Massachusetts, State Census, 1855 - FamilySearch Historical Records/Known Issues

Question 1
Question 1: Were some records from Chesterfield, Hampshire County indexed as being from Belchertown, Hampshire County? Answer 1: The first 42 records (9 families) of Chesterfield were incorrectly indexed as being from Belchertown.

Question 2
Question 2: There are some confusing images in the Barnstable &gt; Eastham waypoint in this collection. Can you clarify for me what they are? Answer 2: Images in this collection are often interconnected with the following County waypoint. In this situation Image 11 from Eastham County is the last page of the county waypoint, and shares the image with the first page of Falmouth. The image was filmed with an overlay over the Falmouth on the right. Scrolling forward shows you the same pages with an overlay for records from the State Lunatic Hospital. You will notice it also rolls in to the Falmouth waypoint. Scrolling forward again gives you the first page of Falmouth County with an overlay over the Eastham page.

Question 3
Question 3: There seems to be some pages missing in the Bristol &gt; Staunton waypoint. Can you tell me where to find them? Answer 3: When this waypoint was loaded it appears there were three pages that were missed. They would fit between images 153-157 which now show some extraneous images instead. They can be viewed on Film #953977 at the Family History Library or some FamilySearch Centers. They are on images 282-284 on the film. We recommend you call ahead and verify that the Center has the equipment to view films and their hours of operation.

Question 4
Question 4: There seems to be many instances in this collection where the residence was indexed incorrectly. Is there a way to find the correct residence? Answer 4: The way to verify the correct residence will be to look at the image of the original document. It appears that when some of these counties were sent for indexing, the first few pages of a county were added to the end of the previous county. They were then indexed incorrectly as being from that county. For instance: At the waypoint Massachusetts, State Census, 1855 &gt; Middlesex In the town of:


 * a. Dracut - Images 1-4 are from Concord and the records are indexed as Dracut
 * Images 5-30 are from Dracut
 * b. Dunstable - Images 1-6 are images from Dracut and indexed as Dunstable
 * Image 7 is from Dunstable
 * c. Framingham - Images 1-5 are from Dunstable indexed as Framingham
 * Images 6-62 are images from Framingham
 * d. Groton - Images 1-8 are Framingham indexed as Groton
 * Images 9-35 are Groton
 * e. Holliston - Images 1-7 are from Groton – indexed as Holliston
 * Images 8-37 are from Holliston

Question 5
Question 5: My ancestor has been combined with the wrong family. Can I find the correct family? Answer 5: There are instances where the indexer incorrectly combined the families. Usually the record details page links to the correct image. If you find discrepancies, you can look at the image to see the correct household associations.


 * Go to the Massachusetts, State Census, 1855 - FamilySearch Historical Records article
 * Go to the Massachusetts, State Census, 1855 collection at FamilySearch.org