall said: Russell Harland: Amazing project: lots of flaws. My "complaining" includes many suggestions for improving the system. I know all the other records you mention are not perfect, especially "tombstones" by which I presume you mean gravestones - and in fact they are not considered primary sources because they are often erected long after the death, and who knows who furnished the data.
But back to familysearch: when a marriage is entered with only the groom's name (the bride's name is clearly on the document), or a surname is spelled wrong even when the writing is clear or even typedm or one side of a document is just not scanned.... - this is carelessness and no one is catching it. OK, if they do not want to set up the safeguards with reliable monitoring to catch them, let us have some little place to record comments to correct the error. ancestry.com does this for census. We are not asking to "correct entries" which would indeed be against all responsible principles of sound research, although hardly "anarchy." No one is going to take a red pencil to the records. But most of the errors I see are done by the indexers, and those should be commented upon by those who see the errors and omissions. We are suggesting corrections to the INDEXING not the original records.
The expression "looking a gift horse in the mouth," by the way pertains to checking the animal's age by its teeth - and the adage seems to suggest that it is foolhardy to examine too closely something you get for free. I don't think so - I look hard at these free records for which I am eternally grateful, and am disappointed to see the work done carelessly. They can do better. and when they don't, they could let us have a little sidebar in which to write our comments.0 -
RealMac said: I agree with the recent comments. After more than three years talking about it, are we any closer to the implementation of a simple method for entering name corrections, similar to the way it is done on Ancestry.com?0
-
robertkehrer said: Yes.
Much closer, even though the final deliverable isn't in your hands. I noted long ago that there were a number of back end systems that needed to be re-engineered to support this feature. We have been consistently moving the work forward on these.
In addition to this behind-the-scenes work, You have seen many major changes to the site (Family Tree, Photos & Stories, Attach records to Family Tree) that have also been high priorities and consumed engineering time.
We're making progress but it will likely be sometime in 2014 before this can be released.
-R0 -
Kaare Ingmar Bye said: WE MUST do our very best, but it does make us perfect, the handwriting of the priest or his helper can be very bad. My relatives was those indeviduals for several generation!!0
-
Kaare Ingmar Bye said: We always ask the Lord to guide us...but sometime is is hard ro read through double entrees. I have seen it al over 49 years, God bless us so we can read though the lines.0
This discussion has been closed.