This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/WGB.2ACI/1577.1.2 Message Board Post: "Whoever did the transcribing of all the people buried in graves around Muskegon County sure messed up." As someone who has done a minimal amount of transcriptions, I can tell you that it's not always easy. Handwriting and old headstones are two of the hardest things to read. I'm not saying that the group of people or organization responsible for indexing and transcribing headstones in various parts of Muskegon Co. did a stellar job, but it was done several years ago (I know one group did it back in the 1970s) and new info. has come to light since then. (Also headstones have deteriorated or broken since that time.) Then there are always cases where people were buried in a particular cemetery but couldn't afford a headstone, or one was there once upon a time but is no longer. And other individuals were buried in the same grave as another family member but not noted in the records or on the stone. >From what I have observed around the country, there have been oversights and mistakes made almost everywhere in transcribing headstones and anything else. Still we should be thankful for the volunteers who took the time to do this for their fellow researchers. We could have nothing at all if it weren't for them. As far as spelling is concerned, unfortunately the dead have no control over errors made on gravestones. Dates are a prime example of this. However, anyone who has been researching their family history for any length of time knows that our ancestors weren't as particular about spelling as we are today. And there's the real possibility that if a mistake was made on the stone they went ahead and used it because they couldn't afford to have another one made.