1820 U.S. census, Wilkes County, Georgia, p. 162, lines 4, 20, Lydia Patton and Georgia Tilley; digital image, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 27 December 2017); citing NARA microfilm publication M33, roll 9.

 

Luckily I know who the first entry is. It is George’s stepmother Lydia (Orr) Patton. So here is the problem. Lydia and George are very different words so no matter how fuzzy you make this search these two will not be picked up as a possibility for the other unless I searched for the name Patton only. Let’s say I did search just for the name Patton. If you were looking for a Lydia Patton would you click on the name George in the index? Or, if you were looking for someone named George would you click on Lydia? This is just an example. Lydia wasn’t in the index at all since she was indexed as George.

 

Don’t get me wrong. I know that the handwriting is hard to read and it is always easier for someone who is familiar with the names to spot them. My point is, don’t rely on indexes. The indexers are human and they make mistakes. Sometimes you need to hand search the images.

 

All of the online repositories have this indexed incorrectly and I have sent corrections to all of them. This is how you can make the index better. If you see something like this let them know.

 

So where is George? No clue. I haven’t found him yet.

 

 

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Michele Simmons Lewis, CG^® is part of the Legacy Family Tree team at MyHeritage. She handles the enhancement suggestions that come in from our users as well as writing for Legacy News. You can usually find her hanging out on the Legacy User Group Facebook page answering questions and posting tips.