RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: Beeonthebay on Wednesday 23 March 16 20:07 GMT (UK)
-
Now admittedly the person who wrote out the 1911 census had a strange way with their letters, especially the letter H. But if you look at the whole page you will see the word House with their weird way of writing H. So why didn't the transcriber look at the whole page? I don't know if it's true but I've read somewhere that Ancestry transcribers have a dictionary and transcribe letter by letter what they see which of course you are supposed to do, but doesn't common sense come into play?
Hector R. Williams transcribed as Teelos K Williams, that took some finding I can tell you!! ::) :o ;D
-
One day soon they will get computers to perform transcribing. They will probably be more accurate than human transcribers.
-
I appreciate that transcribers have to write down what they see, and that some handwriting is VERY difficult to read, but I've had two bad ones, Harrisa instead of Louisa on a census return, and I was so thrilled at such an unusual name and how easy it would be to trace her, it only took several weeks to sort out (and when I finally saw the original it was so obviously Louisa); and worse still, Henry instead of Frances, so it took about a year and quite a bit of help from Rootschatters to find a burial record ::)
-
Aw come on!!! Looking at the page I would never, in a million years, have seen the name Hector!
-
One day soon they will get computers to perform transcribing. They will probably be more accurate than human transcribers.
They've been trying for a long time with OCR, and that can only handle printed characters with any reasonable hope of success. Attempts at blurry Victorian newspapers are a joke sometimes, so I don't share your optimism - yet.
-
Aw come on!!! Looking at the page I would never, in a million years, have seen the name Hector!
It wouldn't take me that long, BumbleB. The H is certainly strange, but the rest of it looks pretty suggestive to me ;)
-
Jemima Crumpler transcribed as Fanina Oompler.
-
Aw come on!!! Looking at the page I would never, in a million years, have seen the name Hector!
Neither did I until I figured out the first letter was H (as in Milk House occupation) not T.........which made me think that the transcribers *are* only looking letter by letter and not at the whole page.
-
Banfree for Winifred!
-
My ancestor whose name was Fred- was transcribed as FROG ;D
-
One day soon they will get computers to perform transcribing. They will probably be more accurate than human transcribers.
They've been trying for a long time with OCR, and that can only handle printed characters with any reasonable hope of success. Attempts at blurry Victorian newspapers are a joke sometimes, so I don't share your optimism - yet.
Eeek I hope I am gone before that happens!!! :o :o :o
-
Don't know if I would have got "Hector" out of that straight off, but would have looked at the rest of the document for where that letter had been used in another word.
As a transcriber I know we are supposed to type what we see but a certain amount of common sense should come into play. The problem comes in with transcribers that are working in languages that may not be familiar to them, which is possible with online transcribing with transcribers from all over the world.
I have also found that the older the document the worse the handwriting, don't know if it was the types of writing instruments and ink that they had or what, but the more "modern" ones are easier to read at times. Maybe "practice makes perfect" ;D ;D
-
Aw come on!!! Looking at the page I would never, in a million years, have seen the name Hector!
Neither did I until I figured out the first letter was H (as in Milk House occupation) not T.........which made me think that the transcribers *are* only looking letter by letter and not at the whole page.
I have done a small amount of transcribing for Ancestry, and it is not always easy, you do not always see the "whole"page, and you are informed NOT to guess but leave a blank where you cannot read something.
I think we should be very grateful for all the people who transcribe-for free- some have done over 60.000. When you consider how much information Ancestry has and how many errors occur, and it is done by amateurs that is pretty remarkable.
What would you prefer? Back to the library etc and the fiche's, or sitting in your nice home in front of the comp. I know which one I do 8)
-
I have done a small amount of transcribing for Ancestry, and it is not always easy, you do not always see the "whole"page, and you are informed NOT to guess but leave a blank where you cannot read something.
I think we should be very grateful for all the people who transcribe-for free- some have done over 60.000. When you consider how much information Ancestry has and how many errors occur, and it is done by amateurs that is pretty remarkable.
What would you prefer? Back to the library etc and the fiche's, or sitting in your nice home in front of the comp. I know which one I do 8)
I transcribe for Family Search and at least we do get to see the whole page (at least for the records I have been transcribing) it does make it easier to come to a conclusion. ;)
, (well for the records I am transcribing at least) it definitely does make it easier to come to a conclusion.
-
I have also found that the older the document the worse the handwriting, don't know if it was the types of writing instruments and ink that they had or what, but the more "modern" ones are easier to read at times. Maybe "practice makes perfect" ;D ;D
Don't know when they were written but the ones I curse are whoever wrote out the PCC wills.
Their writing is perfectly neat and consistent yet at times I find it perfectly unreadable
-
I have also found that the older the document the worse the handwriting, don't know if it was the types of writing instruments and ink that they had or what, but the more "modern" ones are easier to read at times. Maybe "practice makes perfect"
I think that's mainly a matter of familiarity with style. I'm sometimes surprised at how 'standard' Victorian handwriting seems compared with today's variations - I assume that there was a national drive to increase literacy, with a recommended style of 'copperplate'. Increasing literacy between 1850 and 1890 is noticeable in the number who can (or try to) sign a marriage register.
But as you say, the further back you look, the more unintelligible handwriting seems. By the 17th century it's becoming difficult, and earlier than that, impossible - for me at any rate. And spelling is less predictable too.
-
The words themselves are harder the further we go back, unfamiliar spelling, funny f thing for an f, strange English words in Ye olde English- must take a bit of working out sometimes, fortunately I don't have any from back that far though, but soo wish I did!
-
Don't know if I would have got "Hector" out of that straight off, but would have looked at the rest of the document for where that letter had been used in another word.
As a transcriber I know we are supposed to type what we see but a certain amount of common sense should come into play. The problem comes in with transcribers that are working in languages that may not be familiar to them, which is possible with online transcribing with transcribers from all over the world.
I have also found that the older the document the worse the handwriting, don't know if it was the types of writing instruments and ink that they had or what, but the more "modern" ones are easier to read at times. Maybe "practice makes perfect" ;D ;D
I did wonder if perhaps there were non English speakers transcribing though why you wouldn't see the whole page I don't understand.
I've been doing some transcribing for FreeReg of parish register marriages and have found a kind of rhythm in the flow of the handwriting sometimes by comparing it to a street name I know is correct if I don't quite "get" a letter.
-
My ancestor whose name was Fred- was transcribed as FROG ;D
He wasn't a "Riveter" by trade was he? ;D ........... Sorry, couldn't resist it :-[
I'd not have seen it but would have looked at the whole page then for any clues.
Frank.
-
One day soon they will get computers to perform transcribing. They will probably be more accurate than human transcribers.
I believe this already happens.
Annie
-
I looked at it for a while ... it's difficult to say how I would have construed it, given that I already KNEW it was "Hector".
But ... just looking at that first letter, there is one thing which is ABUNDANTLY obvious ... and that it that it has two parallel upright strokes, not one.
I know of only three English capital letters with two parallel upright strokes: H, N and M
Once you have eliminated those that it cannot be ... N and M ... then the solution that it must be an H with the bar raised a little way does seem pretty obvious.
With the benefit of hindsight.
As for "ee" or "ec" ... well, the letters are differently formed, so they are not the same letter.
l or t? Well, it it doesn't have a cross-bar, then the following letter has a dot over it. But the following letter is neither an i nor a j, so the upright letter in the middle of the word its a t not an l.
Are we nearly there yet?
(As I say though ... all this IS starting out KNOWING it is Hector ... which makes it easy to see. Not so sure I would have got there without knowing it in advance ... and that's what makes transcription such an exacting task.)
-
My ancestor whose name was Fred- was transcribed as FROG ;D
He wasn't a "Riveter" by trade was he? ;D ........... Sorry, couldn't resist it :-[
I'd not have seen it but would have looked at the whole page then for any clues.he wasnt a purl and plain knitter, a ribber, ribbit ribbit, i couldnt hekp it either :o ??? ::)
Frank.
-
Someone named "God Amen" apparently left a number of Wills over the years. ;D
-
I have corrected hundreds of names, which I appreciate can be difficult to make out. What does annoy me a bit is the mis-transcription of village names. Surely people who are doing this have access to a list of parishes, at least for the county they are transcribing?
-
I have corrected hundreds of names, which I appreciate can be difficult to make out. What does annoy me a bit is the mis-transcription of village names. Surely people who are doing this have access to a list of parishes, at least for the county they are transcribing?
I corrected one the other day where the place name was correct but it was most definitely in the wrong county. I did google it just to make sure and yep.
-
One day soon they will get computers to perform transcribing. They will probably be more accurate than human transcribers.
I believe this already happens.
Annie
I don't know why it is, but numerous "electronic transcriptions" I have tried to read on say, old newspaper records on Trove, FindMyPast etc, can be difficult to understand, but fortunately there is also an image of the actual page!
-
I had the surname West thranscribed as Resh, took ages to find that one. But the worst by far was
Mary Hunter, that had been transcribed as Stumbles , took years to unravel it, we had to pull the original documents and then we could see it wasn't Stumbles at all ,but Hunter, haven't got a clue how they could have got that so wrong.
-
One day soon they will get computers to perform transcribing. They will probably be more accurate than human transcribers.
Not read any further posts on this thread but this is already happening....computer generated transcriptions which has been mentioned previously on RC.
Annie
-
Jemima Crumpler transcribed as Fanina Oompler.
;D ;D.....I doubt anyone would have found that with the "variants" option either ???
Annie
-
I think I found her via her husband Thomas, at least that was transcribed correctly!
I've just found a Mary transcribed as Wavy on FindMyPast.
Betty
Jemima Crumpler transcribed as Fanina Oompler.
;D ;D.....I doubt anyone would have found that with the "variants" option either ???
Annie
-
I was looking for a birth earlier on the Anc BMD's and dismissed one from Stroud, Gloucestershire but I couldn't find what I was looking for in Kent. So I opened up the Stroud one to find somebody had corrected it to Strood, Kent 10 months ago and it still hasn't been amended.
No wonder we can't find people at times!!
-
I was looking for a birth earlier on the Anc BMD's and dismissed one from Stroud, Gloucestershire but I couldn't find what I was looking for in Kent. So I opened up the Stroud one to find somebody had corrected it to Strood, Kent 10 months ago and it still hasn't been amended.
No wonder we can't find people at times!!
Ancestry don't change their transcription errors,they just add a suggested amendments to the record.
