Skill Building – Page 4 – International Institute of Genealogical Studies

Transcription Tuesday – Handwriting

Transcriptions are a regular part of our research projects, and the key to recording every piece of information in a genealogical document. Transcribing Skills are only honed by consistent practice – studying and transcribing a specific collection of documents gives opportunity to become familiar with the handwriting of a certain time period, and in particular, a specific clerk or registrar. The National Institute for Genealogical Studies provides opportunity for developing these skills through course assignments based on a wide variety of documents, including record groups from various countries. As we are researching, we encounter many handwriting scripts, as well as individual styles. Take your time when studying a document. Look beyond just your entry of interest. Review the whole document. Check the same letters in other words on the same page. If the heading is difficult to read, browse the previous pages, as well as the following pages to see if you can find a clearer entry. By studying these entries, you will become familiar with the handwriting. Some entries are written in beautiful script, with wonderful flourishes, making them a pleasure to browse. Others we struggle to decipher. Isabella may stump some transcribers for a while, but eventually, we conquer the challenge. Signatures can present another dilemma to transcribe, as they often are stylized and do not always match the rest of the handwriting on the document. Try to study several signatures to verify. Finding the signature for your ancestor is a good way to confirm your document belongs to the same person. It can even be used to distinguish between two or more individuals with the same name. Be sure to save those signatures for future use. Vital records are good for comparing similar names and places, and also individual letters as the same person is recording several entries for that location. As our research takes us farther back into earlier records, the handwriting can become more difficult. American Colonial Town Records are a treasure trove of information, but it takes time to be comfortable enough to transcribe the original documents. Some entries are simply one line as the marriage record of Ezra Perry & Elizabeth Burge in 1651 (1); or the death record for Rebecca Perry in 1738 (2). The 1729/30 will of Ezra Perry (3) will take patience to transcribe, but is good practice. Creating a simple cheat sheet with the alphabet used often proves to be very…

Transcription Tuesday – Abstractions

Transcriptions are key to recording every piece of information in a genealogical document. Transcribing Skills are crucial for accurate analysis and therefore, our students at The National Institute for Genealogical Studies are introduced to these concepts in our basic level courses. It is imperative for all researchers to acquire this core skill. In last week’s post, we looked at making a Census Extraction, which is an exact copy “extracted” from the census page(s). Pre-printed forms help to ensure we do not miss any information and check each column to gather every clue the census entry can give us. This week, we are going to look at making an Abstraction. Abstraction Definition: An Abstraction is an abbreviation of the original content in a document. It removes all the legal jargon or “boilerplate” language, but ensures that all relevant details within the document are kept. Mary Campbell Bell in Professional Genealogy sums it up this way: “Abstracts are summaries that record all important detail from a whole document.” General Rules for Abstracting Begin all abstracts with a source citation. DO NOT change any wording or tense. DO NOT change any punctuation (do not add or remove). DO NOT correct or alter the spelling of words. Keep the spelling true to the document, including names and places. Take your time to work through the whole record to ensure you have not missed any information. In art, an abstract painting may look nothing like the original model; however, an abstract in genealogy is very precise, leaving no relevant detail out. They do not replace an actual transcription – that is always the first task. Once a complete transcription of a document is completed, make a working copy and start crossing out the extra words until you have just the details. Save your working copy and make a duplicate copy. Then delete all of the words you have crossed out. Reread what remains. Does it make sense? Compare it to your working copy. Is there something you should have kept? Do you need to trim it down further? Continue until your abstract only contains the relevant details. A quick summary of the original document. An Abstract can be in several forms. It may be a list, perhaps in point form; or displayed as a table or chart; or written as a narrative in paragraph form. It does not contain any corrections to the original information; nothing is added, even if it is known…

Transcription Tuesday – Census Extract

Transcriptions are needed in all genealogical research. Transcribing Skills are included in the basic level courses for our students at The National Institute for Genealogical Studies. All researchers must strive to acquire this core skill. There is no way around it. There are no shortcuts. We all must develop these skills and increase our effectiveness as researchers. In last week’s post, we looked at finding Census Names with a few transcription tips. This week, we are continuing to look at transcribing census records by making a Census Extraction. Extraction Definition: An Extract is when you pull out only parts of the information in an original document. The extracting process is normally used for listings, such as censuses, inventories, tax or voters’ lists, etc., where there could be information about one person or family amongst many others. When making an extraction, always start with the full source citation for the original document. This is especially imperative when you are removing any information from its source as it is so easy to lose track of where you found it. How many times have you photocopied a page from a book without the reference and later could not remember where you found it? Be sure to include all of the details, such as page number, household number, etc., so that information can be located again at a later time. Remember – Extractions are still a Transcription, and therefore, they must be a true and accurate reproduction of the written original. Always include all of the column headings. To make this process easier, you can use a pre-printed form to record all of the entries. This will ensure that you have not skipped any information. Record any remarks or notations added to the entry. Make sure you include all of the information for the whole household. There can be more than one family living in that house, as well as other people. Examples of others could be boarders or lodgers, teachers, clergy, servants, etc. Include all of them in your extraction. There could be a connection that you discover at a later time. They will be part of their FAN Club. Watch for Relationships. These are always related to the person listed as the Head of Household at the top of the list. You may glean clues to maiden names by noting a mother-in-law or brother-in-law. A sister with a different surname will reveal her married name. A…

