tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post8199936264767810388..comments2024-03-27T09:27:33.931+00:00Comments on Idiotic Hat: Census CensureMike C.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11279776665185060446noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-78464560683335101642022-01-16T12:32:21.709+00:002022-01-16T12:32:21.709+00:00Chris,
If we're talking about the transcripti...Chris,<br /><br />If we're talking about the transcriptions, then I'm not surprised. It seems that everyone finds errors in their first few searches, which would suggest it's riddled with them. If not done by AI then I imagine it was mainly done in the Philippines or somewhere similar, where (as in my example) entering a girl's name as "Town" rather than "Joan" wouldn't seem so bizarre. Certainly, enumerators' handwriting conventions can be challenging to modern eyes (though hardly by comparison with early modern scripts).<br /><br />I'm a big fan of Freebmd as a way of establishing relationships (and, of course, as a way of getting the necessary data to order a copy of a certificate). One you realise you can search for, say, births by using father's surname and mother's "maiden" surname with place and date constraints it becomes an extremely powerful tool.<br /><br />If you have spotted errors these can be reported directly if you have bought a transcript (there's a button). Otherwise, I quote:<br /><br />"Transcription errors found without purchasing the transcript itself can be reported by emailing transcriptsupport@findmypast.com<br /><br />Please include a link to the record and a brief description of the error, for example, the first name is recorded as Jo when the image shows it as John. Please use "1921 Census transcription update" as the email subject line, this will allow us to correct errors quicker and more efficiently."<br /><br />MikeMike C.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11279776665185060446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-75256541017447319332022-01-16T12:07:49.230+00:002022-01-16T12:07:49.230+00:00I've been searching for my parents and their f...I've been searching for my parents and their families in the 1921 census, too. I was very surprised to come across an internal database inconsistency. My Uncle Norman, aged 6 (and later a WWII fighter ace and the pilot of the first Spitfire to be shot down at sea during the war; he survived after being dragged down as the plane sank) was revealed as living at Isleworth with Alice, Eliza May +1. My mother aged 10 was living elsewhere in England for reasons I have yet to determine (school?). My maternal grandfather was listed as Army, his wife and youngest son did not appear (presumably overseas, probably in India). I was intrigued to find out who Alice and Eliza May were, preferably without paying for an actual record. After much sleuthing, I found Eliza Palmer and Alice May Palmer living in Isleworth, with Joseph Tovey +1. Tovey turned out to be Eliza's maiden name, and Palmer was my grandmother's maiden name. There are no Eliza Mays living in Isleworth, with any surname, with the correct number of co-habitants. Other records freely available from Ancestry dot com made it clear that Norman was living with his grandmother, Eliza. So somehow they transferred Alice's second name to Eliza in my uncle's record, but not in either Alice's, Eliza's or Joseph's records! That just should not be possible.<br /><br />Slightly less reprehensible was that my paternal grandfather appeared as Charles R, when we know he was Charles B. I guess a 1921 handwritten B could easily be interpreted as an R to 21st century eyes!Chris Rusbridgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06087447503626434385noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-86517732126399065992022-01-11T10:10:21.234+00:002022-01-11T10:10:21.234+00:00old_bloke,
All true. In the end, there is no subs...old_bloke,<br /><br />All true. In the end, there is no substitute for forking out the cash to buy actual copies of certificates of birth, marriage, and death, using the censuses and the excellent Freebmd database as a guide. The main benefit of censuses (and the 1939 Register) is to establish who lived with who (plus, in the case of certain people with rather more elevated lineages, how many live-in servants they had...).<br /><br />Scottish online records are superb, despite the cost, and include parish registers. But, Ireland: sadly, some fool decided to trash the entire census returns from 1861-1891, so lots of luck with that!<br /><br />MikeMike C.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11279776665185060446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6096844366367766843.post-36906835549315663822022-01-11T09:12:14.610+00:002022-01-11T09:12:14.610+00:00In my view this 1921 census has been wildly over-s...In my view this 1921 census has been wildly over-sold. "the 1921 census is a record of a moment of unique trauma" (David Olusoga) - oh no it isn't! The thing I've found most useful in my own attempts to trace back from the present to the start of the twentieth century is the 1939 Register, which also started out as pay-per-record-viewed, but is now part of the FindMyPast subscription. Presumably the 1921 census will do likewise, once they've recouped their costs.<br /><br />With regard to paying for genealogical information, the England & Wales subscription model is a middle way. The keepers of records in Scotland want you to pay for everything individually, with no sort of bulk discount or subscription available. Then there's Ireland, where the number of records involved is smaller but, if they've digitised it, you just tick a box to say you're a law-abiding person and you can look at it all for nothing.<br /><br />Maybe I should claim that Irish passport after all . . .old_blokehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16513316450750602034noreply@blogger.com