-
I was looking for a birth earlier on the Anc BMD's and dismissed one from Stroud, Gloucestershire but I couldn't find what I was looking for in Kent. So I opened up the Stroud one to find somebody had corrected it to Strood, Kent 10 months ago and it still hasn't been amended.
No wonder we can't find people at times!!
Ancestry don't change their transcription errors,they just add a suggested amendments to the record.
Really?!! Even when they have the whole place name wrong!!! :o
-
I'll need to go and check if there are still examples of Birmingham, West riding, Yorkshire on Ancestry.
-
I'll need to go and check if there are still examples of Birmingham, West riding, Yorkshire on Ancestry.
As I understand it, if there was before, then they'll still be there.
What you really want to check is: for a record that someone has added a correction to Warwickshire, that it is picked up by a search with Warwickshire as an exact keyword.
-
Here's one I turned up today, indexed by FamilySearch as LAYLUTORE. The correct surname is pretty clear to me, but it's also clear that no amount of soundex or look-alike would ever find it in the index. Answers on a postcard please ....
-
Starts with "S", ends with "ton" and is nine letters long, so that is an 'e' before the 'ton'
S - - - - eton
Agh .... that's an 'l' before the 'e'
S - - -leton
Agh and that's an 'ing' after the S
If pressed to transcribe I would actually decline and set it aside and have a team effort.
But after some considerations over several days of leaving the print of the image on my desk, I have come to the conclusion that the surname "Singleton" is a better transcription than Laylutore.
I suppose a fair way to check would be to seek out a likely civil registration, either via http://www.lancashirebmd.org.uk/births.php or https://www.freebmd.org.uk/
Postage rates in Australia are on the increase, and no postcards handy.
NO, I am probably wrong. Here is the familysearch index (from December 2014) for Thomas Henry SINGLETON's baptism
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JQCD-YR2
JM
-
If this was the first entry being transcribed in a session, then maybe I might have made the same mistake.
However, if I'd done a couple of pages in the same handwriting, Singleton would be the choice.
Even with the small sample we have, the capital S is a decent match for the one on the end of the street name, there is a dot (some distance) above the I, the vowel just before the -ton is a decent match for the one in Russel (though it also matches the u !).
-
Well done. I have the advantage of seeing many pages in this cleric's handwriting, and to me Singleton is pretty clear. He had the annoying habit of using two forms of 'e', the common one and the 'Greek epsilon' of which there are three examples here. That alone should help to identify the name (which is confirmed on FreeBMD), along with the capital S. That is why the Laylutore is so awful - the transcriber seems to have made no attempt to deduce anything.
-
One of my families are found on the 1911 census in Montreal.
The original in quite clear yet every one of the 4 people in the household have their place of birth mistranscribed.
New Zealand transcribed as New Ireland
England transcribed as Ireland
Scotland/Ecosse transcribed as Nova Scotia
-
Here's one I turned up today, indexed by FamilySearch as LAYLUTORE. The correct surname is pretty clear to me, but it's also clear that no amount of soundex or look-alike would ever find it in the index. Answers on a postcard please ....
Slightly tongue in cheek, as I have now read entire thread but.....
After I had read the thread that far, I sat with my husband to mull over this conundrum.
We laid out the EIGHT letters, hangman style, and filled in the more obvious before cudgelling our brains over the others.
_ _ ybilo _
Definitely a dot above supposed i.
Definitely no crossing of upstroke, so decided L not T.
Last letter could easily be w,n,m.
Eventually concluded "Swybilow" or perhaps Swybilom or Swybilon. :P
But "never in a million years" Singleton!!!!!!!! :-[
-
No way would I have said that started with an S,to me it read as LUYLULOW ;D
-
The S is similar to the S after the word Russell as in 26 Russell S(treet.) :)
There is a stroke as though to cross the t to the left of the t.
Transcribing is usually a relaxing time, but sometimes it needs a load of time to come together. When the tricky word starts to appear it will fully reveal itself in a rush. But, yes, having the benefit of pages of the one hand, and knowing the particular archive resource being transcribed is a significant benefit.
I am not familiar with the clergy's hand, but I am familiar with transcribing parish registers from the mid 1800s that are extant the New South Wales Anglican archives, so you get used to reading a particular person's handwriting. I am sure Andrew would have similar experiences with the UK ones.
JM
-
Definitely no crossing of upstroke, so decided L not T.
Last letter could easily be w,n,m.
Eventually concluded "Swybilow" or perhaps Swybilom or Swybilon. :P
But "never in a million years" Singleton!!!!!!!! :-[
Yes, Swybilow would look very like the name written here. The clues are (a) the capital S in Russel S, (b) the 'epsilon' e and uncrossed t in Elizabeth (you will have interpreted that correctly ? ;)) and the dot floating high above the i .
But as I said above, it helps a lot to have read dozens of other names from this chap (George Rudd). Also it wasn't quite the first Singleton in the register ... :D
-
Yes, Swybilow would look very like the name written here. The clues are (a) the capital S in Russel S, (b) the 'epsilon' e and uncrossed t in Elizabeth (you will have interpreted that correctly ? ;)) and the dot floating high above the i .
But as I said above, it helps a lot to have read dozens of other names from this chap (George Rudd). Also it wasn't quite the first Singleton in the register ... :D
Uncrossed T in Elizabeth, darn it..... yes ofcourse.... BUT look at the B in Elizabeth.....
-
I think I may have posted this one in another thread re oddest names we have found, but this one I found interesting.
It was was the Christian name of Banfree, in a Canadian census, when I was looking for her parents. I thought what a strange name, but on looking at the image the name was Winifred!
So much for all the trees on Ancestry that have her as Banfree, obviously hadn't looked at the source document!
-
Somerset records on Anc just released have a George Coombs wed a Sexcy Williams in 1816 in Weare lol.
Scrap that, just viewed the original, the original does seem to say "Sexcy".
-
Somerset records on Anc just released have a George Coombs wed a Sexcy Williams in 1816 in Weare
There is a very respectable school somewhere in the West Country (I forget where - just checked, it's in Bruton) named Sexey's. I do wonder what the pupils make of it, and how much backchat they suffer.
-
I've had a look at that marriage record it certainly looks like Sexcy to me, the witness looks to be called 'Sexa Williams' unless I'm mistaken.
:)
-
Some parishes in census transcriptions have been mistranscribed such as 1841 for Suffolk village of Hacheston put down as Hackeston. And Fakenham Magna in Suffolk is in Thetford district, which is mainly in Norfolk, seems some districts did cover more than one county, and the 1851 census says Fakenham, Norfolk, but it is Fakenham in north Suffolk. There is the north Norfolk town of Fakenham, 20 miles north of Thetford.
-
My favourite is the 1911 for my Richard William Baxter Gardner, he is transcribed as Reta Haidee Bailee Gadwa. Admittedly Baxter may not be an expected name, and the handwriting isn't great, but his signature is much clearer and could have given clues to the transcriber if they'd looked! Took me a LONG time to find him :D
-
Alimor transcribed where it reads Ellinor
-
The unchallenged champion Worst Ancestry Transcription Ever can be found in the collection All London, England, Freedom of the City Admission Papers, 1681-1925.
Search for Rock Doffethor.
-
The unchallenged champion Worst Ancestry Transcription Ever can be found in the collection All London, England, Freedom of the City Admission Papers, 1681-1925.
Search for Rock Doffethor.
You win the whole internet with that one! ;D
-
Humbly, Andrew, I have to give all the credit to the transcriber.
-
My ancestors came from Huntingdonshire, Hunts for short, however more than once I have come across the transcript giving "Hants". Only one letter, but it makes a lot of difference when you are searching records.
-
I have been given the runaround with a mistake like that...My Great Grandmother was born Salford, Lancs...transcribed in 1901 as born in Alford, Lincs. Just two letters out but caused me years of searching in the wrong place ::)
Carol
-
My favourite is the 1911 for my Richard William Baxter Gardner, he is transcribed as Reta Haidee Bailee Gadwa.
That is quite spectacular!
I'm glad that my ancestors generally lived in small towns because on occasions I've been reduced to looking through pages and pages of original images of census records in order to find them. My Thomas Milburn was found as Thomase Millison living with his father John Milliron (sigh) and the absence of my Joseph Carter and family was eventually explained by virtue of their surname being mistranscribed as Liota...
-
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D...That's a shocker :o
Carol
-
But after some considerations over several days of leaving the print of the image on my desk, I have come to the conclusion that the surname "Singleton" is a better transcription than Laylutore.
I read that one as Singleton straight away but an hour previously I had been looking at my gg aunt's details and her married name was Singleton. I am not sure if I would have read it that promptly if I had come to it cold.
The only glaring transcription error that has given me problems was my own reading of an 1841 census on microfiche in pre internet days. Again I was expecting to see the name and the person was of the right occupation and right age. It was only when I realised that Ancestry had read the name differently that I rechecked and found my error. Luckily it only moved the brick wall forward by one generation.
-
My favourite is the 1911 for my Richard William Baxter Gardner, he is transcribed as Reta Haidee Bailee Gadwa.
That is quite spectacular!
I'm glad that my ancestors generally lived in small towns because on occasions I've been reduced to looking through pages and pages of original images of census records in order to find them. My Thomas Milburn was found as Thomase Millison living with his father John Milliron (sigh) and the absence of my Joseph Carter and family was eventually explained by virtue of their surname being mistranscribed as Liota...
Ayashi, that is exactly the reason I eventually found him, he lived at Sunderland Point which thankfully only contains a handful of houses so I trawled through each page!
-
Jemima Crumpler transcribed as Fanina Oompler.
This has to be my favourite. :)
-
Some beauties here - Wales 1851 at Aberystruth, Monmouthshire.
W S Bullard, born Corenhouse - actually William Ballard b Crickhowell
Iza Bullard, actually John Ballard
Mary Anna J Smert, born Frooper, Somerset - actually Mary Ann Sweet b Frome
Took me a while to find them!
Judith
-
Generally speaking, it does make you wonder if the method used for transcribing some records (and I'm not saying this is how it's done in these cases) is by recording people reading text, and then using speech-to-text software to 'transcribe' it. Some examples sound as if it's the syllable sounds that are transcribed possibly? It may be a really effective method a lot of the time but come with the errors that we see at times? Just a thought, that's all.
-
That sounds very feasible Trystan. :)
Also people unfamiliar with old style writing misinterpret letters, & then transcribers in foreign countries transcribing the census. ::)
Yvonne
-
The unchallenged champion Worst Ancestry Transcription Ever can be found in the collection All London, England, Freedom of the City Admission Papers, 1681-1925.
Search for Rock Doffethor.
