emmteeyess
04-01-2010, 8:41 AM
|wave|
Has anyone else been annoyed by modern transcriptions of old certificates, census forms etc.?
I had occasion to send one marriage certificate back to the Registrar to have it re-written as I couldn't read half of it, and being from outside that area I couldn't even guess what some of the places were meant to read. Have to say the 2nd copy wasn't 100% but it was better.
(This tale did get my letter published in a Family History magazine tho! |woohoo|)
We're always told to go to original sources, and some districts do issue photocopies of the original pages on a modern proforma - which have a wealth of additional feel to them with copperplate script etc and our ancestor's actual signatures (or marks). If these are unreadable then that's part and parcel of having old documents, and I can live with that. The particular district in this case didn't offer that facility.
|rant|
I've also had problems with occupations - Tailor/Sailor, Carver/Carter (?), Chain maker/Chair maker (!) - which come from 'modern' handwritten transcripts. Another lesson to double check and cross reference your sources I guess.
Cheers, anyway, Michael.
Has anyone else been annoyed by modern transcriptions of old certificates, census forms etc.?
I had occasion to send one marriage certificate back to the Registrar to have it re-written as I couldn't read half of it, and being from outside that area I couldn't even guess what some of the places were meant to read. Have to say the 2nd copy wasn't 100% but it was better.
(This tale did get my letter published in a Family History magazine tho! |woohoo|)
We're always told to go to original sources, and some districts do issue photocopies of the original pages on a modern proforma - which have a wealth of additional feel to them with copperplate script etc and our ancestor's actual signatures (or marks). If these are unreadable then that's part and parcel of having old documents, and I can live with that. The particular district in this case didn't offer that facility.
|rant|
I've also had problems with occupations - Tailor/Sailor, Carver/Carter (?), Chain maker/Chair maker (!) - which come from 'modern' handwritten transcripts. Another lesson to double check and cross reference your sources I guess.
Cheers, anyway, Michael.