Can't add a given name to census record index

LegacyUser

Ann H said: In the 1870 Forsyth County NC census, Alexander Kiger was only indexed by his surname. I went in to try to edit the name and add the first name which is clearly present in the census, but could see no way to do this. Is there a way to do this that I am missing? Thanks.

James Czuchra

I have run into the same problem with the 1900 US Census in La Salle County, Illinois. Like the Ann H said, there are people who are indexed only by last name but I cannot add the missing given name that is part of the image. In the same way, there are people whose first names are given and editable but no way to add the surname that is part of the image.

Julia Szent-Györgyi

The index-correction feature on FS is limited. One of the limitations is that a correction can neither add nor delete fields.

For Alexander Kiger, the best suggestion I can offer is to write both names into the available field (the surname).

Note, however, that there is currently a bug of unknown scope that can render an entire record effectively invisible to Records Search if there have been corrections made to it. I encountered it in Hungary Catholic Church Baptisms, but tech support indicated that there have been reports from other collections from around the world. Until it's fixed, it may be best to refrain from correcting any indexed records that have not already been found and attached.

(Before index correction became available, I kept pointing out to people that the moral of the story is that despite the errors, you found the record anyway. This still applies.)