For UK census data I use our Public Record Office reference number which identifies census, piece, folio and page. Wherever possible I take a copy of the original image and I always transcribe for myself. This avoids secondary transcription errors (from other people keying in the information) - apart from any I introduce myself, that is!. More importantly, anyone else can look at the same images by using that reference and decide if I got it right or not.

However it doesn't avoid primary transcription errors. The original census forms were filled in by the householder, if they could write, and then transcribed onto the standard forms by the enumerator for the district. I have several examples where the enumerator got it wrong - typically by dittoing information from the previous line when they shouldn't, or by mis-spelling surnames. When correcting these in your files it's vital to annotate the source to say what you've done and why.

The key is that any other researcher should be able to use your source reference to locate the original documents and form their own opinion.

regards
Roy Ayres
(Eltham UK)


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