Date Format
Decipher the date 10/11/12. Is it Oct 11 or Nov 10? Depends who you ask! What year is it 2012, 1912, or what? No way to know. In family history dates are formatted dd-mmm-yyyy. Can't argue with 10 Nov 2012.
Date Qualifiers
Sometimes dates can be approximated their relationship to a known event. Approximation terms Include:
b. - or before,
a. - or after,
bet. - or between,
c. - for circa or about which usually means a period of + or - 2 years for an estimated date. For example, between 1850 and 1940 the US Census contains the age of listed individuals. Subtracting a person's age from the census year yields an approximate birth year. To this I add "circa" or "c.".To me, circa or about.
Address
In the USA except for Wash D.C., Louisiana, and parts of Virginia) family history addresses contain city, county, and state. City is the nearest town (if you don't live in one) to which your mail is addressed. Counties and cities may be confused if one is omitted; e.g., Los Angeles, CA. There is a Los Angeles city and county. To which do we refer? Who knows? I always add the abbreviation" Co." to clarify what I mean.
In the preceding example, there is a Los Angeles (city) inside Los Angeles (county). So we can only list the county and state for sure.
Louisiana has Parishes not Counties. So for a Louisiana parish I add "Pr." instead of "Co." Virginia has a odd political territory, a city/county. The city/county often sits in a "real" county of another name. It's my guess that its charter is political rather than geographical. So instead, I list the county in which the city/county resides; e.g., Petersburg, Dinwiddie Co. VA, rather than Petersburg City-County an Independent City, VA.
In foreign countries do the best you can.
Abbreviations
Abt. - About followed by a date,
b. - born followed by a date,
c. - period or about followed by a date,
d. - died or death followed by a date.
"Sacred" Data
There are lots of errors in family history records. Some enumerators have poor handwriting and/or bad spelling. These records are later processed by machine or other third party which introduces additional problems. So if a given name is spelled "Bengamin" and you just know it should be "Benjamin" the rule is you must use it as written, no changes. I don't like it either. The only work-around is to find a close family member or a more agreeable spelling in related documents.
Sifting for Sources
An un-sourced event can still tell you something aout the information's repository, consider the following:
Decipher the date 10/11/12. Is it Oct 11 or Nov 10? Depends who you ask! What year is it 2012, 1912, or what? No way to know. In family history dates are formatted dd-mmm-yyyy. Can't argue with 10 Nov 2012.
Date Qualifiers
Sometimes dates can be approximated their relationship to a known event. Approximation terms Include:
b. - or before,
a. - or after,
bet. - or between,
c. - for circa or about which usually means a period of + or - 2 years for an estimated date. For example, between 1850 and 1940 the US Census contains the age of listed individuals. Subtracting a person's age from the census year yields an approximate birth year. To this I add "circa" or "c.".To me, circa or about.
Address
In the USA except for Wash D.C., Louisiana, and parts of Virginia) family history addresses contain city, county, and state. City is the nearest town (if you don't live in one) to which your mail is addressed. Counties and cities may be confused if one is omitted; e.g., Los Angeles, CA. There is a Los Angeles city and county. To which do we refer? Who knows? I always add the abbreviation" Co." to clarify what I mean.
In the preceding example, there is a Los Angeles (city) inside Los Angeles (county). So we can only list the county and state for sure.
Louisiana has Parishes not Counties. So for a Louisiana parish I add "Pr." instead of "Co." Virginia has a odd political territory, a city/county. The city/county often sits in a "real" county of another name. It's my guess that its charter is political rather than geographical. So instead, I list the county in which the city/county resides; e.g., Petersburg, Dinwiddie Co. VA, rather than Petersburg City-County an Independent City, VA.
In foreign countries do the best you can.
Abbreviations
Abt. - About followed by a date,
b. - born followed by a date,
c. - period or about followed by a date,
d. - died or death followed by a date.
"Sacred" Data
There are lots of errors in family history records. Some enumerators have poor handwriting and/or bad spelling. These records are later processed by machine or other third party which introduces additional problems. So if a given name is spelled "Bengamin" and you just know it should be "Benjamin" the rule is you must use it as written, no changes. I don't like it either. The only work-around is to find a close family member or a more agreeable spelling in related documents.
Sifting for Sources
An un-sourced event can still tell you something aout the information's repository, consider the following:
•
Census - The US Federal Census was taken every 10 years . The records cover
from 1790-1940. Census data is withheld for 73 years (e.g., 1950 census data will
be released in 2022).
•
Birth dates - (US census between 1850 and 1940) State censuses usually occur on years ending in 5. The state should indicated. Approximate (year ony) are probably from a census.
•
Marriage - Marriage Licenses are issued Counties. Many states have some of this info on-line. If not a trip to the state and county of interest may be necessary. The license info should include the spouse and their approximate age. Parents and spouses' parents are sometimes given. Beware of Maiden/Married names for Mothers.
•
Birth - Some states publish birth data. Complete date and some location information is also provided. Usually one parent is identified, sometimes both.
For births after1937, the Social Security application also carries this info.
For births after1937, the Social Security application also carries this info.
•
Death - Counties, states, and the Social Security Death Index
contain death information.
•
Burial Notices - The Find a Grave service is a good source
of this information. included,the deceased's name and any combination of the following: parents' names, spouce's name, childrens' names, and cemetery name and location