Transcribing The Census: There has to be a better way
       I have been working on my family tree  since 1986 and I am tiring.
#1
       Why don't "we" transcribe only what we know to be true, with the 
caveat that we make mistakes just like the original census takers did and 
with the 'default' that we can always fall back to the originals.
       As an example, while I found an original written so poorly, that it 
was not until later that I learned what the childrens actual names were, so I 
am one of the few people who could accurately "transcribe" what the census 
taker wrote down.

#2
       Why not use the actual forms as originally used, even when we now 
"know better"
At least that way, no-one could cook up their own forms.
#3
       Why not transcribe only those records of information which are of 
individual interest.
       I see no reason for anyone to go thru the drudgery of doing a 
"complete" sheet or county or (Twp or Post Office), while ruining their eyes 
and repeating errors or making new ones, simply because "they are someone 
elses relatives, not mine"
(or even if they are diligent, they get tired)

       The  census records might then be incomplete which is what they are 
now.
(In fact, many "Family History Centers" shrug their shoulders when you ask 
for a particular census, and fall back on "the counties have changed or the 
British burned the records")
       I realize that many of these concepts can be improved upon, but I am 
disgusted for having paid taxes to have the census' taken and then being 
unable to ever put them together again
       I am quite willing to put my few ancestors on the census lists and I 
believe that many census would be completed in short order compared to those 
poor "volunteers that are trying to complete whole counties.
       If everyone who has a computer only contribute a little, we could 
accomplish a lot !

L&S,

Robert Davis
13117A NW 8th Ave.
Vancouver, WA 98685


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