Posts Tagged genealogy errors
#52 Ancestors – No. 15 – Suzanne Botfaite
Posted by Caroll in French Canadian Genealogy, Genealogy on April 13, 2014
This post is number 15 in the series of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge where a group of us blog about a different ancestor for each week of the year. To learn more about the 52 Ancestor Challenge visit Amy’s website.
Is it Botfaite or Gotfaite, that is the question?
There are several printed transcribed records of the immigrants and settlers of New France (Quebec) as well as the handwritten records of of the church. The handwritten records are in French. Specifically I am looking at the Drouin Collection. The collection is the work of Joseph Drouin, founder of the Drouin Genealogical Institute. The collection contains French-Canadian and English historical records from 1621-1967. The institute microfilmed the Quebec parish records back in the 19060’s.
My 10th great grandmother is Suzanne Botfaite. She was born in England about 1630 and died in Quebec in 1694. She is the daughter of Gilbert Botfaite and Anne Bonne. I have not been able to find the family in England. They have French names and good have easily moved back and forth from England to France before making the move to find a new life in Quebec.
The printed records stated various spellings for the Botfaite name. They include Betfer, Bedfer, Bedford, Bottefer, and a few others. There is another microfilmed capture of a Suzanne Bottefair that I am unable to decipher the flourish handwriting.
I find the microfilmed Drouin record interesting. In reviewing the record that last name appears to be spelled with a “G” not the letter “B”. I have looked at words starting with a capital “B” or “G” in this particular register and see a distinct pattern. The lower case “b” and “g” look similar. It most cases the “B” has a flourish or stroke on the left stem of the letter. I can see why a transcriber would think the first letter is a “B”. The more I look at the handwriting, the more I think the last name started with a “G” and may be Gotfaite instead. Now I just need to confirm my hypothesis.
Below is the entry of Suzanne’s 1649 marriage record to Mathieu Hubou at the Notre Dame parish in Montreal, Quebec. I highlighted words with the letter “G” in red. The blue circles are the letter “B”. Suzanne’s father, Gilbert is in one of the red boxes. The “G” in his name is written is similar to the first letter in Gotfaite. So, what do you think? Is it a “G” or “B”?
Source Information:
Devil in the Details – My experience with a Polish Genealogist Researcher
Posted by Caroll in Genealogy, Polish Genealogy on November 11, 2013
I hired a Polish genealogy researcher located in Poland three years with mediocre results. Mostly my compliant was with the incorrect of labeling the documents correctly and email correspondence. I also thought the costs were a bit high at that time. Especially, since I had to ask for clarification of the document labeling and spelling errors.
I quite aware of language translation barriers and would expect semantic errors. But these typing errors muddled family names in the same sentence. I could not tell if it was a spelling variant or different person. When I followed up for clarification, sometimes, I had to ask twice. Lack of details and follow through is not a good trait for a researcher. My email asked if they spelled the name incorrectly. The reply was a lesson on grammatical gender rules regarding the family names. Budna and Borucka are the feminine forms or Budny and Borucki.
No, I asked about spelling. The name you wrote was “Budy”; did you mean “Budny”? I had five years of French and one year of German. I know all about grammatical gender naming. The other misspelling was Bogucki for Borucki. That’s frustrating for when you are trying to verify family names. My last name is Polish if you have not figured that one out. I seen Budny spelled in a few different ways. We were not sure how the name was spelled in Polish. My goal is this research request was to verify the Polish spelling.
The records for a birth and death certificate were in Russian. The Russian spelling just adds to confusion. Then add writing styles on top of that create more chaotic spelling variations. The documents had two variants of spelling by the same writer. I included three snapshots of the Russian spelling of Budny is this blog.
One emailed listed the names of the god-parents as Ksawery and Julianna Borucki. Michal the researcher said that Julianna’s maiden name was “Budy” and could be a relative. Now, did he mean to write “Budny” or “Budna”? When asked for clarification, he said her maiden name was “Borucka”; I’m frustrated and confused.
I am getting no closer to enlightenment with my corresponding. Though now I have a few extra names to pursue. Further research was needed and requested by me. However, a lack of follow through by Michal ended our contract.
I am ready to do additional Polish research and looking to hire another firm in Poland. I was wondering if any one had recommendations. Here is a few that I found on the web. Cyndislist has quite a few at http://www.cyndislist.com/poland/professionals. Let me know if you have used them and what your experience was like.
http://www.ancestralattic.com/
http://genopolisgenealogy.com/#home
The Borucki / Borucka family is from Mamino, Makow Mazowicki in Poland. The birth and death certificate were located in Pultusk State Archives. They were from the Civil Registry Office of the Roman Catholic Church in Gasewo Poduchowne.
Records for the Budny side were not located in this particular search. Information is sketchy, but a possible locate is Kolaki, Poland and may be in the Sielun parish. A researcher with ties to Makow Mazowicki would be ideal.
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