Transcription Tuesday – Census Errors

Transcriptions are needed in all genealogical research. Transcribing Skills are included in the basic level courses for our students at The National Institute for Genealogical Studies. All researchers must strive to acquire this core skill. There is no way around it. Transcriptions are extremely important for census record databases. Transcribers must be precise. However, they are usually not from the area being transcribed, so they could be unfamiliar with the names on the documents, although these may be very common to the ones researching them. For some transcribers, English may not be their first language. This means that they are transcribing letter by letter, plus trying to decipher the handwriting of different enumerators for each district. They do their best, but some entries are just their best guess. Transcription errors are not always totally their fault alone, Sometimes, it is the enumerator who misspelled the name by mistake, or guessed the spelling when the person giving the information was illiterate. With this in mind, we need to use a few strategies when searching databases. Remember, a true transcription is exactly as it is written – not editing the original text. The transcriber is entering what was written on the document – whether it is correct or not. When searching names in any database, remember to use your list of variable spellings. Record every variation that you find. Nicknames may be used as children, but then changed when they become adults. Some may use a middle name as their given name. Surnames may have gone through spelling variations in different time periods. Make note of these in your research notes and add them to your list. Example: The German surname Götz became Gaetz and later became further anglicized to Gates. When searching, use the most unique name in the family. For this Gates family, sons Osborne and Owen were the most uncommon. When searching the Canadian Census databases for Owen Gates in Nova Scotia for the years 1891, 1901, and 1911, there was only one result. However, he did not show up in the search results for the 1921 census. We can expand our search by using the first letter and a wildcard (O*). This time it returned 6 results for the first names beginning with O. One of these was for Orven Gates. This was a transcription error. The entry was confirmed as Owen by viewing the original image. His family members…

Remember to Honour and Be Thankful

Our students at The National Institute for Genealogical Studies are ready to start another round of online courses on November 1st. As 2021 is winding down, there still is time to complete one more course on our Educational Goals List for this year. Professional genealogists and family historians recognize the need to learn all we can about our research topics of interest. We just don’t know what we don’t know. Online courses allow us to explore new subjects relevant to our projects and refine those research skills needed to succeed in our endeavours. November means Remembrance Day is coming soon. This is a time to Remember those who fought, and made the ultimate sacrifice, and to Honour our veterans for their service. We are Thankful for all they have done. Military conflicts are not a new phenomenon. There is not a generation that has not witnessed some sort of conflict and many have family members who participated at some level. If you want to investigate your family’s military involvement, here a few suggestions to explore and document their service. Current scheduled start dates are given – check for additional scheduled dates to register for these courses. Australian: Military Records (Dec 6th) Australian: Other Sources for Births, Deaths & Marriages (Nov 1st)Canadian: Military Records (Dec 6th) Eastern European: Austrian-Hungarian, German & Russian Empires: Chronology (Nov 1st) Eastern European: Other Records…Including Census, Land, Military & Tax (Nov 1st)English/Scottish: Occupations – Military and Services (Dec 6th) German: Chronological Considerations (Dec 6th) Irish: Military, Naval and Pension Records (Dec 6th) Italian: Introduction to Research Outside of Italy (Nov 1st)Italian: Military & Conscription Records (Not Scheduled) Research: British India Ancestors (Jan 3rd)Research: South African Ancestors Including Military Records (Dec 6th) Research: The National Archives of England (Nov 1st) Research: United Empire Loyalist Ancestors (Jan 3rd)Research: U.S. Colonial New England Ancestors (Jan 3rd) Research: U.S. World War II Ancestors-Part 1 (Jan 3rd) Research: U.S. World War II Ancestors-Part 2 (Feb 7th)US: Military Records (Nov 1st) We also want to Remember and Honour our family members and their contributions to our family’s legacy. We are so Thankful for their cultural heritage and traditions, but also for the memories and current opportunities to celebrate our family’s history. As we prepare for upcoming holidays, make sure to interview family members and ask to see those family photos! Whatever your plans are for November – continue to pursue your families’ stories! Document your discoveries…