I just got the CD's yesterday myself - but I had already learned to look for various names Try the 1881 UK census for instance I have that too. but also having looked at the microfilms of some of these census films - I agree with you - for the transcribers it can be very difficult to figure out what each name should be - some of the writing is quite poor - other times it is so faded. Judi McNairn, Bruce County, Ontario ----- Original Message ----- From: "christine" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, May 10, 2002 6:52 AM Subject: Re: [SCTCDN] 1881 Census CD's from the Mormons > This is so true of researching. One has to be very careful or diligent I > suppose, and keep an open mind, either as a novice or an old hand at the > genealogy game. Names can be tricky at the best of times, but to a non > trained census taker of that time a job well done. A lot of them wrote a > name as they heard it, pronounced to them by the person saying the name, and > how they thought it was written. The information is very valuable, and nine > out of ten times the info is correct. > I have not seen the 1881 Canadian Census but do know that the names are > transcribed as they are written, if those folks who compiled the Census > documents for computers had the monumental task of figuring out that > McKwilken or McCooken was actually McQuilken/McQuilkin/McQuilkan for > example..... we would never get to see transcribed census documents. > On another note, there were immigration schemes that brought people out to > Canada for a fee, and the promise of land, but there were age restrictions, > some people in the Old Country lied about their ages just to get here, that > is why birthdates can be very wrong and varied. > Most documents are transcribed as seen, face value..... not as what a > transcriber figures it should be. > > Cheers > Christine > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Margaret Kipp" <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Friday, May 10, 2002 2:09 AM > Subject: [SCTCDN] 1881 Census CD's from the Mormons > > > > > > I have just finished searching family members in the 1881 Canadian Census > > disk set. A large number of the names I was looking for contained serious > > spelling errors which would prevent a novice genealogist from finding > their > > ancestors, using correct spelling. Even allowing for the difficulty of > > reading the writing of the 1800's, I seriously question the reliability > and > > diligence of some of those doing the coding. Makes you wonder about the > > reliability of the rest of the facts. Obviously, one needs to use these > > cd's as a guide and reference the original records. > > > > Margaret in Toronto > > > > > > ==== SCOTS-IN-CANADA Mailing List ==== > > To unsubscribe: [email protected] inserting the word > unsubscribe in both the subject line and the text area and using a fresh > email to do it. Use -D- if you are in Digest mode. > > > > ============================== > > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, > go to: > > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > > > > > > ==== SCOTS-IN-CANADA Mailing List ==== > To unsubscribe: [email protected] inserting the word unsubscribe in both the subject line and the text area and using a fresh email to do it. Use -D- if you are in Digest mode. > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > >