Errors in Ancestry Trees

[peter]

Yes, that happens sometimes and adds to the confusion potential. However, in this case I was able to locate the right death in 1971 so it had the full date of birth. Two wives with the same name and the exact same date of birth? That would be unfortunate!

Good planning, surely - easier to remember his wife's name and her birthday!

 

[jorghes]

Until the new death indexes went online the only way to find out which was the correct entry would have been to find his burial or order the death certificate. The former is often very difficult after the mid-19th century, and the latter is expensive. If the name was 'reasonably unique' and he was missing from the 1861 Census, you can understand why they would have picked the 1855 entry, particularly if his death wasn't registered until the 2nd quarter of `1861 (ie after the census).

I don't suppose that many people went through their entire tree checking that the death index entries they had previously found were indeed correct.

I do understand why it happened, and you're right, they have probably not gone back and checked - although, some of them have the exact date of the death of the 17mth old baby with the same name, which suggests something else is going on! (i.e. that someone, somewhere got hold of the original death register and has seemingly ignored the age on it!)

Ironically, I have found him in all the censuses he was alive for - 1841, 1851 and 1861. His surname is misspelt for both 1841 and 1861, although in both instances it's only a single letter incorrect.
We're talking about my grandfather on the direct paternal line, and even in my years of having that same surname, it's expected that it will be misspelt (Every time I am asked for my full name, I automatically spell my surname), usually only by a single letter (whether it be missing, mis-transcribed or simply misheard). My name has been misspelt on all sorts of things during my lifetime so far, and it's not been all that long!

 

[Heather]

In the indexes I found what seemed a very likely death of one of my relatives in 1947, very close to where she and her husband were in the 1939 register, and of exactly the right age. I was even able to find a matching burial which confirmed her age.

Then I looked for the death of her husband which turned out to be in 1963, but when I went on to check the Probate Calendar, I discovered that probate was granted to his widow! So the 1947 death was clearly the wrong one.

In circumstances such as these a subscription to Deceased on line is a good idea, I have found such a lot of information from the burial registers, of course your area needs to be covered.

 

[At home in NZ]

a subscription to Deceased on line is a good idea

I've looked into it in the past and just had another look. I am still not tempted because the method of subscription looks complicated and to my mind, expensive.

What annoys me is that Ancestry has records that are linked to deceased on line and you have to pay to see them even though you have an Ancestry sub.

I have had some really good experiences with FindaGrave which is free but also dependant on area.

I have also looked into Billion Graves which is mostly USA but I use ad blocker which they detected and want me to pay in order to continue!

 

[Pauline]

In circumstances such as these a subscription to Deceased on line is a good idea, I have found such a lot of information from the burial registers, of course your area needs to be covered.

I have a subscription there and have found lots of useful burials, albeit not the one I just mentioned. However, as you say, some areas are covered better than others and it’s a good idea to check their coverage before subscribing. There are also pay per view options.

 

[peter]

We're talking about my grandfather on the direct paternal line, and even in my years of having that same surname, it's expected that it will be misspelt (Every time I am asked for my full name, I automatically spell my surname), usually only by a single letter (whether it be missing, mis-transcribed or simply misheard). My name has been misspelt on all sorts of things during my lifetime so far, and it's not been all that long!

I got so fed up with having to spell out my surname that as a teenager I was determined that I would change it. I still have to spell it out, and over the phone I say Charlie-Alpha-Lima-Victor-Echo-Romeo since people in call centres struggle to hear what's being said at the best of times.

 

[peter]

What annoys me is that Ancestry has records that are linked to deceased on line and you have to pay to see them even though you have an Ancestry sub.

So would you rather they didn't have them at all, because that would be the alternative?

You can generally get sufficient information from a free search to determine that it's the right record, so then it's just a question of counting up how many of your relatives are in their database and choosing between a subscription and pay-per-view.

 

[Pauline]

We're talking about my grandfather on the direct paternal line, and even in my years of having that same surname, it's expected that it will be misspelt

My maiden surname was almost inevitably misspelt or mispronounced, and I can remember my father saying to me, probably in consequence of this, that spelling someone's name incorrectly was the height of rudeness. However, this is comparatively recent thinking, and in the past spelling simply wasn't that important, and the further back you go, the more surname spelling variants you are likely to find. I have come across differently spelt signatures within the same document.

Not making allowances for spelling variations and mistranscriptions when searching can very easily contribute to the kind of errors and wrong assumptions we see in some Ancestry trees. 'Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence' - or in other words, not finding someone in a search doesn't necessarily mean they are not there.

Sometimes we need to be pretty imaginative with our search terms (remember the old riddle about 'photi' or 'ghoti' being feasible phonetic spellings of 'fish'), other times some good old-fashioned browsing may be called for.

 

[jorghes]

I got so fed up with having to spell out my surname that as a teenager I was determined that I would change it. I still have to spell it out, and over the phone I say Charlie-Alpha-Lima-Victor-Echo-Romeo since people in call centres struggle to hear what's being said at the best of times.

