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From: "Sue Richart" <>
Subject: [GENMASSACHUSETTS] NEHGS Mass Vital Records 1841-1910 database:Amended Records, The Saga Continues
Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2009 07:14:07 -0800


Greetings Listers,
No surprise, when I start digging into something with the database I learn
something new.

I'm going to go back through the volumes I've done so far with amended
records, because I now realize that the volume numbers for amended records
continue into the 1900 to 1910 time frame. I hadn't looked at the 1900 to
1910 low volume numbers in that time frame, because of all the post-1902
individual death records with the same volume numbers. At least the amended
record birth volumes do continue to at least 1910. As I've started going
through the amended record volume numbers for births I'm correcting one or
two entries per volume that actually should be a valid regular (viewable)
volume number. As it is a slow process doing a Copy and Paste to a
spreadsheet of 400-plus records, I've started with volumes in the 30s, but
will be working my way back down and up from there. If you are curious
about most of these volume number errors, they are mostly due to a number in
the volume with a much lighter keystroke (for those young folks out there,
I'm talking about a typewriter with a ribbon) that the scanning software did
not see. Another portion are mis-scans of one of the numbers, 104 vice 404
for example. A very small percentage are typing errors where one number was
skipped.

Also, if the entry you are looking for is in a town with Family History
Library microfilms of the vital records (Boston and Saugus would be two
examples) and the correction occurred prior to the date the specific town
record book was closed, then you can actually see the correction on the
town's vital records. I checked the Saugus Vital Records microfilm on
Tuesday and those corrections that I looked at usually had an indication as
to the cause of the correction. In most cases, it was a disposition. In
one, the doctor, who delivered the baby, informed the clerk of the error.

A reminder, the volumes are sorted by town name in alphabetical order more
or less. Page numbers should go up sequentially by year. Common is A to L
or M to W, but nothing appears to be set in stone. Saugus entry page numbers
should be prior to Shrewsbury, and Shrewsbury page numbes should be before
Somerville page numbers, for example. The less part appears to when an event
happened somewhere else. One odd thing about amended records you might see
two town names or a town name and a country name in the town field. This
means that if you query for the town the record will NOT come up. I would
strongly suggest that when you find what you think is an amended record,
take the time to specifically query for the surname and the year without an
entry in the town field. Both entries may be amended records, but you might
get a clue as to where the event occurred from the second entry.

As always, you may email me directly to check the index. I do have images
of most of the 203 index volumes and can get a digitized page of the index
pages I am missing. I have a request in for the rest of them, but, and
rightfully so, Sam Sturgis is working on the actual missing, misidentified,
or poorly scanned registration pages first.

Sue Richart
NEHGS Volunteer

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