Question - consistent naming convention for sources.
Hello,
I am looking for advice and suggestions on creating a consistent naming convention for Source List Name (name to display in master source list) in Legacy 8. I am a beginner with approximately 150 sources that are a hot mess as they say. I understand the rest of the citation forms it's just what to call them I am struggling with. Here are some examples:
1900 U.S. Census, WI, Knowlton, Marathon county
1900 U.S. Census Knowlton, Marathon county, WI
1900 U.S. Census WI
WI 1900 U.S. Census
1905 State census, WI Knowlton, Marathon county
etc.
Marriage certificate Name and Name
Death certificate Name
Obituary Name
Oral History Name
Ship Manifest, Ship name, Date arrival, port
There are others obviously. I just can't seem to wrap my head around a plan. I suspect this is a user preference issue. I would very much appreciate seeing examples of other's naming schemes. I have some exciting new leads but am holding back (barely) until this is done. :-) Thank you.
Kim
ReplyDeletehere is what I do:
since using the source writer - you can make a census source specific to a county (not the town, city level) I have the following:
1900 - Federal Census - Wisconsin - Columbia County
1900 - Federal Census - California - Alameda County
1910 - Federal Census - Kentucky - Taylor County
1905 - State Census - Wisconsin - Columbia County
etc
etc
Birth, death baptism I do like this:
Birth Certificate - California - Alameda County
Birth Certificate - Wisconsin - Columbia County
Birth Index - California - Alameda County
Death Certificate - California - Alameda County
Death Index - California - San Diego County
etc
etc
Marriage Certificate - California - Alameda County
Marriage License - Kentucky - Taylor County
Marriage Index - Kentucky - Green County
Find a grave print out
basically what you "name" the source is only the name in legacy it just makes it easier for you to find in the source list when you are looking for them. the actual source information is within the rest of the info you inputted.
I do mine like the list above so I can easily find one I am looking for - some say it may be to specific and makes the list too long - but I like it. The main thing is pick a format and stick to it so you don't have multiple copies of the same type of source.
Hope this helps. Terry
Mine is similar to Terry's but for most things I don't go down to the county level (although I will give that some thought now). I tend to go from broad to narrow in naming conventions. Here are some examples from my list:
ReplyDeleteBirth Amendment, Texas
Birth Certificate, Texs
Birth Register/Index, Texas
Census, Federal, 1850
Census, Federal, 1860,
Census, Federal, 1870
etc.
City Directory, Texas, Amarillo, 1955
City Directory, Texas, Pampa, 1935
City Directory, Texas, Pampa, 1936
Death Certificate, Texas, Digital Image
Death Index, Texas, 1903-2000
Death Index, Oregon
Military, WW1 Draft Registration Cards
Military, WW2 Draft Registration Cards
Newspaper, Oklahoma, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Times
Newspaper, Texas, Amarillo, Potter County, Amarillo Globe-Times
Newspaper, Texas, Amarillo, Potter County, Amarillo-Daily News
(I should probably abbreviate those states)
On some sources I've begun to add "(ancestry.com)" or "(familysearch.org)" to show where I got the record since that is one of the fields in the source. Another thing I might rethink.
I'm fairly new to genealogy too and one thing I've found is that it really is a process to get to the method that you like. I've tried things one way and then as I go along I tweak it a bit or add some other little bit that I saw somewhere else. Eventually you will solidify what works best for you. This is a great group to get help from too.
Enjoy the journey.
I use:
ReplyDeleteCensus - 1900 US Census
Census - 1910 US Census
etc.
In the the location field I put the town, city, county and state. I like having just one source...it keeps things easy to find.
For others I use :
Book - Pennsylvania, Columbia County, History
Birth Certificate -- New Jersey
Birth Certificate -- Pennsylvania
Death Certificate -- Pennsylvania
Marriage -- Pennsylvania County Marriages 1885 - 1950 (familysearch.org)
The best thing that I was told when I started doing my sources this way was that you can put you want in the source fields...just because it asks for one thing does not mean you can't put something else in there. Also, you don't have to fill in all of the fields. When I started to really look at my sources I found it was easier to "lump" some of them together.
This helps so much! I think I'll do my obituaries:
ReplyDeleteNewspaper, State, County, City, Name of Publication
Much of a branch lived and died in the same City and surrounding county. I'd guess 50 of my sources are obits.
What about Immigration information? Specifically ship manifest records?
I pretty much do the same but I add little clues about websites in the source name. If I used the actual newspaper, it 's, Newspaper - Wisconsin, Daily Commonwealth, if I got it from Newspapers.com, it's Newspaper - Wisconsin, Daily Commonwealth(ncom). A recent online obit would be labelled Newspaper - Colorado, Denver Post (online) SourceWriter has 4 different ways to source newspapers and this helps me keep them straight when I want to cite one or create a like copy.
ReplyDeleteI do the same for cemeteries because SourceWriter differentiates between urban and rural cemeteries.
Sometimes the clue is a date. Marriage - Canada, Ontario, 1869-1927 is a Family History source. Marriages, Canada, Ontario, 1801-1925 is an Ancestry source.
I think the trick is to sort the way your brain thinks and then play around with it for a while until you're happy.
Forgot about immigration. They are titled after the database, Immigration - Ellis Island, Immigration - New York Passenger List, 1820-1957, etc.
As to census, I sort down to the date so I can work on a locality for different years at the same time. Census - Wisconsin, Douglas - 1910. This way I don't duplicate a source either.
Kim, I do mine different than the others who have posted. So if you want another way to look at it, I categorize mostly by location. I do this so I can quickly type in the "Find" box at the top to see what I have already in my list for a certain location, as opposed to the source type, because this makes the most sense to me (that is how records are recorded and also archived, at the jurisdiction levels). I was having to scroll through way too many master sources when I categorized them by record type to find what I wanted, so I changed to location and am much happier.
ReplyDeleteI also put what website I found it at after the name, because each citation would be different for each website.
It probably also depends if you are a lumper or a spilter. There is a lot of posts about that on here too.
So for example, I would have source list names like this:
Idaho, Fremont County- 1920 U.S. Census- Ancestry.com
Idaho, Fremont County- 1920 U.S. Census- FamilySearch.org
Idaho, Fremont County- Marriage Records
Idaho, Madison County- Deeds
Idaho, Madison County, Rexburg- Newspaper- Standard Journal
That way I can see all the State and County records together in one place, like the Family History Library Catalog is arranged.
Things like Family Histories or Books, start with that-- once again just like the FHLC is organized.
Hope that helps give you another perspective. Whatever works for you is what is best.
I have the added problem of doing a Worldwide One Name Study so tend to put the country first, then State/UK County/Canada Province etc.
ReplyDeleteThan you all. I have a much better idea of how to name my sources.
ReplyDeleteMonique, I make my source list like you do.
ReplyDeleteNew York, Westchester, Births (short form)
New York, Westchester, Census, 1900
New York, Westchester, Census, 1905
New York, Westchester, Newspaper, Highland Democrat (print)
Etc.
For databases, I will use the exact name of the database followed by the website in parentheses.
Karin Coppernoll I like how you put just "Census" followed by the year. Maybe I will change mine. I am always in a "Genealogy Go-Over" state of mind, so if I see something I think will work better for me, I am willing to change. Thanks for you examples!
ReplyDelete