Hi Listers: Someone on one of my German lists posted the following. and with her premission I am quoting her: << I have to speak up now. I have found at least two serious errors that can really impede a researcher's progress. One is the result of the transcriber not being able to read old German script. It is very easy to mistake S's and L's, T's and F's, K's and R's, etc. In one instance (and the site I will mention for both problems is the same--the page for the ship Stuttgart from Bremen; January 25, 1893. I was looking up a name (Jan KRUPOT) which is close to my maiden name--KROPAT), a surname for 4 people was transcribed as LEIDEL, when, in reality, it should be SEIDEL. The German L and S in the case of the person who originally wrote the manuscript are very much alike. I am very used to this kind of script, so it wasn't difficult for me to discern the difference, however, anyone looking at the handwriting will be able to tell the difference. Below the LEIDEL/SEIDEL listing is a name that starts very definitely with an L and then below that is the surname SIMON. One can see the difference there in the penmanship and determine that the L should really be an S in LEIDEL. The other error on the same page is on the text version of the manuscript. The page starts with the late 200's (like 280 or 290) and goes down to about 320 or so. Jan KRUPOT was listed on the text version as being 310, so I went to view 310 on the original manifest and he wasn't there! Neither were the names surrounding his there! So I went back to the text and saw that the numbers 280 or so to about 320 or so were repeated twice on that same page with different names on the lines. I pulled up the enlarged version of the page and made sure that Jan KRUPOT was not on that page. I pulled up the next page and there was a totally different set of names on the page than was on the previous page I pulled up. So..it looks like the original manuscript for Jan KRUPOT is missing or mislabelled or something. I am afraid that if this screw up happened here that this isn't the only screw up involved! Anyone can check up and confirm what I am saying. One will have to be more than averagely creative to try to figure out how to find their ancestors at times, I am afraid. :( I was really saddened to see these problems.>> I repeat this here just to warn people---the Ellis Island site is a pretty neat thing, BUT, like all transcriptions, there are huge chances for errors. Not to mention that the shipping employee who wrote down the info might have got it wrong in the first place! So use the site, but take it with a teaspoon of salt, and always go back to the original. Btw, I found a few mistakes of my own. One person's destination was given as "Beehawken" which is most likely Weehawken, NJ. It is directly across from NYC and next to the town where I grew up. Janet C-S

Did you make your findings known to the people at the Ellis Island web site? they are the only ones who can make any corrections. ----- Original Message ----- From: <Caiside@aol.com> To: <SHAMROCK-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, April 23, 2001 3:09 PM Subject: [SH] mistakes on Ellis Island site > Hi Listers: > > Someone on one of my German lists posted the following. and with her > premission I am quoting her: > << I have to speak up now. I have found > at least > two serious errors that can really impede a researcher's progress. One is the > result of the transcriber not being able to read old German script. It is very > easy to mistake S's and L's, T's and F's, K's and R's, etc. In one instance > (and the site I will mention for both problems is the same--the page for > the ship > Stuttgart from Bremen; January 25, 1893. I was looking up a name (Jan KRUPOT) > which is close to my maiden name--KROPAT), a surname for 4 people was > transcribed as LEIDEL, when, in reality, it should be SEIDEL. The German L > and S > in the case of the person who originally wrote the manuscript are very much > alike. I am very used to this kind of script, so it wasn't difficult for me > to discern > the difference, however, anyone looking at the handwriting will be able to > tell the > difference. Below the LEIDEL/SEIDEL listing is a name that starts very > definitely > with an L and then below that is the surname SIMON. One can see the difference > there in the penmanship and determine that the L should really be an S in > LEIDEL. > > The other error on the same page is on the text version of the manuscript. > The page > starts with the late 200's (like 280 or 290) and goes down to about 320 or > so. Jan > KRUPOT was listed on the text version as being 310, so I went to view 310 > on the > original manifest and he wasn't there! Neither were the names surrounding > his there! > So I went back to the text and saw that the numbers 280 or so to about 320 > or so > were repeated twice on that same page with different names on the lines. I > pulled up > the enlarged version of the page and made sure that Jan KRUPOT was not on > that page. > I pulled up the next page and there was a totally different set of names on > the page > than was on the previous page I pulled up. So..it looks like the original > manuscript for > Jan KRUPOT is missing or mislabelled or something. I am afraid that if this > screw up > happened here that this isn't the only screw up involved! > Anyone can check up and confirm what I am saying. One will have to be more > than > averagely creative to try to figure out how to find their ancestors at > times, I am afraid. :( > I was really saddened to see these problems.>> > > I repeat this here just to warn people---the Ellis Island site is a pretty > neat thing, BUT, like all transcriptions, there are huge chances for errors. > Not to mention that the shipping employee who wrote down the info might have > got it wrong in the first place! So use the site, but take it with a > teaspoon of salt, and always go back to the original. > > Btw, I found a few mistakes of my own. One person's destination was given as > "Beehawken" which is most likely Weehawken, NJ. It is directly across from > NYC and next to the town where I grew up. > > Janet C-S > > > ==== SHAMROCK Mailing List ==== > *** Helpful Hints for Successful > Searching > http://community.webtv.net/mpetzolt2/helpfulhints ** >