Monday, May 3, 2021

Ancestry auto-transcription fails.. and why it's imperative to sometimes misspell words when looking for people...*gasp*... ON PURPOSE!

Over the years, Ancestry's auto-transcription service nuts me up time and time again. I thought I'd share some of the best ones. 

Just looking at my 2x Grandfather, Charles Clarence LaRue... 

In the 1900 census -- he's Charlie Laver. In the 1910 census -- he's C.C. Larne. In the 1920 census -- he's C.C. Lam. In the 1930 census -- he's Charles Farne. In the 1940 census -- Charles C. Sarne. 

Sam and Camilla (Nally) Thompson in the 1930 census are Sam and Camilia Thompas. 
Some of my "Moss" ancestors have been transcribed under "Mass." A lot of my "Thompson" ancestors are "Tompas" or "Thompas" or even just "Thomas." 

"Mefford" has been "Medford," "Mafford," "Mefferd," and even more. I would be here all day listing those misspellings. 

Most recently, in the 1920 census in the Corydon area of Henderson County -- I found James Willingham, nothing unusual about that. Until you look at what road he lives on. "Allisonwood Saleesh Road." There isn't ANYTHING remotely close to being named that in Corydon, KY. Not in 1920 or 2020. So I go to the actual document.... sure enough, "Diamond Island Road." 

A year ago, I was looking for Thomas Wilkerson in the 1870 census -- the last name had been transcribed as WICKERSON. That took me two days of digging for him in that 1870 census to finally find it!

Earlier this year, I was trying my hardest to find a death certificate for Granville T. Sinkhorn. I finally FINALLY finally found it... Henderson T. Linkhorn is what I found it under. Granville T Sinkhorn had turned into Henderson T. Linkhorn according to Ancestry. *facepalm*

Last year, I was looking for Jacob Councilman in the 1850 census. I finally found him under Jacob Cowisilam. Somebody had even went in and edited it to where it's "Supposed to say "Cocklereece". Well that's wrong TOO! 

I had been looking for Samuel Melton -- a name you'd think couldn't get misspelled-- for days in the 1880 census for either Union or Webster County, Kentucky.. Finally after days of searching, I used the wild card method, searching for Samuel M*l*o*. Sure enough... found him under Samuel MELLON!

The moral of me posting this was to let y'all know that sometimes you've absolutely got to get creative in spelling your ancestors first name and surname REALLY WRONG to come across the correct results. Sometimes it just isn't as easy as typing in "John Smith" and finding your John Smith. Maybe your John Smith is under "Jno Smyth" or something crazier. 

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