Genealogy Chat

I've downloaded my latest scans and the page I'm working on is, to say the least, barely decipherable. At what point to I call it a day ? Do I keep zooming in & out for hours on end, or knock it on the head after an hour or so and put in lots of *'s and _'s Any advice from the more experienced transcribers would be appreciated. Terry (boggle-eyed)

I would say if you cannot work it out, do not try to guess as it is better to put _ than the wrong information altogether. Regards, Siobhan

Hi Terry Happy - er - somewhere between Christmas and New Year.... I would not go too boggle eyed over it. Some of the ones I have had have been absolutely impossible and I am quite experienced in reading the handwriting of the time. There's a second transcriber for each bit of register, maybe their eyes boggled at different bits! Eventually you just have to admit defeat - you can only Type What You See. We're all grateful for the work the transcribers put in. 3 Cheers! xx Ann xx

Thanks Siobhan/Ann for your advice. It looks like this particular page is going to be more *'s and _'s than letters. I just hope the other transcriber can do a little better. Best Wishes for the New Year. p.s. Ann, let me know if you get any further with your research on the Clerihews :-) Terry

Terry, i'm a transcriber for BMD too........ and know exactly what you mean. At first i spent hours trying to work it out, but it's pointless. it is better to put * or _ , than getting it wrong !! i also find going back to the page maybe the next day with fresh eyes helps too, i always pick out something obvious that i couldn't see the day before ! good luck Jane

Hi Terry, Like you, I too am a transcriber. Tell your syndicate head that you have a duff one. They will then try and do another scan or give it to someone, like myself, who tries and gets the scan from another source. Regards, Nesta

Hi Jane Are the typed pages any easier - I've only transcribed written pages so far.

Hi Nesta I've sent you a separate email. Terry

Terry, i've not had any typed ones yet, but have also had some very good hand written ones......... they're not all bad!!! Jane

Hi Terry; I transcribe typd pages and some of them are absolutely terrible! Last year I had one that out of the 3 colums (Usually about 360 or so entries) I could read about 100 of the entries! Like all the others have said, type what you see and maybe someone else can fill in a couple of gaps! Warm regards Sonja

Hi Terry I've had one or two really bad scans that were practically unreadable so I went to my local library that had the indexes on microfiche and found that they were a bit better to read so copied the details from them,obviously this may not always be the easiest option for you as you may not be near to a library that holds the indexes on fiche,so in that case just do the suggestions that the other transcribers have mentioned. Chris

Many thanks for all your replies and kind advice. It's nice to know that I'm not the sole "boggle-eyed" transcriber. Best wishes to everyone on GC for the New Year. Terry on the Rock.

I think it must be a current problem, cos my latest ones are really bad as well. Are your's Scan2 syndicates double page ones? julie t:)

Terence Its the same for all of us transcribing the written ones. I sometimes have problems with the top and bottom of the page, i was told it was because of greasy fingers changing the pages in the quarterly index's. What i do is have a sneak look at the previous and next page to see what they start and finish with. These pages for some reason are better scans. They are there on the download page. Another thing i did was download the District list, this helps when you can't read the town as it lists all places in each volume number. Keep up the good work all transcribers and Happy New Year George

Glad to hear you found the District Lists helpful George, I have found a number of places by this means, once you get an idea what it is, the words become plainer to see. I also print my scan out, so that I can view at leisure when I have a few moments, by going back to the sheet a number of times I usually find something else I can read. Only when I feel I can't do any better do I give up. I had one scan recently from 1841 deaths which was a joy to read, everything was clear and plain to read quite the opposite to the previous one which was a nightmare. Val

Valerie I was going to thank you for the info on the district list on my original posting but couldn't remember your surname. I find it really useful. Our group have finally finished the 1841 transcripts, now doing 1844 births so still written, no change there then. George

Hi Terry I know how you feel, I sent for part of the Lambeth area 1861 to transcribe, some sections are legible and some are impossible. I suppose it is up to us to at least try to do it, I normally put what I think it is and then add a ? this at least lets someone know that is searching that it may not be correct. It helps if you know some of the surnames of the area and time. I have found the greatest difficulty to be that of the age on the census sheets as they have scored a line through them rendering most of them illegible. What I thought was going to be a breeze has turned into a slow nightmare of zooming in and out. Regards Christina

Terry I've found it's often worth paying the 10p to download the page you're working on from the 1837 site. It's usually a much better copy!