At 12:40 AM 3/8/01 -0500, Beverly Mott Alstrom wrote: >Tim! > >A Big Thank You for posting the 1850 census!! :) - It looked like it was needed - so I said what the hey. <snip> >Thank you so much for your dedication and hard work. You are certainly >revealing accidental treasures that are worth more than gold. > >Btw, Rayson as he appears in the transcription should be Raysor (100% >certainty on this, no guesswork) The H.J. Chalmers in your record is the >son of James M. Raysor and Elizabeth Sophia Chalmers. He married Sarah >Wilson and is buried in Swallow Savannah Cemetery near Allendale, SC. The biggest problem in transcribing is trying to figure out another person's handwriting especially when they were using quill or very early ink pens to write all this info. One stares and stares at this trying - even with an 1850 Census Index as a handy reference trying to figure out what was written. The copy I'm working on is at my local library. I try to go one night a week for an hour or so as it's not far from my work. Then on Saturday afternoon for a couple of hours, after I spend the morning at a local cemetery - where I'm working on another massive project. >Thanks again, Tim. Great job! And thank you and all the others who've written with their feedback. Tim

You know, looking at the census with a fresh eye, without relying on the old index might really be a good idea. At least you wouldn't repeat their mistakes. You might make fresh ones, but I think it's always better to have unprejudiced eyes staring at that faded old spidery writing. And then we'll have two completely different opinions in the case of difficult to read names. That's always better. As for mistaking the "n" for the "r" in Raysor I certainly wasn't surprised! It's a very common mistake because it's almost impossible to tell the difference between them with much of the old handwriting... so I know to search for Rayson as well as Raysor, Razor, Rayzor, Raisor, etc. :-) I'm sure you've had the experience in your own research with various names. And for those really undecipherable names I prefer to see R?ys?? rather than to see it guessed at. I always look at the patterns when names are only partial to see if they fit any of my folks. At least then the person "MIGHT" be mine and I know I'll have to look at the original myself. Such as my Risher clan. I highly suspect they've become Fisher on many documents because people are unfamiliar with the name Risher and assume it must be Fisher when the first letter is hard to decipher. Unfortunately I don't find these entries at all because there are too many Fisher folks to wade through and it's impossible to tell which might be my Rishers. I end up trusting that the transcriptionist was sure that it was Fisher. But if it says ?isher. I know there is hope. :-) Keep up the good work! -Bev ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tim Stowell" <[email protected]> <snip> > The biggest problem in transcribing is trying to figure out another person's > handwriting especially when they were using quill or very early ink pens to > write all this info. >