I should like to propose another contender for this award, from the same database.
Search for Wilhout Any.
-
Certainly a solid contender, Bookbox.
I think Rock Doffethor shades it for creativity and I will always admire the way the transcriber simply discarded all the letters which didn't fit his theory.
However, Wilhout Any (and the whole Any family*) wins points for sheer bloody-minded refusal to consider meaning as a useful adjunct to transcription.
* I see the Any family were prolific suppliers of Freemen to the City.
-
Familysearch have some good ones too. My Great great grandfather Staffurth Clarke was transcribed as Huffenth o children's baptisms. Family search have I think a correct version now as well
-
How about this one -
"The Tmdon Boock" in the new Deddington burials. Reality is The Widow Crockford!
-
An interesting one on an emigration record from London to Sydney calling at a place Marsouffles, reasonably clearly it should be Marseilles. isk
-
Some beauties here - Wales 1851 at Aberystruth, Monmouthshire.
W S Bullard, born Corenhouse - actually William Ballard b Crickhowell
Iza Bullard, actually John Ballard
Mary Anna J Smert, born Frooper, Somerset - actually Mary Ann Sweet b Frome
Without prior knowledge, I'd have trouble agreeing with much of what you say are the correct transcriptions.
-
Hi Geoff-E
Yes, I do have other records which show that my transcription is correct. The image shows appalling handwriting by the enumerator and is heavily scored and blotted. With the information I already had I could make out that the image does have the correct names etc - just very difficult to read and I can see how the mistakes have been made.
Took me a long time to find it though!
HO107/2447/415 p 18
A fascinating thread!
Judith
-
The "Long S" usually foxes the more inexperienced transcriber - Rufsell for Russell etc - but is understandable, as are, indeed, many transcription errors.
My biggest bugbear is that unwillingness of major sites to admitted transcriptions were wrong in the first place and keep the entries indexed under the original transcriptions, even when they are clearly wrong. The sites' users have gone to much trouble to bother sending in corrections and can provide "chapter and verse" as to why corrections are necessary.
They might suggest there is an alternative - but why not get rid of the totally misleading version?
Some of the sites are also unwilling to accept the version provided by the transcriber. I volunteered to transcribe for one site and was given "modern" registers of marriage - those where the brides' and grooms' surnames appear not only in the box completed by the registrar, but also as their own signatures. I looked at both (and also the registrars' entry of the fathers' names) and my transcriptions were "bounced" if I chose their own signatures (often very clear signatures) over the scrawl of the registrar which could be interpreted differently.
-
Absolutely agreeing with you, seigebatteries. It's extra annoying when it's the first letter of a name which has been mistranscribed. Perhaps it's the good old $$ and the corrections sent in happen automatically but it would take a human to change the original.
Judith
-
They might suggest there is an alternative - but why not get rid of the totally misleading version?
It's because of a slavish and rigid refusal to relax the rule of Type What You See, even when it should be clear to all what the correct version is. A common explanation is that transcribing has been done by those unfamiliar with the language or the handwriting. Some sites do accept submitted alternatives, but retain the incorrect version, perhaps to 'keep a handle' on it.
-
I was always under the impression that most if not all of the census on ancestry had been transcribed by word recognition software (not sure if that's exactly what you call it). That's why whoever/whatever did the transcription doesn't actually KNOW that Fanny Arbuckle aged 6 can't be a grandmother!
One day soon they will get computers to perform transcribing. They will probably be more accurate than human transcribers.
Not read any further posts on this thread but this is already happening....computer generated transcriptions which has been mentioned previously on RC.
Annie
-
That's why whoever/whatever did the transcription doesn't actually KNOW that Fanny Arbuckle aged 6 can't be a grandmother!
Humans can't be trusted to spot the impossibility of 6-year-old grandmothers; 60-year-old new mums; or multiple births spread over three or four months. You can tell that by the number of trees with these absurdities on Ancestry - often the result of blind acceptance of poor transcriptions but more often the result of wishful thinking.
-
Perewae James Martin on the 1891 census in London. Perhaps it was transcribed in New Zealand?
It looks like Percival to me.
-
Perewae James Martin on the 1891 census in London. Perhaps it was transcribed in New Zealand?
It looks like Percival to me.
One of the Northamptonshire parishes must have been done by a Spanish speaker - the Thomas's were transcribed as Gomez!
-
It's because of a slavish and rigid refusal to relax the rule of Type What You See, even when it should be clear to all what the correct version is. A common explanation is that transcribing has been done by those unfamiliar with the language or the handwriting.
One of my pet hates is when the transcriber guesses at the letter without engaging the brain, such as the family transcribed as "Leddon" rather than "Seddon", even though the capital letter matched exactly the one at the start of "Son".
And don't get me started on about the long "s" !
-
Someone may have said this before. If so sorry.
I'm not a computer whiz BUT
One can not use OCR for handwriting I think.
The reason OCR works for print is straight lines,
even letter spacing,
standard characters to recognise etc.
If one observes TROVE NLA's Aust newspapers
then WHEN:
Fancy characters are introduced it often gets it wrong
If the tracking device runs crocked [correction crooked] then several lines can be mucked up,
if it stops short then part or full lines are lost.
The great beauty with NLAs newspapers is
the fact all can view
and no private companies are involved
BUT also many wonderful Aussies
are correcting the transcription as they go.
If someone gets it wrong
next person corrects it.
Though it would be rather nice if they did
an automatic correction
of "tbe" to "the"
Regards and thank you
phenolphthalein
[Hopefully this is how one is supposed to correct]
-
......
Regards and thank you
phenolphthalein
Phenol - I am trying to work out whether your post is meant to be read as a poem ? If not, why ?
I agree about the OCR.
-
I recently discovered a three year old boy transcribed as Gotobed.
It still amuses me. With four sons aged one to six, I can imagine that being said with a stern voice. He may have been Gordon.
-
Why would he not be Gotobed? It is an accepted surname, certainly in England, and we all know that our ancestors used surnames as forenames - derived from "the son of Godbert"
-
......
Regards and thank you
phenolphthalein
Phenol - I am trying to work out whether your post is meant to be read as a poem ? If not, why ?
I agree about the OCR.
Yes isn't TROVE lovely.
First here is a Tydeman for you (I wasn't looking for it)
• The Biz (Fairfield, NSW : 1928 - 1972)
• Wed 21 Feb 1962
• Page 8
Secondly thank you for your comment I wasn't aiming to be poetic
More a shopping list. Ill and headachy. Trying hard to be understood and not beaten up.
Getting very very edgy.
Principal said to me about me there were too many illiterate scientists in the world.
Failed almost every poetry essay I ever wrote. Thankfully passed the one that mattered.
God bless John Donne.
I do keep mis-stepping.
HOWEVER, I will try to be FUNNY and poetic below
Kind sir I must apologise
You see I have some problems with my eyes
New methods I must now devise
And my layouts I must revise
So that we all may harmonize
To gain others trust
Just
Cross t's and dot all i's I must
Must
Regards and thank you
phenolphthalein
-
Hello,
Luckily I had viewed this 1871 Census at my local library before I saw the A*try transcription or I would have been completely stumped at this occupation, "Meshemse At Shonnerg Hill Wood Pabbian" - Mechanic At Spinning Mill And Publican.
Regards, Dod.
-
Hello,
Luckily I had viewed this 1871 Census at my local library before I saw the A*try transcription or I would have been completely stumped at this occupation, "Meshemse At Shonnerg Hill Wood Pabbian" - Mechanic At Spinning Mill And Publican.
Regards, Dod.
Now that has to be an OCR attempt?
-
Not the worst- but far from the best: 1841 census,Middlesex, the Garrett family appear to have kidnapped 1 week old "Kat Maund." Close inspection of the original reveal that the infant was, in fact "Not Named." ???
-
The highlighted bit of this scrawl was transcribed as "grandson" but a quick look at the ages of the household shows this to be impossible. Judging by a capital "J" lower down the page, I've taken this to be "Journeyman"
-
The highlighted bit of this scrawl was transcribed as "grandson" but a quick look at the ages of the household shows this to be impossible. Judging by a capital "J" lower down the page, I've taken this to be "Journeyman"
Whatever it is, I can't make it into any logical name for a relationship to a head of household. It looks more like Forreyner (=foreigner?) to me ....
-
As both head of household and this person are listed as shoeing smiths
then this person is indeed a journeyman (day labourer or short term labourer)
staying overnight with his employer.
Congratulations on reading this at all.
phenolphthalein
-
I made good use of the recent free weekend on Ancestry, & as well as the usual nonsense (Kent Lunalie Asqlum for Kent Lunatic Asylum) I found the surname TOOKIE transcribed as FOOKIE.
-
This is too easy and we could go on for ever!
I found one just now:- 1871 census- place of birth Thishine Cornwall- which is of course Flushing Cornwall. ::)
While I can sort of see it, assuming you expect to find a loop on the final e, and you haven't noticed the consistent handwriting style throughout the whole page,surely you'd refer to a map if the place name seemed odd?
Free Reg and FreeBMD are transcribed by volunteers- have far fewer errors and put a query mark if they are unsure their transcription is correct.
-
NOT an Ancestry transcription error BUT two of their time
Port Macquarie recorded as Port Mercury on an 1880-1890's death certificate.
Also Lylie's enrolment for 1903 NSW electoral roll misprinted as Sybil.
Did she get to vote? Hopefully booth had handwritten version.
Try it in copperplate.
phenolphthalein
-
I don't know if it was intended as a joke, but I once read in one of the genealogy magazines that many of the transcriptions on Ancestry have been carried out by Chinese transcribers. They are supposedly much better at character recognition than western people are!
-
Not really wrongly transcribed but made me laugh. I was looking for a burial of a Mr Head and found on Anc* NC registers for Bristol.
Mrs Parsley Head
It was as it said, although it was Mrs Parsley, 'to head & foot stones emitted in due time'
:)
-
Transcription of the 1901 census -
Charles Hendrie 16 - "Apprentice Moron"
I just had to look at the original which very clearly shows Apprentice Mason
-
The unchallenged champion Worst Ancestry Transcription Ever can be found in the collection All London, England, Freedom of the City Admission Papers, 1681-1925.
Search for Rock Doffethor.
You win the whole internet with that one! ;D
That's a clanger and a half ! :) how embarrassing - I assume there was no team effort checking that transcription.
JM
-
Shocked to find this error while searching all male births, early 1800s in Leslie, Fife. Try searching 1871 Scotland Census for Andrew C*nt. Age 67. Born about 1804 at Leslie, (transcribed as Lestin) Fife, Scotland & living in Glasgow Barony, Lanarkshire, Scotland.
