Hi,
somewhere on this site I saw mention of having SP records amended where there was an obvious error. I can't remember where so maybe someone will see this and put me out of my misery.
1.
In my search I found Alexander Rae listed as aged 22 with a son also Alexander aged 17! Now, my family had them young but....! I had a lot of trouble finding the family as I kept looking for Alexander aged 40 to 44, his correct age being 42. Obviously that is what the census record should show.
2.
In searching for Mitchell I used Soundex and found a birth listed under MIICHEL where the T was transcribed as an I - easy mistake. Again all the other records show that this is wrong and I'm sure this must prevent people finding the records they need.
How do I go about fixing this?
Tish
Correcting errors on SP records
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tishgibbons
- Posts: 303
- Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2005 10:47 pm
- Location: Galway, Ireland
Correcting errors on SP records
Researching Mitchell Grassick Bowman Farquharson Wilson Allanach Leys Coutts Gauld McNerney from Crathie and Braemar, Strathdon and Glenbuchat and who moved on to Aberdeen, Glasgow, Ireland, Australia, India, Canada.
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DavidWW
- Posts: 5057
- Joined: Sat Dec 11, 2004 9:47 pm
Re: Correcting errors on SP records
Hi Tishtishgibbons wrote:Hi,
somewhere on this site I saw mention of having SP records amended where there was an obvious error. I can't remember where so maybe someone will see this and put me out of my misery.
1.
In my search I found Alexander Rae listed as aged 22 with a son also Alexander aged 17! Now, my family had them young but....! I had a lot of trouble finding the family as I kept looking for Alexander aged 40 to 44, his correct age being 42. Obviously that is what the census record should show.
2.
In searching for Mitchell I used Soundex and found a birth listed under MIICHEL where the T was transcribed as an I - easy mistake. Again all the other records show that this is wrong and I'm sure this must prevent people finding the records they need.
How do I go about fixing this?
Tish
If you are referring to census entries then the answer is that GROS will not correct these!!
David
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Alison Plenderleith
- Posts: 165
- Joined: Sun Feb 06, 2005 12:22 pm
- Location: Leitholm, Scottish Borders
Hi Tish,
I think the post you're thinking of was by Sporran. Coincidentally I've just posted on that subject myself. If you look on Statutory Records and go down the list to 'RCEs : a personal experience' you'll find his original post.
I think the census records have to stand as they are but if it's a transcription error, then a contact form to SP should do it.
Regards,
Alison
I think the post you're thinking of was by Sporran. Coincidentally I've just posted on that subject myself. If you look on Statutory Records and go down the list to 'RCEs : a personal experience' you'll find his original post.
I think the census records have to stand as they are but if it's a transcription error, then a contact form to SP should do it.
Regards,
Alison
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tishgibbons
- Posts: 303
- Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2005 10:47 pm
- Location: Galway, Ireland
Thanks folks!
I had assumed they were both transcription errors made by SP - now I'm not so sure. The census info is typed so I'm assuming that it was transcribed. As to the birth, I doubt the variation Miichel was ever in use for Mitchell - maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'll just call their attention to it and see what happens!
Thanks again,
Tish
I had assumed they were both transcription errors made by SP - now I'm not so sure. The census info is typed so I'm assuming that it was transcribed. As to the birth, I doubt the variation Miichel was ever in use for Mitchell - maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'll just call their attention to it and see what happens!
Thanks again,
Tish
Researching Mitchell Grassick Bowman Farquharson Wilson Allanach Leys Coutts Gauld McNerney from Crathie and Braemar, Strathdon and Glenbuchat and who moved on to Aberdeen, Glasgow, Ireland, Australia, India, Canada.
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sporran
- Posts: 496
- Joined: Sat Dec 11, 2004 11:40 pm
- Location: Leominster, Herefordshire, UK
Re: correcting errors on SP records
Hello Tish,
to coin a phrase: understand the process, understand the errors.
In censuses, someone would fill out the household form. Depending on the literacy, this could be the householder, a family member, a neighbour, or the person who collected the census form. First chance of error here.
The information on each household form was read and written to a census book, the pages of which are shown as images on SP (except for 1881). Second chance of error here.
Some of the information in the books was extracted as indexes for searching on. Third chance of error.
