Did they marry in 2 separate churches on the same day ?

[osprey]

there are problems with other parishes. I've found indexing errors in Monmouthshire as well and just this morning found some Llanenddwyn records under Montgomeryshire. It looks like the same records, might well be the BTs.

I'm not sure where the indexing errors creep in. It could be that FindMyPast took the records in good faith from the Welsh Archives Services, although it seems unlikely that WAS would allocate Merionethshire records to Montgomeryshire. Just goes to show that you can't rely on transcriptions and should always check the original record.

 

[DCB]

That is interesting.

I had a quick look and one of the burials is for the rector, Hugh Pryse, in June 1787. However, one is from the Powys Transcripts and one from Merionethshire.

At first, I thought that one might be BTs and one PRs but both are they same, although scanned at different times.

David

[Ninian]

Llandanwg really is a real jumble.  So I decided to have a look elsewhere, so I moved on to Llanfair and checked some records I already had copies of from Dolgellau and NLW - not one came up.  Despite the FindMyPast list claiming to have Llanfair Bapts 1787 - 1878, I can't find a baptism at all; they have some marriage but despite supposedly having burials for 1767 - 1810 I can't find any of those either.

I then tried Llanfihangel y traethau.  FindMyPast have a short film run from the Mormon film: Baptisms 1811 - 1817 but despite saying they have the baptisms for Llanfihangel from 1690-1912 they certainly don't come up on any search I've done. I have copies (from Dolgellau) of bapts of a large family where the bapts start in 1808 and run thru to 1822 but only the 2 children bapt between 1811 and 1817 come up in the search.

You are right - the only thing to do is to check all FindMyPast records at the County Archives or NLW - very tedious.  FindMyPast must have purchased the films which the Mormon church filmed in 2007 when they went round the NL and the County Archive offices in Wales.  Perhaps they didn't purchase all the available films?  or have lost some? or their search engine just isn't picking them up? I tried to tell them but they really wouldn't accept it.  Have either of you tried?  I think I will try again - I might get someone who is more receptive next time.  if enough people tell them there is a problem they might look into it.

One thing that FindMyPast don't do is to record where there are gaps in the coverage. All their lists of coverage are continuous - and that isn't right.  Many parishes have gaps where the information has gone missing over the centuries. This is very clear on the catalogues in the County Archives and the NLW but FindMyPast claim the coverage is continuous. This doesn't help.

I'm not sure if I dare to move on to look at the other North Wales counties now I know that problems seem to occur in most counties.

It's not all bad news though - I only signed up to FindMyPast this month and I've already found several really useful records in Merioneth (and I think they are correct) and as a result I've found 2 new marriage bonds and 3 new wills - so that's offset the frustration with the missing records ...... more or less!

   

[DCB]

Normally FindMyPast have been quite good on changes, especially the 1911 census after I reported scores of errors.

The Wales records are perhaps a bit more complicated although changing the county from Montgomery to Merionethshire shouldn't be too difficult. In fact, they could probably remove the Llanenddwyn records from Montgomery because they are the same as Merionethshire and not such good copies.

I will send a message to them and see if it makes any difference.

Re Llanfihangel-y-traethau, this is another of my areas and there are some c1700. For instance, I have an Elin Owen of 1704, although she is transcribed as Elin Humphrey. Patronymics causes the problem and they assume that the father's surname is that of the child.

As you have found, it can be very frustrating but I have found sufficient to make me want to renew my subscription when it is due.

David

[DCB]

I have sent a message to FindMyPast.

Re my previous message, I got it the wrong way round with the quality of images. The Montgomery copy is better than that of Merionethshire.

David

[Ninian]

They were good on amending 1911 transcription errors that I sent in too ..... before I gave up cos there were so many but as you say this is more complicated.

I think I will have another go with reporting the oddities with Llandanwg etc and hope I get a different person and better response.  I'm away most of next week and then I'm hoping to get a day trip to NLW the following week so I might wait til then so I can quote the differences in FindMyPast records with those in NLW (dunno if that will help but it might).

I went on to the family search site this evening and the describe the FindMyPast site as a Partner Site and say "This collection was done in cooperation with FindMyPast".  As the Mormon Church did the filming perhaps FindMyPast did the transcriptions and the results were shared?  They have certainly shared the errors - I looked up my Hugh Griffith marriage (actually 30 Aug 1779 in Llanenddwyn) on the family search site and it was identical to FindMyPast:  13 Aug in Llandanwg and 30 Aug in Llaneddwyn.

[DCB]

I have had a reply from FindMyPast and they say that they will not change anything by email and you have to use the 'Report Transcription Change' method. This is OK for a simple change but not global changes. It would takes days of continuous work and hundreds (thousands?) of submissions to update all of the errors.

My subscription is up for renewal in two weeks and I am considering a cancellation.

David

[DCB]

Having sent another message to FindMyPast, they now say that they will look into it.

David

[Ninian]

That's good.  They told me to report thru the Transcription Change method too.  As you say, just not practical, it's not designed for reporting whole batches of mis-assigned images ...... and they more or less told me that the images were correct anyway. 

I'm glad you've got them to look at the issue.  I'll try and look at some of the images we think are popping up under the wrong parish when I go to the NLW shortly and see which parishes the NLW record them as.  Then I'll report the issue again, armed I hope with evidence from the NLW ...... if they haven't sorted it by then.  It can't do any harm for more than one person to report their errors.  The more valid complaints they get the more careful they might be in future (perhaps!)