Made me use John McEnroe's well known phrase!
(Obviously transcribed, not just by an Apprentice Moron, but a fully fledged MASTER MORON!)
Regards, Dod.
P.S. Surname is Cant on 1851, 1861 & 1881 Census.
-
Dod,
I recognised which surname with C*nt (living in Fife & have come across it) however, be thankful they didn't get that surname wrong!
This thread must give people a good laugh.
Annie
-
Hello Annie,
That's the point, A*try did get it wrong on the 1871 Census. I'd get kicked off this site if I say what they transcribed the surname Cant as!
Do you think the 1871 Scotland Census Returns seem to have far more transcription errors than other years? Maybe they used the OCR system mentioned in an earlier post.
Regards, Dod.
-
I struggled for ages looking for a family called Ballantyne. Would you believe Lazzartyre?
-
I struggled for ages looking for a family called Ballantyne. Would you believe Lazzartyre?
LOL was the handwriting very bad? I have Ballantynes too.
-
So do I- on the wife's side
-
LOL was the handwriting very bad? I have Ballantynes too.
It was pretty bad!
I erred in fact - confused two different families - the 'Lazzartyres' were Bannatyne not Ballantyne. But I do have some Ballantynes, in East Kilbride.
-
My favourite is the 1911 for my Richard William Baxter Gardner, he is transcribed as Reta Haidee Bailee Gadwa.
That is quite spectacular!
Incredible to say the least....I wonder what language their OCR machine was set on ??? ::) ;D ;D
I think that one beats Rock Doffethor myself :P
Annie
-
I have one, not exactly a transcription error.
6th on list....EDIT....My g g/mother
Surname was Donoughue in any variation (I have about a dozen) but this one had me beat for an age in my early days.
Don't know who wrote it but it certainly shows nothing like the surname it should be.
Annie
Added Doorhouse & to be honest the reason I actually decided to look at it was because I couldn't believe anyone could have such a surname ::)
-
I am intrigued by the Brush and Mop Manufactory Offices Warehouse!
-
I am intrigued by the Brush and Mop Manufactory Offices Warehouse!
Forfarian,
That was unoccupied.
Address my family are at is Pilgrim St, 8 Fosters Court
My 3 x g g/father was a Brush Maker so probably worked for that company?
Class: RG11 Piece 5062 Folio 90 Page 30
Annie
-
My favourite is the 1911 for my Richard William Baxter Gardner, he is transcribed as Reta Haidee Bailee Gadwa.
That is quite spectacular!
Incredible to say the least....I wonder what language their OCR machine was set on ??? ::) ;D ;D
I think that one beats Rock Doffethor myself :P
Annie
Annie, I have to say 'Indian Call Centre' sprang to mind!
-
I used to be a transcriber, and unless you have actualy done it you dont realise how hard on the eyes it can be as some of the records are a total mess and very hard to transcribe, I done it for 4 years but I had to give it up because of the strain to my eye s, I think people who do this job and may I say most of them are volunteers as was I are doing the very best they can do and have helped so many people with their research
-
I used to be a transcriber, and unless you have actualy done it you dont realise how hard on the eyes it can be as some of the records are a total mess and very hard to transcribe, I done it for 4 years but I had to give it up because of the strain to my eye s, I think people who do this job and may I say most of them are volunteers as was I are doing the very best they can do and have helped so many people with their research
Rayel, I certainly had no intention to cause offence. I think the transcribers on the whole do a marvellous job, which is clearly extremely difficult at times. However, there are times when transcriptions bear so little resemblance to the original that one has to wonder what was going through the transcribers mind! I have attached the original of my ancestor's census return for comparison purposes.
I have attached an image of my ancestor's census
-
The N in Gardner does resemble a U which does make things difficult
-
Agreed, but Reta Haidee Bailee Gadwa? :)
-
The bottom name does look like Emily to me
-
I think it has to have been an OCR transcription otherwise "should have gone to specsavers" ::)
Annie
-
George Howson died in 1879 in Belleville Ontario, Canada he was about 80 years old and born in England. The death certificate was transcribed as Genya Snorton. Just to add to the mystery the certificate information was incorrect and stated he was aged 0 and born in Belleville Ontario.
JJJ2
-
George Howson died in 1879 in Belleville Ontario, Canada he was about 80 years old and born in England. The death certificate was transcribed as Genya Snorton. Just to add to the mystery the certificate information was incorrect and stated he was aged 0 and born in Belleville Ontario.
Maybe changed his name ;D
Death certs. can be a hit or a miss depending on who registered the death.
I don't think that people are actually given crucial information as to what info. is actually required (if known), when registering a death.
I don't recall being told what info. would be required when issued with the Hospital info. when my mother passed away in 1984?
I only realised what was needed when I went to the Registry Office.
Luckily my aunt (mum's sis) was with me & could give details I didn't know (I was only 23 yrs old & didn't know her mother's maiden name)!!
Annie
-
George Howson died in 1879 in Belleville Ontario, Canada he was about 80 years old and born in England. The death certificate was transcribed as Genya Snorton. Just to add to the mystery the certificate information was incorrect and stated he was aged 0 and born in Belleville Ontario.
JJJ2
This is probably a dumb question but if his name, age and place of birth were all wrong, how do you know he's your guy?
-
Presumably they ordered the certificate?
-
George Howson died in 1879 in Belleville Ontario, Canada he was about 80 years old and born in England. The death certificate was transcribed as Genya Snorton. Just to add to the mystery the certificate information was incorrect and stated he was aged 0 and born in Belleville Ontario.
This is probably a dumb question but if his name, age and place of birth were all wrong, how do you know he's your guy?
I agree Ayashi,
Having read over the post again, and being on a certificate does raise a ?
I initially thought it was a transcription from a site!
Annie
-
From reading this, it does seem the transcription from "Fancestry" was the problem;
https://mymeehanfamily.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/trials-and-tribulations-of-researching.html
Annie
-
Geschwender for Mainwaring in the 1891 census, maybe they were drunk.
-
About four years ago I completed a spreadsheet of all the people living on three adjoining farms in highland Scotland from 1841 to 1891. There were 24 heads of families and a total of 124 people in 1841. This gradually decreased to 6 heads and 33 people in 1891.
This is from the notes I did after the exercise:
“Survey results were obtained from Ancestry.com Census transcriptions by putting two items only into the search: ‘Shian’ and the year, and then following through by searching the people revealed.
“At least one transcription error was evident in greater than 50% of households. Placenames are the most frequent error, followed by people’s names, then ages; however ages is the most problematical because while names can often be deciphered, an incorrect age needs at least two other sources to find the most probable correct age and to identify the correct person.”
Peter
-
George Howson died in 1879 in Belleville Ontario, Canada he was about 80 years old and born in England. The death certificate was transcribed as Genya Snorton. Just to add to the mystery the certificate information was incorrect and stated he was aged 0 and born in Belleville Ontario.
JJJ2
This is probably a dumb question but if his name, age and place of birth were all wrong, how do you know he's your guy?
I had found his burial record so I knew the date he was buried. I then searched the deaths for the death certificate, by going through page by page in the Hastings County, Ontario death register.
JJJ2
-
Joseph Rawlings transcribed as 'Forest Dowling', thankfully I knew the area he was likely to be in and with the help of some clever people found him.
-
Rees Dicks became "Bus Dicken" in 1901. Found him in the same house he was in in 1891.
-
Ancestry has uploaded some electoral rolls for Western Australia. These of course are NOT handwritten documents, but printed at the Government Printers. And so I share the following MIS-transcription from the 1934 Roll for Kalgoorlie, Subdivision of Mount Magnet, pg 11.
Delay Bmaabelb Mery Nerill (JM notes this is meant to be the elector’s name)
Mdrfle, tie Yalgee (JM notes this is meant to be the elector’s home address)
Bee (JM notes this is meant to be the elector’s occupation)
I clearly read this particular entry on the roll as :
610 Nevill, Daisy Elisabeth Mary, Melville, via Yalgee, home duties, F
(To be eligible to be enrolled on that roll in 1934, you needed to be resident, a British Subject, and aged 21 years or more …. , )
Daisy Elizabeth’s death is indexed at WA BDM for the year 1960. She was aged 69.
http://www.bdm.dotag.wa.gov.au/_apps/pioneersindex/default.aspx
To BEE or not to BEE, to DELAY or not to DELAY .... whether tis better to be Bmaabelb or to be Elisabeth or worse to be Mery and not Mary....
::) ::) ::)
JM
-
Found an old guy, well he wasn't always old but in my mind he is. he doesn't get married and stays as a lodger for over 30 years at the same place, on all of the census's he gives his place of birth as Londonderry Worcestershire, at first I didn't question it and just thought there is a small place there called Londonderry I have never heard of, but then I looked for it nothing. then in his final years he is in workhouse it is only then corrected crossed out to (Londonderry Ireland) but this was on the original . I thought this was quite sad really as he probably joked about coming form Londonderry Worcester.
-
I had the surname West thranscribed as Resh, took ages to find that one. But the worst by far was
Mary Hunter, that had been transcribed as Stumbles , took years to unravel it, we had to pull the original documents and then we could see it wasn't Stumbles at all ,but Hunter, haven't got a clue how they could have got that so wrong.
Whiskey and bad lighting 8)
-
I found my Snowball family in 1841 transcribed, not unreasonably considering the writing, as Turnbull on FindMyPast and as Smeaban on Ancestry. It all adds to the fun.
-
I've just found George Louis Mead transcribed as a "gentleman of private moans"...
Wonder what he was like to live with? ;D ;D
-
Lisa, at least he kept his moans private :)
-
I've just found George Louis Mead transcribed as a "gentleman of private moans"...
Wonder what he was like to live with? ;D ;D
Hilarious......maybe he had gagging placed on him :D
Carol
-
Another good one:
"Courmecial Isauller Big & Poulter Iron Prind Wood" the occupation of Stephen Geoye Warren - his wife is Mirnie Isabel ;D
Nearly missed the son's name Albert Herrery :D
Added: FindMyPast got only one word wrong! ;)
-
I had the surname West thranscribed as Resh, took ages to find that one. ...
That's a wonderful serendipitous word which somehow fits a clumsy effort at transcription. Just noticed it after several months ... :D
-
My great grandmother's surname was transcribed as "Kilondaway". I had to go through the baptisms records page by page to finally find her. The last name was very clearly written "Broadaway"
Some of these have given me a good chuckle today.
