Mondays with Myrt Question - 24 Oct 2016

This is NOT a Family Tree Maker blog post.

From the 24 Oct 2016 Mondays with Myrt, our friend John Laws had this question:

Why does Ancestry add data on transcriptions not on the original documents & if a transcription looks off its probably mis-transcribed take a zoomed in look at whats actually witten down it'll probably be miss transcribed look at the 1881 census Registration district West Ham ED, institution, or vessel 12 Piece 1727 Folio 14 Page number 25 Can you see whats wrong and what's incorrectly implied?

Several of us tried to answer his question. After the Hangout, I went back to see if I could find out what the issue was / is.

The Record in question can be found here:

1881 England Census for Robert Laws - Essex, Leyton Low, District 12

This is the Transcription in Question

So that you can read it:

Name:Robert Laws

Age:5

Estimated birth year:abt 1876

Relationship to Head:Son (Head) (Head)

Mother:Maria Fuller

Gender:Male

Where born:Mile End

Civil Parish:Leyton LowCounty/Island:EssexCountry:England

Street address:1 Ebenezer Vil

Education:

Employment status:

View image

Occupation:Scholar

Registration district:West HamED, 

institution, or vessel:

12Neighbors:

View others on page

Piece:1727

Folio:14

Page Number:25

Household Members:

Name	Age
Robert Laws	5
Blanche Laws	4
Arthur Laws	3
Herbert Laws
Maria Fuller	66
Martha Kelly	36
Mary Kelly	9
Sarah Donald	15

I bolded the items in question. 

To make sure we are on the right page:

and the right Household:

We see the image as transcribed. From the best that I can tell, for this is the first time looking at this type of record, the transcription is correctly transcribed. 

Still trying to understand Johns concern, I kept looking.

It's hard to show this, but Robert, age 5, is the Son of the Head of Household, BUT it listed where I would normally expect to find the Head of Household. So, John may be right. But, lets look at the "mother".

She is down the list, be is 66 years old, and clearly marked at "Mother" to the Head of Household.

This two may be why the question. A 5 Year Old, with a 66 Year Old mother.

So, if this was the only record I had to work with, I would probably have questions about the family.

John mentioned that he KNEW that Robert's mother and father were "at sea" during this time period, as his father was a mariner. When John said that, the questions went away. 

Maria Fuller

66

Would have been the Mother to the Head of Household, or my interpretation Household Owner / Renter, and that

Robert Laws

5

was the son of the absent Head of Household.

Unless I am still missing something, I think that the Transcription is in line with the attached image. The household, at the time, had 3 generations, with the Head of Household "at sea".

The Recording of this can be seen and hear at

Mondays with Myrt - 24 Oct 2016
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Copyright © 2016 by H R Worthington