Genealogy Chat

Does anyone know if Ancestry will go back and correct incorrect Census entries if you point it out to them?

I have been looking at Scottish Census returns for 1871, 1881 and 1891. In the 1871 they have not put any age or occupation or relation to Head on 3 people in the household, in the 1881 census they have misread the ages and in the 1891 Census the Head has two wives listed. (Both with difefring surnames mind you)

It is driving me crazy and makes me spend extra time chasing dead ends when they don't show correct information!!

Thanks

Not sure about Scottish censuses because ancestry only has permission to show certain things ...... that's why you can't look at the actual images for example.

On the other censuses you can submit changes for names and those are done as additions. I've just had acknowledgement of 14 changes I made last week.

............ they don't yet seem to have the facility to make changes to birth years/places/etc on the English censuses.




On the English/Welsh censuses if you look to the left of the screen on the transcript of the record there is a box headed Page Tools, and in that box there is a heading Add Alternate Information. Click on that and add the changes that you want to make.

If that box is not available on the Scottish census, then presumably you cannot make the changes!



sylvia

They will correct info, they wont add info - ie if the ages ae not listed on the transcription, they may not have been recorded on the form- they wont add that, nor birth place, if for instance it was listed as 'not known' and you think you know

On Ancestry you can add an update.

This shows in the new page layout, down the bottom next to the persons name in the page listing.

When you click on it there are several options to update.
Given name
Surname
Estimated birth year
Birth city
Birth county
Birth country

and why you have added
Transcription error
Incorrect in image
Nick name
Name change
Variation

And on the left hand side there is the option to leave a comment.

Chris

I have found that the only way I can do corrections/updates on Ancestry now is to do it whilst viewing the image. I did several last week and had emails yesterday from Ancestry acknowledging them.

I have onlly recently joined Ancestry - and I have found some of the transcriptions very inaccurate - not just the names but a wild guesswork on addresses. I have a chunk of my husbands connections from North Northumberland, and someone (probably the same unhelpful non-local guesser), keeps saying they come from Durham - Berwick, Durham for example - if you look at the originals in e.g. the census there is no mention of Durham. I wondered at one time whether it was a misreading of Norham, but there usually isn't a mention of Norham either.

other address problem is when at the end of a UK address which you know to be right they add on an American town and/or state. I imagine this is something preprogrammed into the system - as when we add an address in tree particulars in GR you often get a suggested county, but that is easily edited. If you add them into you tree from Ancestry searches you then have to go back and edit out the references to Pennsylvania or whatever