GenDoc Study Group: Chapter 17

Mastering Genealogical Documentation Study Group

Chapter 17 – Documenting on Your Own

Marceline Beem

Reference:

Jones, Thomas W. "Documenting on Your Own." In Mastering Genealogical Documentation, 181-184. Arlington, VA: National Genealogical Society, 2017.

We have (finally?) made it to the end of the book! The last chapter pulls everything together and shows us how to create our own citation that answers Who, What, When, Whereis and Wherein, using a 10-step process.  I love the suggestion of crafting the citation on your ow and then looking at Evidence Explained to see how well your citation matches up. I’ve often thought about doing this, but haven’t done so yet.  Now that I have a better understanding of crafting citations, I plan to make this part of my research process.

In 1965, my grandmother traveled from her home in Erie, Pennsylvania to visit her family in Alabama.  I know this from a copy of a fishing license issued to her in Blount Springs, Alabama.  The original certificate is in my aunt’s possession.  

Fishing license issued to Marceline Thomas in 1965

Using the 10-step process in the chapter, I can answer the five questions as follows:

Who:  The state of Alabama issued the license.  The information on it was provided by Marceline Thomas, who signed the document when it was issued.

What: Non-resident fishing license, no. 18971

When: The license was issued July 6, 1965

Whereis: privately held by Sherry Thomas Schnarrs of Erie, Pennsylvania, daughter of Marceline Thomas.  

Wherein: not applicable

Using this information, my citation for this document would be:

State of Alabama, non-resident fishing license no. 18971, issued to Marceline Thomas on July 6, 1965, privately held by Sherry Thomas Schnarrs [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], Erie, Pennsylvania.  The personal information on the license was provided by Marceline Thomas, who signed the license when it was issued. Sherry Thomas Schnarrs is the daughter of Marceline Thomas.

Conclusion

I’ve really enjoyed this study group – both the topic and the panelists! I’ve learned a lot, but feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface.  I have other books I want to read, but am adding this one back to the reading list to study again in the near future. 

GenDoc Study Group: Chapter 15

Mastering Genealogical Documentation Study Group

Chapter 15 – Citing Online Images of Previously Unpublished Material

Marceline Beem

Reference:

Jones, Thomas W. "Citing Online Images of Previously Unpublished Material." In Mastering Genealogical Documentation, 155-162. Arlington, VA: National Genealogical Society, 2017.

This week’s chapter focuses on citing materials that are published for the first time as online images.  These include many images from Ancestry and FamilySearch, both of which are digitizing courthouse records, vital records and other archived material of interest to genealogists.    

My research in North Carolina relies heavily on deeds and wills. Fortunately, many North Carolina counties have digitized their deed indexes and books, so I am able to view those without waiting until I have the time and money to go to North Carolina.  My example this week comes from one of these record sets.

A deed executed on January 8, 1853 in Columbus County, North Carolina identifies James Baldwin, Jr. as a son and heir of James Baldwin, Sr.  This deed is recorded on pages 214 and 215 of Deed Book L, and is available on the Columbus County Register of Deeds website.   To craft the citation, the following information is needed:

Who: Columbus County, North Carolina Register of Deeds (not used in citation, since the website name is the same)

What: deed of James Baldwin Jr selling his interest in the estate of James Baldwin, Sr to Robertson Baldwin

When: executed January 8, 1853; proven May term 1853

Wherein: Deed Book L, pages 214-215

Whereis: The Registry Online https://www.columbusdeeds.com , viewed 9 January 2018

Since options 1 and 2 do not meet standards, I will not craft a citation using those methods.  Dr. Jones gives two additional methods which do meet genealogical standards, though.

Option 3

Option 3, and Dr. Jones’ preferred method, is to cite the published image with additional details. My citation for the deed in question would read:

 “The Registry Online,” Columbus County, North Carolina Register of Deeds (https://www.columbusdeeds.com : viewed 9 January 2018), deed book L, pages 214-215, James Baldwin, Jr. to Robertson Baldwin, deed, 8 January 1853, proved May term 1853.

Option 4

Option 4 is to give full citation details for both the deed itself and the online image. 

James Baldwin Jr to Robertson Baldwin, deed, 8 January 1853, proven May term 1853, deed book L, pages 214-215, in Columbus County, North Carolina, Register of Deeds; digital images, “The Registry Online,” Columbus County, North Carolina Register of Deeds (https://www.columbusdeeds.com : viewed 9 January 2018), Deed Book L, pages 214-215.

I think I actually prefer this last option, although I’m not sure I can give a reason for that preference.  Maybe because I’m used to citing census images from Ancestry in this way, so the format is more familiar?  As I mentioned last week, Dr. Jones is the editor a print publication and is concerned with space limitations, which is why he often prefers the shorter citations such as option 3.  Since I have worked as a desktop publisher and faced the same issues, I fully appreciate his stance, but for my own non-print purposes, I will probably continue with the format of option 4, citing both the underlying document and the online resource.

GenDoc Study Group: Chapter 14

Mastering Genealogical Documentation Study Group

Chapter 14 – Citing Images of Previously Published Materials

Marceline Beem

Reference:

Jones, Thomas W. "Citing Images of Previously Published Materials." In Mastering Genealogical Documentation, 143-154. Arlington, VA: National Genealogical Society, 2017.

This week’s chapter focuses on citing online images of previously published materials, such as journals and books.  Dr. Jones gives five options for citing and when to use each option.  Dr. Jones prefers to cite the material without acknowledging the online image source, as the online image is not going to be different from what someone would see if they were viewing the book or journal at a brick-and-mortar library.  His viewpoint it coming from a print publisher, where space is at a premium.

My great-grandparents moved from Knoxville, Tennessee to Jacksonville, Florida between 1914 and 1916, when they first appeared in the Jacksonville city directory.  I viewed this directory online at Ancestry, but using Dr. Jones’ preferred citation option, especially for print media, my citation for the directory is just like citing a book, without any reference to Ancestry.  This is how I cited the 1916 and 1917 directories in the family sketch about my great-grandmother, Frances Horton Beem:

Jacksonville City Directory (Jacksonville, Florida: R.L. Polk & Co.) 1916, p. 214, entry A.M. Been and 1917, p. 187.

Arthur M. Beem in the Jacksonville 1917 City Directory

The citation is okay, but could be cleaned up a little bit by removing the “p.” for the page number and putting the information about the name spelling in a discursive note following the citation.  My revised citation:

Jacksonville City Directory (Jacksonville, Fla: R.L. Polk & Co.) 1916, 214 and 1917, 187. The 1916 directory lists Arthur’s name as “A.M. Been.”