This time it's a GRO error! - Genealogists' Forum

Phoenix · #1 07-09-09, 13:31

Flora Horn(e) b 1857 comes from a family of b*stards. She is one of five, her siblings have their fair share, so do her cousins etc.

So when I found her as Flora Meades, with her mother Fanny and a small Meades son, conveniently born in Portsmouth, which is some distance from the village on the fringes of Salisbury where her mother lived, I put two & two together.

Especially since I could find no marriage for her.

However, Ancestry shows a Flora Meads in 1891, with husband James. Birthplace wrong, but she's the right age.

I had another look, and she is transcribed on freebmd as Hornden:

Marriages Mar 1875 Fareham 2b 705
HORNDEN Flora
MEADS James

When you look at the original page, a printed one, there is clearly a typo. The names go from John Hornden to Catherine Hornden. Clearly Catherine & all the other "Horndens" are actually Hornes and doomed to linger in obscurity. And I had maligned poor Flora!

kiterunner · #2 07-09-09, 13:45

You can post up a "postem" on FreeBMD to say you think the surname should be Horne.

Uncle John · #3 07-09-09, 18:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by kiterunner

You can post up a "postem" on FreeBMD to say you think the surname should be Horne.

I did that with a death where the surname in the GRO index began with an S instead of an L. The local RO found the certificate in the correct name. There's no way way at all of notifying corrections to the GRO indexes. And Ancestry uses the FreeBMD transcriptions verbatim. For an Ancestry-transcribed BM (and soon D) I presume you can submit a correction.

Phoenix · #4 08-09-09, 10:00

Thank you both for your suggestions.

As an old pupil of Meadvale School for the Gifted*, I have totally failed in all attempts to query transcriptions on Freebmd - I know it must be easy, but they kept telling me simply that I was WRONG until I gave up in desparation, while I subvert Ancestry to my purposes without having a subscription, so can't submit corrections there.

* see the cartoon by Gary Larson

Mary from Italy · #5 08-09-09, 11:03

All but one of my corrections to FreeBMD have been accepted, as far as I remember.

Did you remember to tick the tiny box about halfway down the correction page?

Uncle John · #6 08-09-09, 11:16

It's a pain isn't it? FreeBMD won't accept an alteration to what the GRO index actually says. And this one was a typed S.

kiterunner · #7 08-09-09, 13:03

Sorry, Phoenix, I didn't mean submit a correction to FreeBMD, as they will only accept a correction that matches the actual GRO index entry.

What I meant was, if you click on the "Info" button next to an entry on FreeBMD and then look just below the bit about submitting a correction, it then says "You may add a postem to this entry (see below for explanation)".

The explanation says " Postem is a note left by someone about this record - the content of the postem is determined by the person who left it. FreeBMD can offer no assurance about the postem and will not enter into correspondence about it. You can leave a Postem by clicking on Add a postem".

Olde Crone · #8 08-09-09, 22:12

I can understand why the GRO will not accept corrections to their index - it would create administrative mayhem for THEM, because it would then mean there was more than one version of the GRO index in circulation.

This thorny problem was to have been solved at a stroke by the DOVE project. Unfortunately, the DOVE is now a dead duck, if you will excuse my mixed metaphor, so we will all just have to muddle on with the GRO index as it stands, warts n all!

OC