GenDoc Study Group: Chapter 5

Mastering Genealogical Documentation Study Group

Homework

Chapter Five – Capitalization and such

Marceline Beem

Reference:

Jones, Thomas W. " Captitalization, Italics, Punctuation, and Other Citation Subtleties." In Mastering Genealogical Documentation, 49-62. Arlington, VA: National Genealogical Society, 2017.

This week’s reading deals with capitalization, punctuation and other grammatical details in citations.  I’m sure my eyes glazed over during the first reading of the chapter, but it does have a lot of useful information in it, and I encourage you to read it thoroughly - and more than once.  

I’ve just recently started using waypoints in my citations, and these are discussed via the section on the greater sign (>) in this chapter.  In Chapter 3’s homework, I referred to a family narrative I am working on.  It just so happens that this is the first written piece that I have deliberately decided to use waypoints in some of my citations.

Within a year or two of Edith’s death, her mother and other extended family members moved to  Knoxville, Tennessee.  By studying the city directories of that time period, I learned that Edith's mother, Frances Wallace, shared a house on West Oldham Street with her sister, Daisy McKamey.  Both women were widowed in the 1902 Fraterville Mine explosion. 

The city directories are imaged on Ancestry.  When I crafted my citation for Frances and Daisy living in the same house in 1904, I decided that while the page numbers are important, waypoints were a more meaningful way to show how to get back to the image.  Waypoints use the greater sign (>) to separate sections of the database or image set.  I think of waypoints as breadcrumbs to help my reader find the image once he or she gets to the referenced data set.

Since Frances and Daisy had different last names, there were two pages (and images) to cite.  This is the citation I used:

City Directory, Knoxville and Suburbs (Knoxville, Tennessee: G.M. Connelly: 1904), p. 547 and 842 (images 309 and 471 of 550), entries for Daisey McCamey and Frances Wallace; imaged in “U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 Sep 2017) > Tennessee > Knoxville > 1904.  

After reading this section, when I revise this narrative, I will change the citation slightly, and include the image numbers in the breadcrumbs instead of the first layer of the citation:

City Directory, Knoxville and Suburbs (Knoxville, Tennessee: G.M. Connelly: 1904), p. 547 and 842, entries for Daisey McCamey and Frances Wallace; imaged in “U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 Sep 2017) > Tennessee > Knoxville > 1904 > images 309 and 471.  

To view the pages, go to Ancestry’s home page, and search the card catalog for the U.S. City Directories collection:

Figure 1. Selecting the Card Catalog

On the search form, enter the name of the data and image set, "U.S. City Directories," into the search form.  The search receives one result.  Click on the hyperlink.

Figure 2.  Searching Ancestry's Card Catalog for a Specific Title

Instead of using the search form, browse the image set by using the levels designated in the waypoints.  First, select the state of Tennessee, then Knoxville, and then finally, when the year field is populated, select 1904.  The form returns a link to the images for the 1904 directory.

Figure 3.  Browsing the Selected Title

Figure 4. Closeup of the Browse Form Showing Hyperlink to 1904 Directory

Click the link.  It takes you to the first page of the 1904 city directory.  

Figure 5. First Image of the Knoxville, Tennessee 1904 City Directory

Change the image number to 309 to find the entry for Daisy McCamey:

Figure 6: Image 309 of the of the Knoxville, Tennessee 1904 City Directory, showing Daisy McCamey

Transcript:

McCamey Daisy, wid William, bds 201 W Oldham

Now go to image 471 to find the entry for Frances Wallace:

Figure 7: Image 471 of the of the Knoxville, Tennessee 1904 City Directory, showing Frances Wallace

Transcript:

Wallace, Frances C, wid Charles, bds 201 W. Oldham

When I was doing the research, I didn’t know to go to images 309 and 471.  It took a lot of guessing at image numbers and moving backwards and forward until I found the right pages.  And of course for the McKamey surname, I had to check several spelling variations as well.  As Dr. Jones points out, though, the citation doesn’t need to show the process.  The citation, including the greater sign (>) used to denote waypoints, merely shows ONLY the pages and images that support my conclusion that Frances and her sister Daisy lived in the same house in 1904.

