I really wish the people who cataloged the films at the Family History Library had cataloged them better. I always feel a bit taken in, when I've ordered a film to find that the information contained on the film and description are not really in synch.
I just got the Rochester, N.H. Vital Records as filmed from the town clerk at Rochester. Two items were of interest to me: Item #3: Marriages, Births, Deaths 1868-1877 and item #5: Births, Marriages, Deaths 1816-1896. What this really means is that the earliest date of one of the records (either a birth or marriage or death) was 1816 and the latest was 1896. It does not describe continuity nor the content for each of the three different types of vital records.
Item #3, M/B/D 1868-1877 is taken from the spine of the record book. However, the contents had only marriages from 1870-1877, births from 1875 only and deaths from 1875 only.
Item #5, B/M/D 1816-1896 has marriages from 1868-1878; births 1873-1878, deaths 1873-1879, then 1850-1862; marriages that were undated (which I have never seen before, literally no date), but presumably 1850-1853 since the dates commence in 1854 thereafter and run to 1869, although not in any discernible order. Then the marriages dip back to 1816 and run spottily to 1834 or so. After that, there is a huge section solely on the Roberts Family of Rochester which starts in 1741! Again, the 1816-1896 was a spine label.
So, had I known this, I wouldn't have spent my $5.50. This has happened on numerous occasions. I just consider that money as a donation for the filming of the records that have helped me. Still, it's not much fun to look forward to something just to be disappointed.
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