Genealogy - indexing frustrations

[Kismet]

Indexing, for those who don't know, is when ordinary people volunteer to look at old, usually handwritten, records and interpret what key pieces of them say (usually names, dates, places) so that they can be searched online. Usually they do a pretty good job but sometimes I wonder what they heck they were smoking.

A case in point is my great-grandmother's passenger list entry from Genoa to NYC in 1902 which I found by slogging through entire ship manifests for the year in question. Admittedly, this entry is particularly difficult since it's written in two different hands where one is pretty ornate and one is a scrawl. I'd be interested to see how people would interpret this name. I can tell you it's Italian, female and last name is written first. The age is off to the right, which was also recorded incorrectly. The bit on the far left is her number on the list and that they checked off she was on the ship.

 

[movie zombie]

Ana DiLeligori
or
Ana DiGeligari

is it age or date of birth that was recorded to the right? was she born in 1891?

 

[JewelFreak]

DiTelegari? Mara, Maria, Nora?

 

[Kismet]

It's the age off to the right and not the year of birth.

She was indexed as:

Sltdcgarie, Ana - 91

What I believe it to be is:

Melegari, Rosa - 21

I can sort of understand not picking up on the stylized M but what they indexed is no sort of name at all. The age should have been a no brainer for the indexer as 9 was written totally differently than 2 (the 9s in the document looked more like a cursive lower case g).

 

[AprilBaby]

I saw the 91 and I also thought it might be Lena. It took me 3 years and lots of frustration with the Census to get my genealogy. Good luck with the fancy pants handwriting! How did THEY even read it?

 

[mrscushion]

Moligari, Ana, 21

ETA: Oh, I see I did pretty good. Never would have caught the "Rosa," though I can see it now.

 

[Amys Bling]

It's the age off to the right and not the year of birth.

She was indexed as:

Sltdcgarie, Ana - 91

What I believe it to be is:

Melegari, Rosa - 21

I can sort of understand not picking up on the stylized M but what they indexed is no sort of name at all. The age should have been a no brainer for the indexer as 9 was written totally differently than 2 (the 9s in the document looked more like a cursive lower case g).

Wow I def thought it was Ana, 91.