GenDoc Study Group: Chapter 3

Mastering Genealogical Documentation Study Group

Chapter Three – Citation Settings, Forms, and Shortcuts

Marceline Beem

Reference:

Jones, Thomas W. "Citation Settings, Forms, and Shortcuts." In Mastering Genealogical Documentation, 25-36. Arlington, VA: National Genealogical Society, 2017.

This week’s focus is on the three types of citations and when to use them:  full citations, shortened citations, and reference notes.  As discussed last week, genealogists use footnotes or endnotes to provide citations.  Since footnotes are the most preferred layout, I’ll use that term in the following discussion, but the same principals apply to endnotes as well.

The first time a source is used, the footnote would use a full citation. This citation answers the following questions:

Who said it?

In what (source) did they say it?

When did they say it?

Where is that source located?

After the first citation of a specific source, following references to it may use a shortened version to preserve space.  The abbreviated source should contain enough information to remind the reader of what source is being referenced.  To that end, the shortened citation may answer only the first two questions.

Full reference notes are rarely used in proof statements, proof arguments, or other family narratives, but they would be used in bibliographies or other “works cited” formats (i.e., in a syllabus for a webinar or workshop).

This week I am writing a family sketch about my great-grandmother, Frances Horton Wallace Beem (1879-1846).  I will share one fact and the sources I am using, and show how I constructed each of the three citation types for these sources.

Interview

Frances and her first husband, Charles Wallace, had a daughter named Edith, who was born in 1899 and died in 1902.  I first learned of Edith from my great-aunt, Nella Beem Critchett, who I interviewed by phone when I first started researching in the late 1990’s.  Unfortunately, I no longer have those notes, and do not have the date I interviewed her (I lost the notes in one of several moves, and this was not yet sourced in my database files when I lost the notes). The citation for this interview follows, and is based on Evidence Explained (first edition):

Reference Note

Critchett, Nella (Beem).  Bend, Deschutes, Oregon.  Interview by Marceline Beem, n.d.  Handwritten notes.  Privately held by interviewer, but notes were lost in 2001.

Full Citation

Nella (Beem) Critchett, daughter of Frances Horton Wallace Beem, (Bend, Deschutes, Oregon), phone interview by Marceline Beem, n.d.; interview notes privately held by interviewer until they were lost in 2001.

Short Citation

Nella (Beem) Critchett, phone interview, n.d.

My aunt was the youngest of Frances’ children, born in 1916, so she never knew her older half-sister.  To meet GPS standards, I should have other evidence to support Aunt Nell’s statements.   Tennessee did not record birth or death certificates during Edith’s short life, but fortunately, there are two other sources which support my great-grandmother’s memories of her young daughter, which she passed on to my aunt: the 1900 census and Edith’s tombstone.

1900 Census

Figure 1. 1900 Census Listing for the Charles Wallace Family

Abstract

Wallace, Charles, head, b. June 1875, age 25, married two years

Frances, wife, b. Jan 1879, married two years, age 21, mother of one child (one living)

Edith, daughter, b. 1899 (month faded), age 10 months

Reference Note

Tennessee.  Anderson County.  1900 U.S. census, population schedule.  NARA microfilm publication T623, roll 1557. Washington, D.C.: Natonal Archives and Records Administration, n.d.

Full Citation

1900 U.S census, Anderson County, Tennessee, population schedule, 5th Civil District, Enumeration District [ED] 5, p. 7B (penned), dwelling 138, family 140, Charles Wallace; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 September 2017); citing National Archives microfilm publication T623, roll 1557.

Short Citation

1900 U.S census, Anderson Co., Tenn., pop. sch., ED 5, p. 7B, Charles Wallace.

Tombstone

Edith was buried in Leach Cemetery.  A picture of the tombstone is on Find A Grave.

Transcript:

Edith Wallace

Born

July 30, 1899

Died

June 15, 1902

Reference Note

Find A Grave.  Leach Cemetery (Anderson County, Tennessee).  Database and digital images.  (http://www.findagrave.com : 2017).

Full Citation

Find a Grave, Leach Cemetery (Anderson County, Tennessee), database and digital images (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 23 Sep 2017), gravestone for Edith Wallace (1899-1902), memorial #12453839, created by Pat Lacy, November 22, 2005.

Short Citation

Find a Grave, Leach Cemetery (Anderson Co., Tenn.), database and digital images, gravestone for Edith Wallace (1899-1902).