tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512311610334754148.post7335997974836782473..comments2023-04-20T12:46:11.858-06:00Comments on The Ancestry Insider: Monday Mailbox: B. Canada is Not British ColumbiaThe Ancestry Insiderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02490682912125335188noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512311610334754148.post-7591374629207990152016-03-17T09:20:50.251-06:002016-03-17T09:20:50.251-06:00Another Ancestry.com transcribing error I discover...Another Ancestry.com transcribing error I discovered is when they index E. T. City in Tooele County, Utah as "East Tooele City" for the 1860 US Census when it should just read as "E. T. City" because E. T. stands for Ezra Taft, the given name of early Mormon leader/pioneer Ezra Taft Benson (1811-1869). E. T. City is now known as Lake Point, Utah. I believe this name change occurred just before 1900.Tomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09222332999347810719noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512311610334754148.post-5208203534264034292016-03-15T15:42:42.119-06:002016-03-15T15:42:42.119-06:00Well, turns out I'm wrong! The church in King...Well, turns out I'm wrong! The church in Kingsey is called St-Felix-de-Valois, although FamilySearch lists it as St-Felix-de-Kingsey, probably to distinguish it from another St-Felix-de-Valois, which is in St-Felix-de-Valois. Jackie Corriganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13590243213239049149noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512311610334754148.post-240651109940842402016-03-15T10:48:49.827-06:002016-03-15T10:48:49.827-06:00Thanks for the information. but if they are so tru...Thanks for the information. but if they are so truly awful, which they are, why would they persist in foisting incoherent rubbish on us paying customers? JudyBGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11481961917093120257noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512311610334754148.post-50192429249991130132016-03-15T09:14:55.366-06:002016-03-15T09:14:55.366-06:00I don't have an Ancestry subscription but have...I don't have an Ancestry subscription but have they moved Prince Edward County out of Prince Edward Island yet and back to Ontario where it belongs? And how many people with the surname Ditto are still listed?Mike Morehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12667387951383193059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512311610334754148.post-76031171038938389582016-03-15T08:02:12.230-06:002016-03-15T08:02:12.230-06:00The worst one I've found lately is that all th...The worst one I've found lately is that all the Drouin records for St-Felix-de-Valois are really records for St-Felix-de-Kingsey! I can live with errors in the indexing, but when they totally misidentify the source we are supposedly looking at???Jackie Corriganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13590243213239049149noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512311610334754148.post-90629122306995338652016-03-14T21:06:06.744-06:002016-03-14T21:06:06.744-06:00When researching my mother's maiden name "...When researching my mother's maiden name "Trucks," I always check indexes under "F." Keying what you see, I guess...Janhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16473905334605518834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512311610334754148.post-71137153053270768402016-03-14T19:11:27.988-06:002016-03-14T19:11:27.988-06:00I haven't used a transcript from ancestry for ...I haven't used a transcript from ancestry for more than a couple of years. And NEVER an "index only". I no longer pay them for anything. I can use their hints and find the answer somewhere else.Thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13256855136448978468noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512311610334754148.post-77576253406927977432016-03-14T15:45:42.624-06:002016-03-14T15:45:42.624-06:00This example of transcription error in Ancestry.co...This example of transcription error in Ancestry.com records is one of too many. I and others spend more time than I'd like, trying to point out errors in Ancestry records. Too often, looking at the image shows something different than what Ancestry says is in the record. Marriage intentions become "marriage date;" a death becomes "residence;" a listing of a widow's late husband in a city directory becomes a "residence" for the husband; a burial date becomes a death date, etc. Whenever there is no image, I am leery of accepting Ancestry's account of the record. It seems to me that the problem has gotten much worse lately.nonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03025028381118457457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512311610334754148.post-74293786084625420862016-03-14T13:12:13.786-06:002016-03-14T13:12:13.786-06:00How about all the people born in the state of Geor...How about all the people born in the state of Georgia (USA) listed as being born in the Nation of Georgia? Garbage in garbage out.Clay Gullatthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00783293495441421823noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512311610334754148.post-71861856171877353602016-03-14T12:50:18.993-06:002016-03-14T12:50:18.993-06:00Judy, the city directories and voters' registr...Judy, the city directories and voters' registration lists are not keyed by humans, but by OCR scanning. That's why they're so scrabbled.eva goodwinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13815551900003202157noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512311610334754148.post-29380161575200077282016-03-14T12:27:54.504-06:002016-03-14T12:27:54.504-06:00Oh my gosh--that is (almost) hilarious!
Why does...Oh my gosh--that is (almost) hilarious! <br /><br />Why does there seem to be utterly no oversight or mechanism for spotting even egregious errors? Ancestry Insider, do you know how it is possible that utter nonsense can be published? JudyBGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11481961917093120257noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512311610334754148.post-80136736350681165952016-03-14T12:01:32.233-06:002016-03-14T12:01:32.233-06:00Check out the 4,000+ people living in Philadelphia...Check out the 4,000+ people living in Philadelphia in the 1870 census who show born in the Phillipines because their birth place was shown as "Phila."Shirleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01490765007501415686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512311610334754148.post-20013060831651070112016-03-14T11:39:18.996-06:002016-03-14T11:39:18.996-06:00"Key what you see"--if you have no knowl... "Key what you see"--if you have no knowledge of English, you can't key what you see, because an unknown language makes no sense to your eyes. I have seen transcriptions of directories and voter's lists that were so infuriatingly wrong, in every line, for name, place and occupation, that it would be impossible ever to correct them--the names and places being pretty much what you might expect if you picked up letters at random out of a Scrabble box. You could not possibly correct these sorts of errors with a key stroke. I have reported the issue to Ancestry many times--as a correction on the relevant page--and have never heard one comment or explanation from anyone there. I think they are happy to have us do the real work of correcting the pages for free. However, that assumes you can find it in the first place. Which, with the botch made of many of the names, would quite often be simply impossible. I might also point out that Ancestry has yet to correct--with a keystroke or otherwise--"Canada, England" as a POB on many Canadian-born people on US census records. This is a common misreading of "Canada, Eng"--US census-speak for "English-speaking Canada", and a ridiculously common misreading. There is no place in England called Canada, but the mistakes keep right on coming.<br /><br />One gets so tired of doing Ancestry's work for them, and with so little evidence that they intend to change anything, appreciate your input, or even will acknowledge the issue. But hiring foreign transcribers is the very worst thing they have ever done. A travesty. JudyBGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11481961917093120257noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512311610334754148.post-34583358255041742572016-03-14T11:30:40.215-06:002016-03-14T11:30:40.215-06:00The indexers are probably paid by how fast and how...The indexers are probably paid by how fast and how many records they finish. Hence, stupid mistakes are made of the most obvious spellings, names, locations and facts. If you are going to hire people to do a job at least make sure they do it correctly,since the index is the most common way we have to locate a record. Bishop Joanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07236025312006228292noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512311610334754148.post-71620352039280686522016-03-14T11:30:28.890-06:002016-03-14T11:30:28.890-06:00The indexers are probably paid by how fast and how...The indexers are probably paid by how fast and how many records they finish. Hence, stupid mistakes are made of the most obvious spellings, names, locations and facts. If you are going to hire people to do a job at least make sure they do it correctly,since the index is the most common way we have to locate a record. Bishop Joanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07236025312006228292noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512311610334754148.post-52952459047165407452016-03-14T11:21:42.417-06:002016-03-14T11:21:42.417-06:00Another problem this highlights is the mass exclus...Another problem this highlights is the mass exclusion of librarians for computer scientists. This is seen in many areas of genealogical effort.kBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07154497477253419037noreply@blogger.com