I haven't gone that far (yet) - I usually say it, then spell it with emphasis and a pause on the letters that are usually left out or mis-transcribed (if I have to add my address, the street name is also automatically spelt!). I do tend to get sick of having my name misspelt on notices and the like for work when my name is correct in the majority of systems, but people think they know and don't check.

My maiden surname was almost inevitably misspelt or mispronounced, and I can remember my father saying to me, probably in consequence of this, that spelling someone's name incorrectly was the height of rudeness. However, this is comparatively recent thinking, and in the past spelling simply wasn't that important, and the further back you go, the more surname spelling variants you are likely to find. I have come across differently spelt signatures within the same document.

Not making allowances for spelling variations and mistranscriptions when searching can very easily contribute to the kind of errors and wrong assumptions we see in some Ancestry trees. 'Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence' - or in other words, not finding someone in a search doesn't necessarily mean they are not there.

Sometimes we need to be pretty imaginative with our search terms (remember the old riddle about 'photi' or 'ghoti' being feasible phonetic spellings of 'fish'), other times some good old-fashioned browsing may be called for.

But of course, that's how I found my ancestor on the 1841, 1851 and 1861 censuses, and his various grandchildren in records where their names have been mis-transcribed sometimes differently for both birth and death.

The killer is often figuring out how the name could have been misspelt - nowadays people just leave out letters or put the wrong vowel in spots, but I've also found instances where two letters were mistranscribed into one on one census entry!

 

[At home in NZ]

how the name could have been misspelt

Don't forget, in the 1800's many people were illiterate and it was up to the enumerator to write what they heard.

 

[jorghes]

Don't forget, in the 1800's many people were illiterate and it was up to the enumerator to write what they heard.

Indeed. And in one case in my set of records, the enumerator may not have been in the right state to listen!

 

[At home in NZ]

Indeed. And in one case in my set of records, the enumerator may not have been in the right state to listen!

We should ask Peter to add a smiley emoticon, it would save me typing this. You made me laugh.

 

[Heather]

We should ask Peter to add a smiley emoticon

You mean like this one or or maybe

 

[Margery]

maiden surname was almost inevitably misspelt or mispronounced

My married surname is often mispronounced (it is one syllable!) but you should see and hear what people do with Margery! Often pronounced with a hard "g" (as in Margaret) and ALWAYS written down as Marjorie unless I spell it out.

 

[At home in NZ]

You mean like this one or or maybe

I may be showing my ignorance but i don't know where you got those from. I meant for it to be added to those at the right (thanks, agree etc.)

 

[peter]

My married surname is often mispronounced (it is one syllable!) but you should see and hear what people do with Margery! Often pronounced with a hard "g" (as in Margaret) and ALWAYS written down as Marjorie unless I spell it out.

I know I've got problems when the person on the other end of the line asks me to spell Peter.

 

[jorghes]

I know I've got problems when the person on the other end of the line asks me to spell Peter.

Oh dear! I have a few times have had to spell "Joanne", but it's amazing how many of the students at work write "Joe" when I tell them my name is Jo.

 

[Helen7]

My maiden surname was almost inevitably misspelt or mispronounced...in the past spelling simply wasn't that important, and the further back you go, the more surname spelling variants you are likely to find. I have come across differently spelt signatures within the same document.

Both my maiden surname and my married surname are usually misspelt. Fortunately they are each only 4 letters, so quick to spell out. Few people spell Helen wrongly, though it has been known!

In researching my (and my husband's) family tree, I quickly learned to disregard spelling differences, due to the numerous variations, as others have noted. I have also often found discrepancies in the same document, including: a birth certificate where the informant and father are the same person but spelt differently; a marriage certificate where the registrar's spelling of the groom's surname is different from his signature; a will where the executor's surname is spelt differently to the same person in the will (and the difference is explicitly pointed out in the grant of probate); and - my particular favourite - a baptism record which has two different spellings of the surname with aka in between!

Sometimes we need to be pretty imaginative with our search terms... other times some good old-fashioned browsing may be called for.

Yes, on numerous occasions I have found an elusive entry in a census by browsing, or by searching on forename only (perhaps with age and/or location as appropriate). The surname was obvious to me when I saw it (and often not misspelt) but as it had been transcribed as something entirely different (and not easily guessable) it hadn't shown up in the usual searches. I don't blame the transcribers, as they don't have the benefit of knowing what the name should be, and the handwriting is often hard to decipher.

 

[Helen7]

I may be showing my ignorance but i don't know where you got those from. I meant for it to be added to those at the right (thanks, agree etc.)

In the panel above the box when you are typing a new message, there is a smiley face which gives you access to several emoticons. (This is the panel that also allows you to format the text - with bold, underline and italics - as well as inserting weblinks, images etc.)

 

[canadianbeth]

I quite often have people asking me how to spell my official first name. I just tell them "the same way the Queen spells hers". And the shortened version, which has been the name I have used all 77 years of my life? People call me Bev. Or Liz. I do not hear them when they do that. As for my married name? I have lost count of the ways people pronounce that. Some even put a "z" in it; there is no z. His family emigrated from Ireland in the mid-1800's, and we still do not know the actual spelling used over there.