Clerks who were making record copies of documents were not to change anything. That handwritten copy in the records office was a legal copy of the original and needed to be exact. Clerks who noticed errors in the original would often make a notation on their handwritten copy indicating that they had noticed an error. Underlinings, wiggles above words, and other annotations usually indicate the clerk thought the original was wrong but copied it as it was written. 
Get the Genealogy Tip of the Day Book
Get the More Genealogy Tip of the Day Book
Archives