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Census Lookups General Lookups => Census and Resource Discussion => Topic started by: Tricia_2 on Tuesday 10 April 18 15:56 BST (UK)
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I am not currently a full member of 'Find My Past' but I visited a record office the other day and was able to use their computer to access the 1939 Register. Now I am a bit confused.
I found my mother's details - even though the info states that 'Individuals’ records remain closed for 100 years from their date of birth or until proof of death is produced.' My mother is under 100 and she is alive & well.
I also found Mum's sister's details on there. It says 'widowed'. But she died in 1942, when she was only 16. She never married so was never widowed.
Is it common to find such things?
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There will more than likely be errors. With regard to your mum it could be that there was someone else with exactly the same name and birth date who did die and she has been confused with your mother.
Re your aunt, this again could be a copying error. The enumerator may have been distracted when copying the details into the book and his/her eye slipped to the wrong line.
The record is only as good as the person writing the details down.
I shouldn't worry too much about it. All census records will contain errors and you just have to accept it and know from personal knowledge or research what is correct.
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Hi and thank you for your reply. :)
I suppose that I should have expected similar errors to those I find on other records but I was surprised at these particular ones, especially as it was my first visit to the register. I shall know better in future LOL :)
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Sometimes the transcriptions are wrong as the transcribers did not have access to the whole record. It was done in downward columns so you sometimes find they are a 'line out' all down the page ::)
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Sometimes the transcriptions are wrong as the transcribers did not have access to the whole record. It was done in downward columns so you sometimes find they are a 'line out' all down the page ::)
I'll echo that comment - I've seen an example of a page where the columns hadn't been properly aligned after transcription.
I found my mother's details - even though the info states that 'Individuals’ records remain closed for 100 years from their date of birth or until proof of death is produced.' My mother is under 100 and she is alive & well.
I've cited my example of this before - my aunt's entry was opened, despite the fact that she is still alive and well, born in 1928. I contacted FindMyPast and asked then to provide me with the evidence that a person I'd been with only a few days before was now dead. Although I hadn't asked them to do so, they immediately blacked out her entry.