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Archiver > ARIZARD > 2005-09 > 1127860213


From: "Dale Marr" <>
Subject: Re: [ARIZARD-L]FTM off topic---Dale again -- Terri
Date: Tue, 27 Sep 2005 17:30:13 -0500
References: <200509272139.j8RLd9Y78394@partnersinprogress.biz>


> I'm scared to death to merge other's files into mine that it will get
too huge.

I'm not so scared of it getting too huge (mine's currently 57,000+) but of ending up with a bunch of duplicates like the
Pricilla/Priscilla thing earlier today. You can end up with duplicates (and even triplicates and beyond) of spouses and children
for generations on end.

Rather, I enter each person manually. It takes a while (11+ years for 57,000 people), but I don't work at it every day either. By
entering people one at a time I find I learn a lot more about the different family relationships and usually avoid the duplication
problem. It's also a good way to weed out or correct errors in the data you're merging. Misspelled place names are one of my pet
peeves. It may take a little more time to look a place up on a map (I use Street Atlas USA on CD-ROM) or a map or atlas, but at
least I know my data is as accurate as the CD or map (which are known to contain the occasional error as well), and I include the
place name, county, and state.

> What I would like to do though is get all the notes written in so that
I can archive things like old census images, etc.

Well, one time I was going to put transcribed census records in the notes, but after doing a few I realized that life is too short.
So what I did was set up custom "Facts" in the "More about" section. I made one for each year, 1790 Census, 1800 Census,... through
1930 Census. Then I went back and looked up all the census records I'd used so far (in HeritageQuest) and made an entry for each
with the date, location, and page number. (It helps to find a consistent method that works and stick with it.) Then if I need to
refer back to the original I can just look it up on HQ by browsing (or looking up the name in the index which is still sometimes
faster).

You end up with something like this in reports:

More About JOHN JASPER ESTES:

1860 Census: 21 Jun 1860, Independence Co., AR -- Jefferson Twp. -- p. 75
1880 Census: 07 Jun 1880, Sharp Co., AR -- Richwoods Twp. -- p. 84
1900 Census: 09 Jun 1900, Sharp Co., AR -- Richwoods Twp. -- p. 97
1910 Census: 15 Apr 1910, Lawrence Co., AR -- Dent Twp. -- p. 116
1920 Census: 03 Jan 1920, Lawrence Co., AR -- Imboden -- p. 286
1930 Census: 14 Apr 1930, Lawrence Co., AR -- Imboden -- p. 111

As long as a couple is married and both living I enter the data for the husband since that's how households are indexed. Then if
the husband dies, as in this case, I enter the data in the wife's section. Only if a child is NOT living with his/her parents do I
enter census data for him/her. This was the case above where my g-grandfather, John Jasper Estes, was living with his grandparents
in 1860. He was with his father and step-mother in 1870, so the data for that year is listed only in his father's section.

Same for Social Security records. I set up Facts named "Social Security Number" and "State Issued." Then whenever I find a SSN I
enter it and the state where the card was issued. This sometimes help track where a family lived. An example:

1. WILLIAM ALEXANDER "ALEC"4 GREENE (WILLIAM3, JESSE2, ENOCH1) was born 12 Oct 1888 in Murphy, Cherokee Co., NC, and died 11 Nov
1975 in Imboden, Lawrence Co., AR. He married (1) SYLVIA ELMIRA WILLIAMSON 11 Sep 1910. She was born 19 Dec 1892 in Murphy, Cherokee
Co., NC, and died 27 Sep 1930 in Elizabethton, Carter Co., TN. He married (2) MARY BEATRICE "BEA" ESTES 18 Jan 1932 in Imboden,
Lawrence Co., AR, daughter of JOHN ESTES and AGNES HARRIS. She was born 10 Feb 1886 in Franklin, Izard Co., AR, and died 28 Feb 1979
in Walnut Ridge, Lawrence Co., AR.

More About WILLIAM ALEXANDER "ALEC" GREENE:
Burial: Imboden, Lawrence Co., AR -- Hope Cemetery
Social Security Number: 431-66-4959
State Issued: AR

More About MARY BEATRICE "BEA" ESTES:
1930 Census: 09 Apr 1930, Madison Parish, LA -- Tallulah -- p. 200
Burial: Imboden, Lawrence Co., AR -- Hope Cemetery
Social Security Number: 430-96-6548
State Issued: AR

About the only things I put in the notes section are obits.

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