-
I noticed one man who was a DAIRYMAN in Renfrewshire, Scotland. Only his occupation was given as FAIRYMAN.
-
A 1901 census record eluded me until I found that Walter King had been mistranscribed as Walter Fanny! See attached screenshot.
The handwriting isn't that clear but how they managed to make "Fanny" out of it is hard to imagine, unless they were getting very bored; possibly a case of not knowing their fanny from their elbow ;-)
-
Not Ancestry, and possibly not the worst ....
On Familysearch, father of the bride (for her second wedding) James Quinn transcribed as James Ruinor.
If he wasn't deceased, you might think he had tried to stop the marriage.
(Finding this wasn't helped by the bride's first married name Killeen being transcribed as Killisn.)
-
Just come across one on FindMyPast. I was following one of their "success story" blog entries and looked for the 1861 entry mentioned.
I failed miserably until I omitted the given name from the search.
There was George Dealey, with his first name transcribed as "Buster". Only one letter right!
-
I failed miserably until I omitted the given name from the search.
There was George Dealey, with his first name transcribed as "Buster". Only one letter right!
I just took a look at that entry. How on earth anyone could see Buster there is beyond me ::)
-
Found one the other day
Father was transcribed as Casler
In fact this was an illegitimate birth and that was mother's name and it was really Easter.
Father's name was given at the end of the record
-
While looking for something else completely I found this little gem on Ancestry:
Boseobel Rilst Leonards Alxxle - Fairfield
which appears to be an address wrongly transcribed as a name :-X
-
That's bad and I have a couple also. In the 1921 census of Canada, my father (James Boyd McKinnon) became Royal Markusson. His grandmother (Mary Boyd) became Wang Bozel. Yikes.
-
Welcome to RootsChat Joannie Gardner ;D
The mind boggles at some of the errors in transcription that have been made and found
:)
-
The transcribers and indexers at Ancestry.con have a combined IQ of 40 at the most.
Sometimes I think those who submit trees are not much better.
Certainly in the USA the motto is "anything goes".
"Oh, look! There's a John Smith. He must be the one I'm missing."
-
That's bad and I have a couple also. In the 1921 census of Canada, my father (James Boyd McKinnon) became Royal Markusson. His grandmother (Mary Boyd) became Wang Bozel. Yikes.
;D Wang Bozel sounds like a villain from Flash Gordon.
@wee Hugh, I can understand why people make that mistake. I'm forever getting hints for English relatives from American sources. Sometimes Ancestry is quite persistent in this, providing hints again and again for an American namesake even though I've rejected a few. It's very easy to put a foot wrong if you are not paying attention. I suspect it's particularly tempting when you have a missing relative.
-
Another contender which made a search for the Jagger family in Chester in 1911 a little more challenging (correct names in brackets). Fortunately I was able to use a combination of John's forename and place of birth - Huddersfield - to aid my search.
26 Cherry Road Bouryton (Broughton)
John Henery Lassar 50 (John Henry Jagger or Jaggear)
Rachul Lassar 49 (Rachel Jagger)
John Nilly Lassar 24 (John Willy Jagger)
Thomas Henry Lassar 21 (Thomas Henry Jagger)
Albret Earnest Lassar 16 (Albert Ernest Jagger)
Eaed Redpis Flassear 11 (Cecil Redvers Jagger)
Repanal Arther Flassear 5 (Reginald Arthur Jagger)
Perhaps they were just taking the Mick out of the Jagger family?
Kevin now in Chester
-
;D ;D ;D ;D...I wouldn't have their job for a gold watch. One of mine "Trunter's Assistant"...real job..."Fruiterer's Assistant"
Carol
-
Perhaps they were just taking the Mick out of the Jagger family?
"They" was John Henrey JAGGEAR who wrote and signed the form ...
(father of John Earnest, Ceciel Redfers and Reginal Arthur whose surname he appears to have spelt JJAGGEAR)
FindMyPast has them all as JAGGAR, but I can't see why. :-\
-
I had a Fisher wrongly transcribed as Plisher !!
-
In Family Search my ancestor William Frederick Layng is transcribed as William FREAK Layng in a couple of places. I complained to them about it but it seemed all too hard for them to correct it.
::)
-
Not exactly a transcription but --- I have Nevada Death Records 1911 - 1965 which contains a baptism at Toxteth Liverpool in 1865,
::)
-
I was researching a family in Bangor Caernarvonshire some time ago with no results. Finding this very odd as I hadn't had this trouble before for later records I tried just putting just Bangor and up came a whole host of results with Bangor, in the County of Anglesey. When I complained to this particular site and asked if this could be changed I was told that's how it had been transcribed when the records were purchased and that is how they would stay, but if I wanted to make an addition to each individual record I could. What a cheek :-\
-
Not exactly a transcription but --- I have Nevada Death Records 1911 - 1965 which contains a baptism at Toxteth Liverpool in 1865,
::)
If you contact Ancestry, I am sure they will remedy the error? After all you have the evidence from their records to support your application. ;D
-
Surely you know, BumbleB, in the USA the motto is "anything goes".
Those people don't give a damn about correct transcripts or indexing.
Never mind the quality, just feel the thickness.
-
Surely you know, BumbleB, in the USA the motto is "anything goes".
Those people don't give a damn about correct transcripts or indexing.
Never mind the quality, just feel the thickness.
Sorry, can't agree :'( I had a problem with parish entries on Ancestry.co.uk and it was fixed. The people I spoke to at Ancestry were very helpful. OK it took a little while, BUT it was fixed.
-
Searching for a burial with just a first name and a date range, I was offered 'Horace Jenn SOX'.
The image clearly shows 'Horace John FRY'. One out of three ain't bad I suppose ::)
Carol
-
A database of UK campaign medals has just been updated.
In there I find one of my distant cousins, James Donbavand, awarded a medal for his service in the Napoleonic Wars.
His regiment? The TANK CORPS ! And the medal was awarded in 1923 - 108 years after Waterloo.
-
Was he a time traveller ? ;D
-
Was he a time traveller ? ;D
I wouldn't have minded if it had been a long service award, but it was the General Service Medal.
-
Was he a time traveller ? ;D
I wouldn't have minded if it had
been a long service award, but it
was the General Service Medal.
;D ;D ;D
-
Forenames and surnames which have exotic sounding transcriptions such as Thirza mis transcribed as Shaina in the Oxfordshire Marriage Records. A distant rellie reported the error and corrected it.
-
Helen transcribed as "Mab K"
-
On FindMyPast 1911 - Henry Carpenter: a Stereod Gels Salesman...... Thought he must be selling new-fangled ointments....
but no -
Stewed Eels of course!
-
On the 1939 register I eventually found a maternal Gt Grandmother and relatives transcribed as 'Ticayle' rather than 'Quayle!'
-
Ancestry have Michael Maher in the 1901 Scotland census as a Labourer at
Brassibuslun.
Now I have no idea what this could possibly be, but FindMyPast have it as a perfectly reasonable Labourer at Bridge Building....
-
The 1841 Census has Jufant Norwamed aged 2 mo (plainly written "Infant Not Named") there are masses of Jufants, including Jufant Female Child and several records for Jufant schools. I presume they may have been the precursor of Montessori Schools. You can see how these mistakes arise though. I have had to spend ages typing this as every time I write Jufant the predictive text autocorrects to Mutant,lol.
-
Coal weaver instead of coal heaver or hewer. It may have been mentioned before. Must have been a skilled occupation.
-
Not only Ancestry......I have my 3x great grandfather's baptism from the National Archives, he is named as William Magitimate. On the baptism record from Lincs to the Past, he is William, illegitimate. :o
-
My son-in-law's distant ancestor George Bdrzggs was born in Robingwoods Bay, according to the 1901 index. Not one of the 8 hints from Ancestry was an accurate transciption, though to be fair his father being recorded as Jothan Knaggs in 1851 was enumerator error.
-
And actually now I've transcribed it wrong; it was George Bzrdggs 😀
-
I was looking at a UK Census for my great grandparents and they weren't on the page that the image showed! The transcribed information listed page 20, but the image was page 21.
I couldn't figure out how to find the census that I could scroll through, so finally I did a search with no name filled in, just the same street name and a house number just before those I was looking for, and ta da!!! there was my family!
I wanted to look at the image, because sometimes there is more information than is transcribed.
-
If you use the back button it might take you back to the the right entry
-
Crozier (with a big loopy "z") transcribed as Quinn.
-
Not only Ancestry......I have my 3x great grandfather's baptism from the National Archives, he is named as William Magitimate. On the baptism record from Lincs to the Past, he is William, illegitimate. :o
That's a shocker but it made me laugh ;D
Some of mine are:
Caper - Capes
Boviel - Borrell
Bucknole - Bucknall
Place of birth Alford, Lincs.....should have been Salford, Lancs.
And Trunter's Assistant should have read Fruiterer's Assistant ;D
Carol
-
Looked like Teelops to me! Hector - heavens - how did you ever work it out
-
Ursula Clough daughter of Phillipe baptised 1605 Welford on Avon, transcribed as Birtnla Olongh daughter of Thilliye. :o While I accept that the "u" letters could be misread for "n", that really is a poor attempt at transcription.
-
My son-in-law's distant ancestor George Bdrzggs was born in Robingwoods Bay, according to the 1901 index. Not one of the 8 hints from Ancestry was an accurate transciption, though to be fair his father being recorded as Jothan Knaggs in 1851 was enumerator error.
Guessing the POB was actually Robin Hoods Bay (North Yorks) :)
-
Philip Burley transcribed as Builey isn't too bad.
His wife and children's surname transcribed as Burry is a bit odd given the above.
The winner here though is the wife's birthplace of Plympton transcribed as Phempler.
-
In the 1891 census my ancestor Hiram Horsfall, a gardener living in Bermondsey, was mistranscribed 'Horsface'.
Some bored transcriber's idea of a joke?
-
I wanted to look at the image, because sometimes there is more information than is transcribed.
As well as being more accurate.
I find some of the Scottish place names in particular to be way off & no way of being able to hazard a guess ::)
Annie
-
In the 1891 census my ancestor Hiram Horsfall, a gardener living in Bermondsey, was mistranscribed 'Horsface'.
Some bored transcriber's idea of a joke?
If I had to transcribe it. I would say it was HORSFACE. ;)
-
If I had to transcribe it. I would say it was HORSFACE. ;)
I tend to agree as the 'll's don't have a long upward stroke, the last 2 letters look different & neither looks like an 'l'
Annie
-
See what you mean, though perhaps common sense ought to have kicked in to question whether 'Horsface' was a likely surname. I know there are some outlandish names in existence, but ...
