Gene Notes

Some random and some not-so-random thoughts on family history.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Indexing - Should I Laugh or Cry?

Now that Ancestry has seemed to clean up it's stupid census link errors, I have a bone to pick about the indexing.

It seems the trained monkeys who are indexing census, have invented a place called "Gland of Malta." Seriously:

Frank Smith:
Birth Year: abt 1793
Age in 1870: 77
Birthplace: Gland of Malta
Home in 1870: Castleton, Richmond, New York
Race: White
Gender: Male


It's funny, but when I look at the link, I see "Island of Malta." Stuff like this really tries my patience.

But imagine my surprise when I found another record, this a death certificate.

This is what I found in the indexing:

Name: Not Named Smith
Death Date: 27 Dec 1916
Death Location: Franklin
Residence Location: Franklin
Age: 71
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White
Birth Date: 15 Jun 1845
Birth Location: Harrison
Father's Name: Frank C Smith
Father's Birth Location: Kentucky
Mother's Name: Agnes B Chinn
Mother's Birth Location: Kentucky


I mean, really, who goes through 71 years without a first name? No one. His name, Frank B. Smith is clearly written on the death certificate.

Now, if I am looking for a death certificate and I see something like "Not Named," I tend to skip over it, figuring it is a stillborn. Of course, a closer look shows that the Not Named is 71 years old and a closer look shows his name clearly written.

I still don't know whether to laugh or cry!


Copyright 2010, ACK for Gene Notes

2 comments:

  1. Ancestry is giving you great blog fodder. SIGHHHH

    ReplyDelete
  2. And as if that isn't enough, every time I hit a census link for the last few hours I get the "Check Back Soon .." message.

    ReplyDelete