The 1881 census was indexed by the LDS and exists in a database. What we see on SP for 1881 is not a real image: it is a formatted representation of the database. (As an aside, the typewriter appeared commercially in the USA from about 1874, and was unlikely to be in common use in Scotland by 1881).
Although GROS have stated that they may have problems correcting the indexes, presumably because of the deal with the LDS, please let them know the errors.
Regards,
John
to coin a phrase: understand the process, understand the errors.
In censuses, someone would fill out the household form. Depending on the literacy, this could be the householder, a family member, a neighbour, or the person who collected the census form. First chance of error here.
The information on each household form was read and written to a census book, the pages of which are shown as images on SP (except for 1881). Second chance of error here.
Some of the information in the books was extracted as indexes for searching on. Third chance of error.
The 1881 census was indexed by the LDS and exists in a database. What we see on SP for 1881 is not a real image: it is a formatted representation of the database. (As an aside, the typewriter appeared commercially in the USA from about 1874, and was unlikely to be in common use in Scotland by 1881).
Although GROS have stated that they may have problems correcting the indexes, presumably because of the deal with the LDS, please let them know the errors.
Regards,
John
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Jack
- Posts: 1808
- Joined: Sat Dec 11, 2004 5:34 pm
- Location: Paisley
Re: correcting errors on SP records
Hi John,
I too have come across a few errors in the 1881 census. Would GROS want details on name errors as well as ages?
One that amused me was of a great aunt as Jersie Brown; her name is Jessie...
Two Nixon brothers i only found by chance after their parents had died because they'd been indexed as 43 & 44; but the page shows 23 & 14.
So a 30yr error on the youngest! And that's who i'd been searching on....
But this was before i bought the 1881 LDS census Cds (great value!) and was using SP to search.
If i should notify GROS, is there any particular person dealing with these mistakes?
Thanks - Jack
I too have come across a few errors in the 1881 census. Would GROS want details on name errors as well as ages?
One that amused me was of a great aunt as Jersie Brown; her name is Jessie...
Two Nixon brothers i only found by chance after their parents had died because they'd been indexed as 43 & 44; but the page shows 23 & 14.
So a 30yr error on the youngest! And that's who i'd been searching on....
But this was before i bought the 1881 LDS census Cds (great value!) and was using SP to search.
If i should notify GROS, is there any particular person dealing with these mistakes?
Thanks - Jack
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sporran
- Posts: 496
- Joined: Sat Dec 11, 2004 11:40 pm
- Location: Leominster, Herefordshire, UK
Re: census errors
Hello Jack,
I encourage everyone who finds any indexing errors to let SP know, since it may help someone else find that person. The difficulty with 1881 is that we can not see the original images so it is a matter of opinion that, for example, Jersie should really be Jessie.
Age errors are another matter, since the circumstances point to an error. My favourite to date was a widow with a son of 29, and her age was indexed as 13 instead of 73.
The method for notifying the errors is to use the Contact Form, and one of the options is for "Index and Image don't match". Although you may want to bypass the system by contacting GROS staff directly, filling out the Contact Form ensures that the problems are logged and audited.
Regards,
John
I encourage everyone who finds any indexing errors to let SP know, since it may help someone else find that person. The difficulty with 1881 is that we can not see the original images so it is a matter of opinion that, for example, Jersie should really be Jessie.
Age errors are another matter, since the circumstances point to an error. My favourite to date was a widow with a son of 29, and her age was indexed as 13 instead of 73.
The method for notifying the errors is to use the Contact Form, and one of the options is for "Index and Image don't match". Although you may want to bypass the system by contacting GROS staff directly, filling out the Contact Form ensures that the problems are logged and audited.
Regards,
John
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Jack
- Posts: 1808
- Joined: Sat Dec 11, 2004 5:34 pm
- Location: Paisley
Re: census errors
Thanks John,
It's been so long since i looked at the original 1881 page that i can't remember if it was really clear as Jessie.
And her place of birth was given as Lock Up? Stirling - it should've said Lock 16!
That was a neat trick, a 13yr old widow with a 29yr old son!
Jack
It's been so long since i looked at the original 1881 page that i can't remember if it was really clear as Jessie.
And her place of birth was given as Lock Up? Stirling - it should've said Lock 16!
That was a neat trick, a 13yr old widow with a 29yr old son!
Jack