NEHGS MVR 1841-1910 Tip 5: Town trouble For those using www.newenglandancestors.org Massachusetts Vital Records 1841-1910 on-line database, here is a tip that may make using it a bit easier. Here is a sample of some recent corrections. Chapin Elias P. Springfield 1854 78 321 Marriage MI F. Chapin Sidney M. Upton 1852 60 247 Marriage town Chicopee Chapin Susan Racilia Upton 1851 54 267 Marriage town Chicopee Chapin Sybil L. Upton 1852 60 251 Marriage town Chicopee Chapin Walter C. Bernardston 1851 54 52 Marriage town Pittsfield The original clerks that typed the index are a source of some town name errors. I've seen Warren and Barre interchanged, Rochester and Worcester interchanged, anything with North, East, South, or West in the name interchanged with any other town with North, East, South, or West in its name. Northborough for Northbridge or Northborough for Southborough are common examples. This also applies to New, Old, Med, Middle, and Field in a town name. Also, they sometimes left off the New in New Bedford and other like named towns. This list seemingly includes most of the Massachusetts town names. The farther away the town was from Boston and the smaller the community, the more likely the error is from the original clerks. Some errors came about in a recent effort by the NEHGS to correct the scanning errors in the town name. For example, the town of Swansea and Swansey had to be corrected to just one version of the name. There were nearly 2,000 entries with an incorrect spelling when the webmaster did a count of towns. The town name may have been so badly mangled, that someone probably thought they knew the correct name, but were less familiar with the smaller communities and picked the wrong one. Another problem involves a column shift on the town field in the database. I haven't actually fixed any of those in a while, so hopefully, we have the bulk of them corrected. These errors will have no relationship to the town name that should be there. Just the town name for the entry that was one or two lines above or below it in the index. The final problem is the town name is not in the town field of the database, see my sample above. This means any query with the town field selected will come up without that entry, since it is blank. There aren't many fortunately, but they are a challenge to find and fix. In all cases, before you discard an entry as unlikely because the town isn't anywhere near where you research subject is supposed to be, check out the entry. Your entry may be actually be on the correct town's page, but the town name for its entry is wrong whatever the reason. Again, please let John Ledden on the NEHGS forum; Dale Cook, Plymouth guru; or me know when you find these things. Sue Richart NEHGS Volunteer