Maine Vitals

I noticed last week that Ancestry had put images for Maine Vital records up and thought it was a good time (in between craft projects) to troll for Percivals. I found a few surprises which is always nice. Then there is the indexing. What can I say about Ancestry indexing that I haven't already said? I am at the point where I don't even bother making corrections, because the indexing is so bad I'd be correcting 50% of their records. One I found the othe day was Joseph Lester Percival. Now while I don't have a Joseph Lester Percival, I thought I'd look at the record anyway. Okay, it wasn't supposed to be Joseph Lester, it was supposed to be Joseph FOSTER. And it very clearly says Joseph Foster Percival. Hello? I do have him in my database. Since when does Fo look like Le?

It is irritating because I pay Ancestry for access to these records. Do they pay me for making their corrections? I'm sure I have submitted at least 100 corrections this year. Maybe more.

And some of their databases? No idea why I can't find some people by putting in partial search terms. Like Jos* Pfeiffer.  He can only be found by searching Pfeiffer and putting in the year of his death - 1920 (Pennsylvania Veteran Burials.)

Please Santa, as a last minute gift, fix Ancestry's indexing.

Well, it is Christmas eve, my family is all together for the first time in years, and we are going to negotiate on opening presents early. Mine, not theirs! Actually, I have too much of my dad in me and we won't open them until Christmas. But I can string them along. Who says Christmas is for kids?



Copyright 2010, ACK for Gene Notes