Genealogy Chat

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Hi Elizabeth Thanks for this. Strangely enough, it cropped up a few days ago when someone asked for a look-up on here. It transpired that the looker-up who found her relative had done exactly that - looked on Findmy past, it had been terribly mistranscribed on Ancestry. I had a look at the FindmyPast site & it struck me that they were pretty expensive - do you think this or do you reckon it's worth it? Angela lol Maureen, I think I'm referring to you! :-)) Angela btw, I would never criticise the transcribers - some of the images are terrible & I've only been able to recognise names because I know what I'm looking for. I always submit a correction to Ancestry.

I have been searching for Benjamin Tuffnell/Tufnell/Tuffnall in the 1841 census on Ancestry to no avail. I have a subscription to Find My Past and use it mainly for BMDs. However, I often forget to use it for censuses. Today I remembered to search the 1841 census, and up he popped in Marylebone. Ancestry had transcribed his surname as 'Tupnes'!! Perhaps the transcribers ought to undergo lessons in reading old handwriting and in geographical names. It might help us researchers and spare us a few futile hours! But the joy of at last finding someone...

Oh dear. Yes by all means use both Ancestry and Findmypast to help find your family in the census but unless you have done transcribing yourself then I do not think you should complain about the standard. It is hard work. Maureen

Elizabeth, No problem with the comments. I did some transcribing a year ago and it is very hard to read some of the info. Unfortunately I believe some of the transcribing was not done in England hence the names and places would not have been familiar to the people who did the work. Maureen

Angela, Yes it was me. You can search for free on Findmypast - it just costs to view the exact info - but it does give you a clue on the census where to search then on Ancestry. Maureen

Hi Maureen - I agree with you that transcribing must be a difficult job, and I commend people for giving up their time to help others. Some of the handwriting is extremely difficult to decipher, and I understand how mistakes can occur. However, some of the transcriptions (just some) do not bear any similarity to the actual entries. Sometimes the writing can be quite clear, and still errors occur. My poor Tuffnells have been transcribed incorrectly more often than not - hence my comments and frustration! I have spent three weeks trying to find them, with all sorts of permutations. Thanks to some hawk-eyed people on this forum, I have managed to find most of them now. (I only resort to asking for help when completely stumped). Hope you forgive my comment GlitterBaby - you have helped me in the past.