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. 
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I have requested documentation in the past where they have photo copied the original document and then took it upon themselves to put what they assume to be handwritten corrections (so called corrections) on the copy they sent to me that I paid for in good faith. I immediately request another copy without any notations because I had requested and paid for a copy of the original document (That means no alterations whatsoever). I am not going to assume the expertise of that unknown person who made those so called corrections. A seasoned researcher never assumes and assumptions are not allowed in good genealogical research. The only corrections I will accept are those made at the time the document was made and initialed and dated as such. I will make my own changes if I feel there is a correction to be made and also have my own research (no less than 3) proofs for my correction. I also do not accept a handwritten copy of a document. How do I know that is correct or done without changes or without eliminating important facts? Also that is NOT the document and is not acceptable in proving anything. Documentation is the most important thing in doing genealogical research and researching means you have exhausted personally every open avenue of searching for documents that might exist. Yes, it takes a great deal of time, even years but one knows they will have the correct answers and the correct ancestors.