tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26204193.post5355060748403127202..comments2024-03-19T01:26:04.572-07:00Comments on Genea-Musings: Ancestry.com Indexing Quirks - 1860 BirthplacesRandy Seaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17477703429102065294noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26204193.post-7524172610773527272009-05-25T16:19:22.739-07:002009-05-25T16:19:22.739-07:00I have a dilly of an example, and have posted a co...I have a dilly of an example, and have posted a comment to Ancestry. The image is Range 2 E, Johnson, Illinois; Roll: M653_190; Page: 147; Image: 148<br />My comment was: David Richardson on this page is indexed as born in Kenya; the enumerator clearly wrote Ke. Neighbors born in Ke are transcribed as Kentucky. Quality of transcribers is not improving. Suggest Ancestry review 19th century African history for plausibility of entries.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26204193.post-54537902033943198332009-03-01T21:09:00.000-08:002009-03-01T21:09:00.000-08:00One particular peeve of mine is in the 1850 US Cen...One particular peeve of mine is in the 1850 US Census, where "Ia" is a frequent abbreviation for "Indiana". Yet Ancestry indexers nearly always spell it all the way out as "Iowa". Since Iowa was just beginning to be settled by non-indigenes in 1850, this would provide a very strange stat for someone working only with Ancestry's indexes.<BR/><BR/>Your idea for a "corrective" web site is a very good one. Ancestry staff refused to create a message board on its site for database corrections.<BR/><BR/>One of the same kind should exist for FamilySearch databases. FamilySearch does not even have a way for users to submit corrections, as Ancestry does regarding names. There are many baffling errors in the FamilySearch indexes.<BR/><BR/>TGN has stated that it will develop an interface for user corrections for items other than names, but nothing was said about when.Geoloverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12050268303916428230noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26204193.post-19789391256884110002009-03-01T12:54:00.000-08:002009-03-01T12:54:00.000-08:00Oops, Randy, I do have to go back on what I said a...Oops, Randy, I do have to go back on what I said about the transcriptions of place names in Familysearch. Some are "what you see", and others do have the instruction to complete the abbreviation shown if you know what it is - so there is room for error of Ken to Kenya instead of Kentucky. Darn! I can't imagine someone making that mistake on a US census, but it could (and obviously does) happen.<BR/><BR/>Searchers also have to understand that some census takers did pages of names with first initials only, and it's also common to see consonants doubled where you might not expect it (I just transcribed an Errik Errikson and family, but I bet the double-r Errik is not usually searched for.) Isaac is another one I've seen as Issac or Issak - in the original writing.Lynnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01844616437778582131noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26204193.post-86850845023658425922009-03-01T11:54:00.000-08:002009-03-01T11:54:00.000-08:00Randy I am so glad you went here! Not only are th...Randy I am so glad you went here! Not only are there problems with the place names, but in general with the consistancy of the data entry. For instance my McCann family is entered as McCann and Mc Cann. This space in the name obviously causes some of them not to show up when searching. Any data analyst knows that if junk goes in, then junk comes out - reporting cannot be relied upon when the data isn't consistantly entered. Transcription errors I can live with on occasion, but blantent things like this just frustrate the user and make you wonder if any person ever actually looks at it. This also brings to mind the submission of corrections/variations of names, which everyone should do, but I'm convinced that they aren't veiwed with eyes, only processed and added to the data which again causes problems. Data clean up sounds like great fun! When can I start?Cindyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02235026202257819623noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26204193.post-33375878872202054452009-03-01T08:48:00.000-08:002009-03-01T08:48:00.000-08:00As a transcriber for Familysearch with about 250,0...As a transcriber for Familysearch with about 250,000 transcriptions under my belt, I can tell you that we are to transcribe what we see, so therefore your StNY would still read that way, but Ky would be Ky and Ind would be Ind. <BR/><BR/>Also, that means that you have to allow for creative spelling of names!! It might be nice to have Elizabeth spelled the same way each time, but if it clearly Elisebath, then that is what is transcribed. I have seen some very unusual spellings of common names, including in one southern state where I finally figured out by reading it out loud -- the transcriber was writing with a southern accent! Now that page was clearly written, but it will be a creative task for finding someone on it. The difficulty in transcribing is that if you don't transcribe what was written, someone is sure to come back and tell you that the spelling on the census is what their ancestor used and not the usual spelling -- you just can't win! And you're right about the n/u issue, in fact many letters are difficult to decide between in some handwriting --- a/o, e/i, L/S, t/l, W/M, and so on. My advice is to try all the combinations that you can imagine in handwriting. <BR/><BR/>Familysearch reduces the errors because each page is seen by 3 independent transcribers before it's posted, but even that will not stop the problems as some pages are just plain difficult to read.Lynnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01844616437778582131noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26204193.post-7279853613193837962009-03-01T07:38:00.000-08:002009-03-01T07:38:00.000-08:00Just this week I had difficulty locating informati...Just this week I had difficulty locating information in the Census using Ancestry.com but I'm not sure why I couldn't find what I was looking for. Here's my <A HREF="http://kbea831.wordpress.com/2009/02/28/success-with-different-resources/" REL="nofollow">post </A> of my experience and how I did have success in finding what I was looking for.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26204193.post-91045701648928574412009-03-01T05:24:00.000-08:002009-03-01T05:24:00.000-08:00I have several ancestors whose birthplace is liste...I have several ancestors whose birthplace is listed as Nova Scotia. The census page says US, but the fancy cursive U looks like an N, so it was indexed as NS.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com