Hiram was the brother of my paternal grandmother's father. There is quite a story attached to one of Mr Horsface's daughters, too complex to repeat here.
-
Bet you'll always think of him as Mr Horsface now.
-
I get just as annoyed when they transcribed a GRO index - the clearly printed ones - Norma as Norman.
Just no excuse for that extra N in there
-
FindMyPast 1861 census - the Hardaf family - actually Wardell.
Poor Zachariah Wardell in 1851 was affectionately known as Qgackriah !!
-
My fave one is Pernella E Smell, born Phedge Naton, Oxfordshire. I did more digging and her name was Priscilla E Snell born Brize Norton.
-
I've spent ages looking for my 2 x g.g.aunt and her first husband, I think he died in 1853, but she had her 3rd child with him in 1851 so I assumed they would be on the 1851 census. Their surname was Bassingthwaighte. Eventually I found them on Ancestry transcribed as Bapingthwaight, so not too far out. I went to FindMyPast and copied the piece/folio/page numbers, a family came up named Wright ::)
Correct family but husband transcribed as George F Baping (all first names) and Wright as the surname with the rest of the family given the surname Wright. No wonder I couldn't find them when I was looking under every combination of a name beginning with B and FindMyPast which doesn't like searches with just first names gave them a surname beginning with W. I wonder how many other "lost" ancestors have been similarly mistranscribed?
-
1891 census. Surname Ruttledge. Transcribed as? Kattledgo.
-
Robert Baunatync...
Transcribed from a typed doc. Electoral Register from Register of Parliamentary Voters, Burgh of Glasgow, 1871 - 1873...
Is actually Robert Bannatyne (clear as day)
Annie
-
was just reminded of one I had forgotten
A family of Varnden all transcribed as Barricks
-
Not Ancestry unfortunately but I was just browsing through the British Newspaper Archive site for my local pub history. The Dolphin has been transcribed as the Bulimia!
-
Hi Mark :)
That would be an unfortunate choice of name for any catering establishment :o
I believe BNA use an OCR system rather than human transcribers, otherwise the project would be too slow and expensive. It's usually good with standard typefaces but does get confused by features like italics or curly/gothic/ornate print.
Carol
-
By no means the worst but in the typewritten GRO birth indexes a lady we know first name of Norma, somehow they found an extra 'n' which is not there for Norman
-
Not a transcript but a hearing error on one census by the enumerator had one tree I was doing for a Friend called Dixon, down as 'Distant. ' Fortunately they lived in the same area all their lives and had a fleet of children all the correct age to be at home all there in the right order and with the right places of birth. So a search using just Christian names eventually tracked them down.
-
Not a transcription but an entry next to a child that belonged to the second wife of one of my ancestors quote basted child of wife. Obviously he had strong feelings about this child all the others are listed as scholar except this poor girl aged 8. Sadly the wife died the following year and I can find no trace of the unfortunate daughter.
Regards Panda
-
Jemima Crumpler transcribed as Fanina Oompler.
Love this. Oompler is an amazing surname - very creative! Made me laugh. I had Edward Thomas written as Edward Alassa. The guy couldn't write very well, but at least was trying to sign for himself!
-
Because the databases are making searches harder to take on longer ...it can be a good idea to find some info elsewhere first. Especially when one needs a last name that is a first name. Family Search was usually pretty good, but lately there is a lot of garbage in, garbage out...
I have found this in other batch files before, & wonder if it the same person. Why did they bother doing this for free? Sabotage rather than help? Useless
a whole batch file is nothing but first names duplicated as last names...adding an "s" or whatever they felt like doing at the moment...SAINT ALKMUND, SHREWSBURY, First names also often sketchy so you know they're bad as well. Out of over 19,000 entries, this is a lot of errors...
Thomas John - father: John Lee
Ales Walkins - father: Walkin Yenn
Abraham Abraham - father: Abraham Phillips
Marther Adman - father: Admon Gitins
Hughe Harrys Rogers - father: Roger Harris
Margaret Oliver - father: Olifer Griffies
John Benge - father: Benj Powel
Hesketh Thomas - father: Thos Barrow
Samuell Isaac - father: Isaack Phillips
Samuel Edwards - father: Edward Allcoks
John Thomas -father: Thos Gadd
Not their fault but they should have just deleted it after it was reported, as it is all useless, unless only a mother listed. Maybe surnames Jane & Harriet didn't work for them.
-
Willheluraia Farbs on Anc 1891 England
Wilhelmina Forbes (clear as day)
Annie
-
This one's from Find My Past
Mary Cattell born in Preston Bagot. The birthplace was transcribed as Preston bay of war!
-
This one's from Find My Past
Mary Cattell born in Preston Bagot. The birthplace was transcribed as Preston bay of war!
Well there was a battle in Preston, Lancs. in 1716.
-
There's a thread on the Angus forum about a family whose spelling variants are mind-boggling
McAtasney 1865
McIntassney 1867
McIntusney 1869
McIntosh 1871
McIntasney 1871, 1873, 1876, 1901
Turney 1881
Tosney 1888
Toshney 1891, 1906
Tosmey 1901
I haven't seen all the originals so I can't say whether the variants are in the originals or just in the indexes/transcriptions. And I have not even attempted to look for them in A******y.
-
1871 Mary Woslerop - should be Westwick. Next line in household: John Leaman Woslerop - should be John Leonard Roe (Raw)
-
An announcement in the Belfast News-Letter gave the death of a relative of mine in Co. Londonderry. fAnciestree transcribed that as London, Englandderry.
Oh, and that issue of the newspaper was supposedly published six months before he died.
They should be forced by law to put a warning on every page:
"This web site can seriously damage the health of your family tree".
No direct connection, but I'd like to warn you about a person with user name 'madaboutgenealogy'. She claims to be a professional genealogist, but is just another who cobbles together a tree from that web site's moronic transcripts and index entries, without bothering to look at the images of the original documents or to check other sources. Just how mad can genealogy make one, I wonder?
-
I don't usually like to comment on these, conscious that some of my own transcriptions may be dodgy but cannot resist with this one who apparently was born in Sale, USA
Well.... the letters U S A do appear consecutively but ....
-
To me the word 'relict' conjures up an image of something discovered at the back of the fridge, probably already growing whiskers. It's an unfortunate word to use for a widow, yet anyone who has had anything to do with family history knows that that is what is meant when it appears in a death notice in an old newspaper.
For the transcribers and indexers at fAnciestree, however, "relict of XY" means he was her father. Let's keep incest in the family!
-
Can't blame Ancestry for this one I found this morning :-\
Found a death on Irish Genealogy site (Irish births, marriages, deaths) for an unknown daughter when searching for death of son I knew died before 1911 (both children died from scarletina a few days apart). So, next step was to search for birth of little Emily. She died in 1906 aged 4 so thought it should be 1901-1903. Nothing under 'Emily Ross' so tried 'Ross' then just 'Emily' and finally found he I in the index- Emily GORTFAD mother- MCUSSTER instead of Emily Ross mother McMaster!
Transcriber has put father's residence (Gortfad) as the surname and created a fairly unique surname for the mother-
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1902/01926/1745868.pdf
Sadly, the parents seem to have lost many of their children at birth or shortly after.
-
Sadly, the parents seem to have lost many of their children at birth or shortly after.
This is something we need to keep always in mind when reading statistics about "average life expectancy" in different ages.
"The average life expectancy was 45" does NOT mean that a man of 50 was "an old man", necessarily. If neonatal mortality rates are high, then this pulls down the all-population average life expectancy to a considerable degree ... but those who made it into double digits often lived to 70 or 80.
A much more useful metric than whole population average life expectancy is "average life expectancy at age 5", which strips out all the infant mortality and tells us what the rest could reasonably look forward to.
-
The winner here though is the wife's birthplace of Plympton transcribed as Phempler.
I think I can do FAR better than that.
I spent ages scouring Hampshire records for an ancestor whose place of birth was transcribed as "Southampton".
Eventually, in utter frustration I took a long, hard look at the original manuscript and asked myself "what else COULD it have been?". I came up with the possibility of "Som[erset] Taunton"
So I looked in Somerset ... and there she was!
-
I found a woman in London whose birthplace was Dorset, Middle Gagginge. :)
Again the enumerators probs never heard of these places if they were many miles away from where they lived and may have misheard, hence why census can give a parish that never existed. And if you look at the original, it says the same, or very near the same, but the transcription can still be funny.
One man gave "Kent, Maderlane" as his place of birth.
-
One man gave "Kent, Maderlane" as his place of birth.
I bet if you look at the image the original will clearly say "Maidstone".
Enumerators usually made a decent job of filling in their sheets (although some have terrible writing). One of mine, born in Brinscall, has his place of birth in one census recorded as "Brinscow", which is an excellent attempt at the local pronunciation.
There were exceptions. One of my ancestors, known as Bella Bullough, has her first name "corrected" in 1841 to "Isabella". She was actually "Arabella". In 1851 her first name is down as "Bellow", though I don't know how loud her voice was. ;D
Our main beef is with those modern transcribers, who don't make any attempt to get things right, and apparently have no incentive to do so.
-
One transcription says someone was born in "Suffolk, Duxmonday". I thought that must be Saxmundham.
-
I remember spending hours looking for my Great, Great, Great Grandfather on two censuses. He had never moved so could not understand why I could not find him. Eventually it turned out to be a transcription error on A....... Arblaster was transcribed as Sollander ;D
-
One man gave "Kent, Maderlane" as his place of birth.
There were exceptions. One of my ancestors, known as Bella Bullough, has her first name "corrected" in 1841 to "Isabella". She was actually "Arabella". In 1851 her first name is down as "Bellow", though I don't know how loud her voice was. ;D
Our main beef is with those modern transcribers,
Appropriate transcription since a bull bellows. ;D
Your post is heavy with bovine references! ;D
The name of Bullough family in my neighbourhood was pronounced "Bulla".
-
The name of Bullough family in my neighbourhood was pronounced "Bulla".
Yes, that's the usual pronunciation.
My lot were from the Westhoughton area, and the name seems to be most common there. One of the Bulloughs from Westhoughton, though I've not sorted out the link to mine, set up making mill machinery in Accrington, and bought the island of Rhum with the profits.
Dudley Pearson Bullough, the second owner of my car, came from Atherton; that branch made their money from making nuts and bolts.
