[#1358] 1900 Census error

[Gjest Nancy Gustafson]

Who do I contact about an error in the 1900 Census? My g-grandfather's date of birth is wrong by 20 years. In Skei, N-Trondelag, my g-grandparents are John & Julianne Jenshus (and I have confirmed that these REALLY are my g-grandparents). John is listed as being born in 1854 in Beitstad. His correct date of birth is April 24, 1974 at Jenshusplass, Beitstaden.

[Gjest Nancy Gustafson]

OOOPS, I MEANT TO SAY HE WAS BORN APRIL 24, 1874.

[Gjest Kjell Hamberg]

Censuses should be treated as secondary sources of information. That's even more so when the lists have been transcripted. There's always a risk that a transcription will add new errors to those already in the original material.The general attitude is to keep the information from the original list even if it's definetely wrong (honesty to the source). On the other hand, if the error is due to the transcription, it should be corrected.From what I understand, the people running this Digital Archive just can't handle each and every one of the identified errors; it will take too much time.However, some kind of password protected "mailbox" has been proposed to collect information on errors in transcripted sources in DA, but I don't know if the idea will see "light of day".Kjell Hamberg