Transcriptions are not necessarily unreliable, but one needs to be aware if one is using the original record or a transcription of it. These town records from Marlborough, New Hampshire are actually transcriptions of the original records. The “first page” of the book indicates that it is a copy and the handwriting is too consistent throughout the volume to have been done contemporaneously. Transcriptions can always contain errors–after all, transcriptionists are human.
It may not be possible to get the original and it’s not always necessary. But it’s always worth knowing what you are using.
2 Responses
A clue suggesting a “transcription” is all the handwriting is the same.
Yes. That’s a big one. Bible records in the same handwriting are suggestive of someone sitting down to write them all at once instead of writing them as the events happened.