Another one built up a chain of electrical retailers in the days when people rented TVs. Later they were taken over by Rumbelows - apparently an East Anglia surname, with only a single L, so nothing to do with Bella !
-
Middle Gagginge sounds like Middle Gussage, a parish near the Hampshire border of Dorset.
I still laugh at 1871 Liverpool resident Priscilla Snell of Brize Norton being transcribed as Pernella E Smell, born Phedge Naton, Oxfordshire.
The original does read Priscilla E Snell, born Pledge Naton, so similar to the transcription. I think the enumerator heard of Oxfordshire but probably not Brize Norton.
-
One day soon they will get computers to perform transcribing. They will probably be more accurate than human transcribers.
They've been trying for a long time with OCR, and that can only handle printed characters with any reasonable hope of success. Attempts at blurry Victorian newspapers are a joke sometimes, so I don't share your optimism - yet.
Im not sure they still do this, but Royal mail used to employ staff to do data entry for letters that couldnt be recognized by the system in place.
So a member of staff would sit there, get a letter onscreen, type out parts of the address that the system was failing to understand and then hit return. on Special occasions we would get a red box to draw around the address if the system couldnt detect the location of the address.
it was that tedious, I once fell asleep and woke up when i headbutted the monitor
-
I have even come across some obscene transcriptions on Ancestry before.
But imagine how mis-transcribed names like Kerrenhappuch and Marmaduke will be, or surnames like Smurthwaite, Bassinsgthwaighte or Bracegirdle will be.
-
Names have always been mis-spelled and mis-transcribed. That's how many surname variants appear.
When someone says their name "has always been spelled like that", you already know you will find otherwise.
In my One Name Study, a there's a gravestone for:
William Dunbabin... Also Martha his Wife.... Also John Dunbavand Son of the above
William Shakespeare's will, presumably written by someone who was literate, has his surname spelled three different ways. ;D
-
Having been a lawyer's clerk myself, in my [much] younger days ... it wouldn't surprise me if the clerk who prepared teh engrossment of the Bard's will was deliberately trying to see how many different spellings he could get away with without anyone noticing ... it can be a tediously dull calling, and you have to find your amusements where you can.
-
Came across this interesting translation the other day on Ancestry. Was looking for Edward Lloyd who married Ursula Salusbury in 1630. The transcriber somehow thought 'Ursley Sallsberye' looked like 'Custoy Sal'.
Makes her sound like some exotic dessert that Edward married.
You would think that these transcribers when the write their transcriptions would think "is that really a name?" and look it up.
-
Makes her sound like some exotic dessert that Edward married.
You would think that these transcribers when the write their transcriptions would think "is that really a name?" and look it up.
I'm sure she WAS very sweet ...
But transcribers have to transcribe what is ACTUALLY seen to be there, and not correct it to what they might know (or suspect) it OUGHT to be.
And therein lies the rub ... "seen to be". With some of the more, shall we say, exotic manuscripts, different people can see different things. A bit like those ink blot pictures, where you see a butterfly and I see the Isle of Mull ...
-
But transcribers have to transcribe what is ACTUALLY seen to be there, and not correct it to what they might know (or suspect) it OUGHT to be.
And therein lies the rub ... "seen to be". With some of the more, shall we say, exotic manuscripts, different people can see different things. A bit like those ink blot pictures, where you see a butterfly and I see the Isle of Mull ...
I wasnt suggesting at all that they interpret it and change the name that is there. What I was suggesting is that if they are struggling to read the text, they should think about the name they transcribe and make sure that the name makes sense. If it doesn't, they have a responsibility to look for a name that makes sense and compare it to the writing to see if it matches or at least look at words with similar letters on the same page to match it.
If they cannot do that or can't at least use a manuscript writing identifier which you can find on the web, then they shouldn't be transcribing. Whilst I appreciate having the registers searchable, there isn't much point if the transcription is so obscure that you can't find the person.
For example, attached is the entry in the register. Firstly, Ursley clearly looks like 'Ursley' and not 'Custoy' and secondly, they didn't even bother to actually finish the last name and simply wrote Sal instead of Sallsberye which is also clear as day.
Even matching letters on the same page would provide them with the correct transcription. The word 'unto', literally next to Ursley, has the 'u' which is identical to the 'u' in Ursley yet they transcribe it as a C? If the 'u' in unto looks like it does, why did they think the 'r' in Ursley was a 'u' when it looks nothing like the 'u' in unto but more like the 'r' in Edward (or even more closely to the 'r' in from) that they transcribed correctly?
So based on all the ways they can identify the correct letters in the script I'm afraid I disagree. Using the excuse that "they saw something different" is just a cop-out and can't be used as the justification here if common sense is used, for this particular instance anyway.
-
Point 1: Why doesn't someone submit an FOI to F/H companies to declare what "criteria" they have used in the past to employ somebody transcriber's?
Point 2: Is there a minimum requirement of C+ grade in (now), the King's English?
Don't let's forget back when, within 2 hours of the 1901 census going live, all manner of abusive language was found to have been used to apply to the occupations of police officers and prison staff.- allegedly but never denied because the task had been out-sourced to prisoners! How do we know now how qualified transcriber's were in the past? Too much secrecy and companies hiding behind 'commercial sensitivity'.
-
Transcribers - just to point out that FreeBMD transcribers are all named, although we are allowed to use "pet names" as we do on RootsChat, BUT we are all supervised by our particular Syndicate. If you have found a transcription error then it can be reported, and a request made for a correction. Assuming that we, the transcribers, agree that a mistake has been made, then a correction is carried out. BUT there again we have the easy option as there are no time limits, nor do we get paid. :)
I DO NOT have any information related to transcribers on Ancestry, FindMyPast, FS or any other body.
-
Point 1: Why doesn't someone submit an FOI to F/H companies to declare what "criteria" they have used in the past to employ somebody transcriber's?
Because a Freedom of Information Request would be quite rightly ignored by Commercial companies as they are not subject to it.
-
Because a Freedom of Information Request would be quite rightly ignored by Commercial companies as they are not subject to it.
Not if that request came from the National Archives or other archival places that release these documents to companies to transcribe. They could even make a standard that needs to be conformed to as part of the release.
What is even more odd is when those documents have already been transcribed to a free searchable database and yet Ancestry doesn't provide that information to the transcribers to help them. How better would the welsh wills or the PCC wills searching be on ancestry if those transcribers knew that if they are struggling with a transcription they can simply go to the National Library of Wales or TNA websites and search for those wills from there and confirm their transcriptions.
Ancestry is the worst offender in this issue as well with not just transcription errors, but entire lines or pages simply ignored by the transcribers. It wouldn't be such an issue if Ancestry made available ways to insert a line so as the missing lines can be added but they dont do this at all. Same goes for the ability to redefine whether the record is baptism, marriage or death.
As to who these companies use, I am sure they could find many family historians that would be willing to help for free (similar to how FS do theirs) that have at least a better knowledge of reading manuscripts and an interest to ensure that those transcriptions are as accurate as possible.
-
Not if that request came from the National Archives or other archival places that release these documents to companies to transcribe. They could even make a standard that needs to be conformed to as part of the release.
Such a "request" is entirely different from a FOI application and is in the area of Commercial Contract transactions. It is also impossible to guarantee its success as humans always make subjective decisions within the parameters set them and double checking every single transcription would inevitably a) increase the costs to the end users (us) and b) increase the time taken to release new datasets.
The problem is that as long as these commercial companies are profitable there is unlikely to be any changes in the way they operate their bottom line is to make money and if they can keep costs as low as possible they will continue to do so. It would need a massive rebellion by their subscribers to force any change even the most minor of alterations.
-
One of the most entertaining ones I had for struggling transcribers turned out not to be an ancestor after all and had to be pruned from my tree. But I'm guessing he was a Welshman - Ieuan Day.
The Northamptonshire clerks had great difficulty with that "Ieuan" ... and the transcribers even greater difficulty trying to make sense of what the Northamptonshire clerks had written.
I had "Hewin", "Hewen", "Hughin", "Hugin" ... and by FAR my favourite ... "[Heaven?]"
-
It is also impossible to guarantee its success as humans always make subjective decisions within the parameters set them and double checking every single transcription would inevitably a) increase the costs to the end users (us) and b) increase the time taken to release new datasets.
The problem is that as long as these commercial companies are profitable there is unlikely to be any changes in the way they operate their bottom line is to make money and if they can keep costs as low as possible they will continue to do so. It would need a massive rebellion by their subscribers to force any change even the most minor of alterations.
Yet, I would have thought that offering the transcription to volunteers would decrease commercial companies costs therefore increasing their profits. Why do they need to pay for transcribers when there would be plenty of family historians or others that would gladly offer the services for free anyway. As it stands now with the way transcriptions are on Ancestry, most users end up being the transcribers for free anyway.
FamilySearch has been doing this for years as has FreeREG, FreeBMD, FreeCEN, Family History Societies and other great websites with far greater accuracy and speed than what these commercial companies achieve by paying random people that have no knowledge of such documents.
-
Just going through some registers from the 1660s-90s on Ancestry, and my mind was boggling :o at how bad the transcriptions were, I think I was correcting about 80% of the entries. The person doing it had clearly had no training in understanding old handwriting, whoever was in charge of them, clearly did not care how accurate the transcriptions were, and provided no assistance, and also, clearly Ancestry also does not care how bad the transcriptions are, just that 'they are done'. There are many paleography courses free online, there is really no excuse for it other than greed and laziness on the part of Ancestry and the companies they emply to do it :-X.
-
Just going through some registers from the 1660s-90s on Ancestry, and my mind was boggling :o at how bad the transcriptions were, I think I was correcting about 80% of the entries. The person doing it had clearly had no training in understanding old handwriting, whoever was in charge of them, clearly did not care how accurate the transcriptions were, and provided no assistance, and also, clearly Ancestry also does not care how bad the transcriptions are, just that 'they are done'. There are many paleography courses free online, there is really no excuse for it other than greed and laziness on the part of Ancestry and the companies they emply to do it :-X.
I've always thought the best solution for transcribing would be for someone with a good knowledge of both area & general surnames, maps would assist too, as well as being able to read our language!
It seems the transcribing has either been done in other countries or by OCR.
Annie
-
I recently found a careless transcription.
The transcriber had recorded a male head of household, his wife and some children.
There was then a clear mark to indicate the start of the next household, which contained a female head of family and some children. The female was ‘married’ not ‘widowed’ and her occupation was ‘Mariner’s Wife’ (her husband presumably away at sea, as he appeared in the next census).
