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Daft transcriptions

A space for genealogy-related conversations.
Norfolk Nan
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Joined: 16 Jun 2020, 11:54
Location: A Londoner lost in Norfolk

Daft transcriptions

Post by Norfolk Nan »

I had to laugh when I saw an occupation described as Cheese Tuner. I could just imagine someone hitting a wheel of cheese with a tuning fork but I know it should read Chair Turner. You’ve got to laugh :D
Thunder
Posts: 436
Joined: 14 Jun 2020, 01:43

Re: Daft transcriptions

Post by Thunder »

Ancestry have some serious geography issues as in the lunacy registers for 1910 they have listed the Broadmoor institution as being in Pembrokeshire, Wales, whereas it is, of course, in Berkshire, England. In other transcriptions I have seen the Rampton institution listed as being in Cambridgeshire whereas it is in Nottinghamshire.
devonliz
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Joined: 13 Jun 2020, 20:31

Re: Daft transcriptions

Post by devonliz »

Well, a ‘cheese turner’ would be the person who turns those wheels of cheese in the racks ... same for champagne bottles I guess.

When looking up some wills recently, I discovered that Family Search had listed the executors as the beneficiaries, quite misleading if I had not already found the full texts elsewhere.
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AdrianBruce
Posts: 358
Joined: 14 Jun 2020, 18:57
Location: South Cheshire

Re: Daft transcriptions

Post by AdrianBruce »

devonliz wrote: 24 Mar 2021, 09:27 ... Family Search had listed the executors as the beneficiaries, quite misleading if I had not already found the full texts elsewhere.
They have been told but either don't believe us, can't be bothered or are baffled about how to fix it.

Mind you, they are not the only one. The National Archives of Ireland has Calendars of Wills and Administrations 1858-1922. The search form has "Name of Executor/Beneficiary" as a parameter. The search result screen has "Primary Beneficiary/Executor". I have checked and never yet seen a beneficiary listed.

Why do they do this sort of thing?
Adrian Bruce
Thunder
Posts: 436
Joined: 14 Jun 2020, 01:43

Re: Daft transcriptions

Post by Thunder »

Astonishing that ancestry has listed the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Institution as being in Dunbartonshire, Scotland!, it clears says just Broadmoor.

https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/s ... cessSource
Thunder
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Joined: 14 Jun 2020, 01:43

Re: Daft transcriptions

Post by Thunder »

Also Fisherton House Asylum (outside Salisbury) took in criminal lunatics before Broadmoor was established in 1863 is not as described by ancestry as being in Inverness-shire!.
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AdrianBruce
Posts: 358
Joined: 14 Jun 2020, 18:57
Location: South Cheshire

Re: Daft transcriptions

Post by AdrianBruce »

Then again Fisherton is "a small agricultural hamlet on the Moray Firth Coast" https://www.scottish-places.info/towns/ ... t2096.html

Also, fyi, Broadwood (less excusable as it's a transcription error) was indeed in Dunbartonshire (which for some reason I always want to call Dumbartonshire :? )

So they're not completely random idiocies.
Adrian Bruce
Thunder
Posts: 436
Joined: 14 Jun 2020, 01:43

Re: Daft transcriptions

Post by Thunder »

Adrian,

Many thanks. Interesting, I didn't know that. Given that the entries didn't say where the places were I would myself not added a possible place in a county and there are various spellings because it is not stated in full. I thought that Dumbarton was used for the castle and town and everything was Dunbartonshire but it's not a universal use.

As far as Fisherton House Asylum goes I did an Internet search and came up with this article. The other point is that despite ancestry describing the lunacy registers being for the UK they do not cover Scotland, which had its own system.

http://www.asylumprojects.org/index.php ... use_Asylum
Mick Loney
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Joined: 15 Jun 2020, 07:27

Re: Daft transcriptions

Post by Mick Loney »

Have you ever searched for a matching Family Tree on Ancestry? You’ll be presented with a list of possible matches, but the naming of places in the results list need to be taken with a large dose of salt. If the tree owner is not too specific with their place names, Ancestry will insert/substitute their idea of what it should be, which, more often than not, will be is the USA.

So if tree owner has omitted the country, or put the address in front of the town, Ancestry gets very confused and its substitutions beggar belief at times.
I understand the reasoning behind this, but it does mean that, in the majority of cases, one has to completely ignore the places in the results list, and just rely on matching names. So heaven help you if your Smith ancestor married a Jones, finding them without a place to help you would be near impossible😀
meekhcs
Posts: 468
Joined: 02 Jun 2020, 18:19
Location: Lincolnshire, but Hampshire born and bred!

Re: Daft transcriptions

Post by meekhcs »

Generally Ancestry seem to apply the USA rule, followed by the alphabetical rule.

As Mick suggests if you simply put in say Southampton they will always find all the Southampton place names in the USA before suggesting England!

In England If you just put in say Tiverton it will always record as Tiverton Cheshire. In fact even if you put in Tiverton Devon, it will still come up as Tiverton Cheshire. Very annoying when you have a whole ancestral line that lives in Tiverton Devon!!

Of course there are always exceptions to the perceived rule and Broadmoor is obviously one of those!! :roll:
Sally
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