How to confuse an Englishman viewing Irish Records?

[Gillian]

With the experience of transcribing for FreeBMD to back me up, I can vouch for their having double, if not triple, quality control.

 

[Bob Spiers]

With the experience of transcribing for FreeBMD to back me up, I can vouch for their having double, if not triple, quality control.

That is pleasing to note and most likely why one hears of very few (if any) moans or groans about Free BMD results. Which reminds how little I use it these days, usually only when beaten by searching its subscription cousins. I may resurrect it and place it on one my browser tabs.

 

[peter]

With the experience of transcribing for FreeBMD to back me up, I can vouch for their having double, if not triple, quality control.

And yet there are still errors....

FreeBMD aim to transcribe every entry twice, and if you've ever wondered why some entries are in bold, that's because they've been transcribed twice with exactly the same result. FamilySearch operated a similar system in the past, but went one step further - if the two transcriptions differed then a third person would mediate (they may well still use the same system).*

Both of those are volunteer projects - the cost is not monetary - instead the cost is a delay in publishing the records. FreeBMD transcribers have transcribed 322 million entries, but 70 million of those are duplications - and every duplicated transcription could be said to represent an entry that hasn't been transcribed at all. As the FreeBMD project has been going about 20 years, it could be argued that the duplication has delayed the project by about 4 or 5 years.

To summarise, there is a substantial cost involved when records are transcribed twice: at best it will cost twice as much (commercial project) or take twice as long (volunteer project) - and still some errors will slip through. When images of the original documents are available online the transcription is merely a finding guide - so long as researchers can find the records that they're looking in a reasonable time for it doesn't matter how many errors there are in the transcription, because most people are going to give it only a brief glance before transferring their attention to the image.

* When FamilySearch were double-transcribing the IGI they didn't have any online images, so the accuracy of the transcription was crucial. Similarly, at the start of the FreeBMD project they didn't have online images of the GRO index pages.

 

[Gillian]

And yet there are still errors....

As the saying goes "To err is human, to forgive divine".

 

[Bryman]

I once discussed this matter of transcription errors with a former work colleague. He told me that he was one of three people tasked with transcribing a particular set of documents (for Ancestry, I think) and if any two results were identical then that was taken as correct.

Hand writing plays a big part in making such tasks difficult and the transcribers are told to record what they see and not what they think was intended. We now act as proof readers and get the chance to report errors that we find but we are often privy to additional information which can supply extra clues. One case that I came across involved the surname "Crees" which looked (I admit) like "Crus" but I could decipher the hand writing to fit the expected name based on other names and dates of the family members. Transcribers do not have that extra help, nor the time to make extra checks.

 

[Bob Spiers]

So was James married to Maria before Bridget?
I will await your update with interest.
Well done for spotting Festus.

As I thought it is 3 paces forward and 2 back and still none the wiser whether James Flynn (1) remarried after losing his first wife or a separate person from James (2) of my family line. As a consequence I cannot say whether Festus (aka Festy) a child of James (1) is of my family line or not. Here is the evidence I have.

a) A marriage took place between James Flynn & Mary Conway on 14 May 1840 in Glinsk/Kilbegnet (Witnesses: Michael Conway and Bridget Hegarty). (No occupation shown for James)
b) A child Festus Flynn was born to James Flynn & Maria Conway in 1841 (baptised 08 Feb 1841). Glinsk RC parish. Sponsors: (Martin Conway & Bridget Conway).Observe the two witnesses/sponsors had married between the two events
c) A marriage took place between James Flynn & Bridget Walsh on 24 July 1842 in Glinsk/Kilbegnet. No witnesses shown nor occupation recorded for James on the registration, although other evidence records him as a Tailor. Children of this union all born Ireland and documented: Bridget 1844/John 1848 & Mary 1851. This is my family line.

James & Bridget with children moved to the UK ending up in Birmingham after 1861. I did not find them in 1861 in the English Census and there is no 1861 Irish Census extant. I know daughter Mary died in Birmingham and James (who worked for a time as a Tailor in Birmingham) died in 1865. In 1871 Bridget now a widow is shown living with daughter Bridget and son John who would in a few more years each marry and continue the family line.

I have been unable to find John Flynn and Maria (Mary) or son Festus although I did find a naturalisation records in the USA for a Festus Flynn in 1860 in Iowa. The earliest Civil death records in Galway are 1864 and no Parish burials extant for Glinsk parish so I cannot check on whether Maria died giving birth to Festus.

I have to leave it there as the dinner gong is sounding (only joking but have been asked to present myself at the table) but the above gives a flavour of where I am with the research.

 

[peter]

Bob, surely the fact that two marriages are listed on the back of the form is pretty conclusive? I realise that the date of each marriage is a year out, but as Bridget was providing the information 80 years later it's hardly surprising.

 

[Bob Spiers]

Bob, surely the fact that two marriages are listed on the back of the form is pretty conclusive? I realise that the date of each marriage is a year out, but as Bridget was providing the information 80 years later it's hardly surprising.

Thanks Peter, and am slowly reaching that conclusion myself. My initial reluctance sprang from the fact that Festy (Festus) was completely unknown in previous research, and whilst my Grandmother often spoke of her own mother Bridget and her Uncle John, never was there mention of a Festy.

I am a member of the East Galway (Kilbegnet) community website and posed the problem there. An Administrator has now been in touch and having looked into the matter, believes it likely that Maria died (probably giving birth) and John remarried. He just comments that without any Parish burial records and too early for Civil Registrations it is only a strong likelihood.

So perhaps with the information on the back of the form to supplement things, I should consider that this is probably what happened. Meanwhile I must try to follow up on Festus and see if he did in fact emigrate to the US, on the rebound from losing his mother, and (perhaps) not wishing to be part of his father's new marriage. I will see where that leads, but your thoughts on the matter are appreciated.