Even though the second household had totally different surnames clearly recorded, the transcriber had put both households together, so the female head of the second one was the wife of the first one (making two wives!)… and had given everyone in the second household the surname of the people in the first.
The people in the second household were people I had been looking out for and I came across them only by chance, when looking at information on a completely different family in the locality.
Every time I find myself saying ‘I can’t understand why I can’t find X when I’ve tried every spelling variation…’ I remember this example!
-
It really can be confusing when the wrong info has been written down. I spent a long time looking for my Great Grandmother who according to the 1901 census was born in Alford Lincs.
Finding no trace of her, I sent for the Marriage certificate...I was looking in the wrong area, she was born Salford Lancs
Carol
-
My former neighbor was born in the 1960s in Northumberland to a Norwegian mother whose maiden name was 'Østhagen'.
Ancestry, in their infinite wisdom, apparently have dropped the 'Ø' and rendered the whole thing as 'Simagen' ::)
-
I found the transcript in the Ancestry search engine for the baptism of my ancestor in 1779 in Bolney Sussex was listed as:-
Bolney, Glasgow, Sussex, England.
-
Can this really be a human transcribing ??? Marriage banns of St. Mark Victoria Park London, transcriptions up to 31st December, 1939, correct date. From then, we went to 1740 >:( :o
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/1623/images/47007_552340-00254
-
I've just had a quick browse of those Banns.
People seemed to be in a great rush to marry, and the clergymen seemed to be in a rush to get them to the altar. I notice one marriage at 2:15 on March 30th and the next listed at 2:30 the same day.
Was it the influence of wartime, or were they all worried about being transported back to the reign of George II ? ;D ;D
-
It's worth searching Ancestry for people with the surnames Ditto and Smallpox ::)
-
;D ;D
-
A recurring problem in my research is that transcribers clearly have no knowledge of Huntingdonshire as a county. Very often "Hunts" in a place of birth will be transcribed as "Hants" or in some cases "Herts".
In fact this is such a widespread problem that on FamilySearch the "Huntingdonshire Parish Registers" record set, which is clearly dedicated to that county only, has some of the place names indexed under Hampshire.
-
I've just had a quick browse of those Banns.
People seemed to be in a great rush to marry, and the clergymen seemed to be in a rush to get them to the altar. I notice one marriage at 2:15 on March 30th and the next listed at 2:30 the same day.
Was it the influence of wartime, or were they all worried about being transported back to the reign of George II ? ;D ;D
Interesting couple of things about this:
a 1944 American government pamphlet, I assume intended for officers rather than the ranks:
EM 30: Can War Marriages Be Made to Work? G.I. Roundtable Series
https://www.historians.org/about-aha-and-membership/aha-history-and-archives/gi-roundtable-series/pamphlets/em-30-can-war-marriages-be-made-to-work-(1944)
Some interesting points i.e. sometimes the motive may be financial (on both sides) i.e. a married woman will receive income and a pension if her husband dies, much more than would be given to an unmarried dependent and children by her. Sometimes it may be due to warning other men off, 'securing' a relationship, sometimes fraud was involved and there were cases where a woman took two soldiers income at once :o.
And the later inevitable cost of the rush
https://qz.com/1314011/the-unromantic-untold-story-of-the-great-us-divorce-spree-of-1946
And a National Archives page on a marriage between a corporal racing back from the front to marry his pregnant fiancé , and having to obtain a Faculty Office special licence, which was very expensive £29 5s 6d at the time, although he only paid £5 and the rest paid by the War Office (£5 stamp duty waived)
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/first-world-war/home-front-stories/love-and-war/
-
Also I have seen the odd occasion where Hertfordshire and Herefordshire has been mixed up.
-
I did some transcribing for Ancestry a couple of years ago and you were told to put what you saw and not what you thought it should be. If you did the latter you had to confirm that was you wanted to put and it would then have to be checked by another transcriber.
-
Yes, but that's no excuse for some of the idiocies that some transcribers put.
If an image of the original is available, I often see something much more plausible.
-
Yes, but that's no excuse for some of the idiocies that some transcribers put.
If an image of the original is available, I often see something much more plausible.
And me, also if you have local knowledge of the area or have ancestors from there and have clued yourself up on the local villages/towns.
-
I remember the original transcription of the 1881 census. We were asked to put an asterisk and make a note on the back of the sheet if there were doubtful entries. Most people were transcribing districts in their local FHS area. In a census district about 12 miles away from these names, I found two adjacent places of birth: Carcroft and Skyler. I was familiar with two adjacent villages: Carcroft and Skellow. Dialect!
-
Yes, but that's no excuse for some of the idiocies that some transcribers put.
If an image of the original is available, I often see something much more plausible.
Surely, transcribing a written record is open to interpretation. What about levels of experience / eyesight?
-
on a fur couch (Furlough) How about that one!!
and some surnames completely wrong
-
Tin man - NOOOOO - you have to transcribe exactly what you see. Interpretation should NOT enter into transcriptions of records.
-
Whenever I've transcribed records (not Ancestry), two people have had to transcribe the same record and if there was a discrepancy it was looked at again by other people. This way, there was a good chance that the eventual record transcription would be correct.
Lizzie
-
So a transcription is exactly what you see. So if for example, a transcriber came across the name SMITH spelt SMIFF, they would have to transcribe it as SMIFF?
-
So a transcription is exactly what you see. So if for example, a transcriber came across the name SMITH spelt SMIFF, they would have to transcribe it as SMIFF?
Yes.
And similarly if it says Wm you cannot put William.
-
Oh, i see.
What about a spoken transcription? When the enumerators were filling in the census in the 1900's, if they heard SMIFF they would surely have written SMITH? knowing that the illiterate householder just mis-pronounced their own surname?
-
Sorry, Tin man - Whatever is written is what it is - we can never know what the enumerator heard!!
-
Oh, i see.
What about a spoken transcription? When the enumerators were filling in the census in the 1900's, if they heard SMIFF they would surely have written SMITH? knowing that the illiterate householder just mis-pronounced their own surname?
I imagine that varied according to the enumerators at the time. I get the impression some of them were more literate than others. And yes..if they knew what the name really was they probably wrote it.
But this can be an issue with for example H names. Eg someone might say their surname is ORTON and the enumerator thinks , “Oh, from the way you speak, you must mean HORTON”. But actually, they really are ORTON (of course this is the sort of name that changes anyway over the generations for that very reason, but you understand what I mean I hope)
Anyway…all this is to show - always look at the original image if you possibly can (because the other thing that transcribers have is a certain number of fields available to fill. And sometimes there is information on the image that isn’t in the transcription.
The other problem is fast typing. It is very easy to write for example 1689 instead of 1698.
And I’ve done transcribing where the thing I am transcribing clearly has an error, but because it is there in the original document It has to be perpetuated.
It would be very boring if it was all straight forward. There wouldn’t be the satisfaction of solving something.
-
ah yes, i get it. A written mistake has to be repeated even if it's known to be wrong. What an enumerator heard will never be known because it was an oral record. Fast typing creates mistakes - i meant to type 1800's not 1900's.
Thankyou. :)
-
Don't forget that people did not write down what was said, but what they THOUGHT they heard.
My own paternal ggg gf appears in various records with his surname spelled in NINE different ways. None of these spellings matches my own surname.
Are these names wrong? No.
I can't guess how he pronounced the name, but "educated" people commonly had trouble figuring out what he said.
I use the version which appears on his baptism and burial as the "primary" name. All the versions appear in my FH software with dates against them.
When my ggf married in 1891 the clergyman write down yet another version; one he would have been familiar with. His bride was literate, so the new version stuck.
-
I haven’t read this thread from start to finish to be honest because it’s quite long but wonder if adding ‘sic’ after a verbatim transcription of the record is the simplest way to protect veracity?
Thoughts?
-
I have come across original census schedules where a birthplace is given, and the place has never even existed such as "Suffolk, Miltonhall" for someone from Suffolk living in Yorkshire, when it means Mildenhall. I guess the enumerator wrote what he thought he heard.
-
Thinking on; (sic) not ‘sic’ and assuming any lettering or words are reasonably clear which is inevitably easier if typed or printed rather than handwritten.
As an example, I informed the registrar of my Dad’s death giving his middle name as McFee. I then found the record of his birth which gave his middle name as McPhee. Other family members have MacFie, McFie, Macafee and so on.
Feels rather dreary to add (sic) after each transcription of the name recorded but not sure if there is a better or simpler way - all thoughts welcome.
-
There is a difference between transcription and indexing. Yes, transcriptions must be (sic) but a well organised index should have provision for an "added entry", a "see" reference or a "see also" reference i.e. you can enter one item under more than one term. Digitisation of indexing has lost something which works perfectly well in a card index or a book index! There is really no reason why they cannot add extra lines but they are using a transcription to create an index, muddled thinking.
-
There is a difference between transcription and indexing. Yes, transcriptions must be (sic) but a well organised index should have provision for an "added entry", a "see" reference or a "see also" reference i.e. you can enter one item under more than one term. Digitisation of indexing has lost something which works perfectly well in a card index or a book index! There is really no reason why they cannot add extra lines but they are using a transcription to create an index, muddled thinking.
Completely agree MollyC.
I made a similar point about adding narrative to entries in an index on a recent post of about 1800 names of Catholic births in Pennsylvania where Latin had been used using the accusative form e.g. ‘Elizabetham’.
While this entry happens to be easy to follow, her twin has been written as ‘Janam’ which needs explanation as it could be based on a number of names.
This is impossible if the indexing system being used only allows a small number of letters for each entry i.e. a ‘word count’ of 25 when 26 is needed.
As you say, muddled thinking!
-
I guess the enumerator wrote what he thought he heard.
I have one ancestor born in the small village of "Brinscall". In one census, only 10 miles away, it is written "Brinscow".
That is EXACTLY how the locals would say it. ;D
-
Used to live near Okeford Fitzpaine in Dorset. Just been on Google to see what pronunciations were available which gave cut glass English versions pretty much as written. I remember it was pronounced locally as ‘Fippity Ockfurd’..
-
I've been looking at some occupational surnames. I have never met anyone with the surname Cordwainer but Ancestry CMB has many pages of them. All the ones I've checked have Cordwainer as their or their father's occupation.
So, if you can't find someone try putting their full name in the first names box and you may strike lucky.
It is poor though :(
-
A William Bradford, aged 43 in 1871 was said to be born in "Kent, Maderlane" where no such parish exists, and the original entry seems to say Maderlane, but probably means Maidstone.
Someone has added a correction saying "Maidstone".