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Re: How do you deal with transcription errors?

Victor Markham
 

John

If the error is in the census and you can check the census there is an option to report this. Also if the spelling in the cenus is wrong then again there is an option to report this. I have done this a number of times when looking at the census on Ancestry.

If the error is on the BMD index there is an option to report this. You can also see if it is recorded on YorkshireBMD. The transcribers of YorkshireBMD are from the local registration office looking at the original certificates on microfiche. The advantage of the marriage details on Yorkshire BMD is they add the location of where the marriage took place ..Register Office or name of church. When I note the spelling is wrong I would use the correct spelling and ad a note stating is was spelt...xxx on xxx

Victor

On 03/08/2020 8:25 am, johnfirr via groups.io wrote:

This is not a software query as such, more of an interest in how others record certain issues in FH.

In my family history reserach I am dogged with transcription problems in both indexes and many original documents. Almost every individual seems to go missing from the timeline but turns up if you search for alternative spellings.
I,m not surprised by this I have gone through life spelling my surname (Firr) to people as its almost always mis- spelled.

So a case in point. I have been trying to follow the timeline of an Abraham Firr through the 1800s. He was born as Fir but adopted Firr later as did the whole family so we have a genuine variant and I use the "addirional names" field in FH to record these. However apart from one census which gives him as Fir I have encountered Fier, Burr, Lee, Tinn and Furze so far on other records ( carefully cross referenced and they are all him!). Do others just ignore these types of error and record in FH under the name intended or would you capture them as notes to the event or as alternative names?
I,m sure there are many different approaches so interested to see what others do?
with thanks
John

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