magnoliasouth wrote: > This is a perplexing problem for me and I'm never sure the > best way to do this. > > For the example, I have an obituary that lists surviving > daughters. Their names are not the daughter names, but their > husbands' names. Take this example. > > Obituary for James Jones > > James Jones died.... daughters surviving are Mrs. John > Smith, Mrs. Thomas Johnson and Mrs. Henry Williams. > > Now the Census (way back when the girls were younger) says: > Jones, James (head of household) > " , Betsey (wife) > " , Mary (daughter) > " , Virginia (daughter) > " , Winnifred (daughter) > > So I know that Mary Jones, Virginia Jones and Winnifred > Jones are all daughters of James Jones, but now I have a > list of 3 daughters in the obituary and I'm uncertain who is > married to who. For that matter, maybe there was another > fourth daughter born later and Mary or Virginia or Winnifred > died before James did. Who knows? All I know is that I have > six different daughter names. > > How do you all enter this in Legacy? Do you list James' > Census daughters as daughters AND the Obit daughters as > daughters then merge them when you know more? Or do you only > make notes in the Census daughters? Or something else?
Since there are only 3 standard ways to list surviving children: by age; by proximity; by sex/age. Read surrounding obits until you get a feel for /this/ paper's preference. Apply that preference to the list and go with it, using TENTATIVE as a suffix. By Age: children listed in birth order, just as they are in the database. By proximity: children listed with locals listed last, with three states away listed first. By sex/age: usually Ladies First in age order then their brothers. SOMETIMES the men are first if one of 'em is famous. Whichever method the paper uses, you'll see it again in the lists of siblings. STIPULATION: some newspapers in the 19th century did not have a standardized custom. In which case the most likely order to the survivors is, random -- whoever wrote the notice listed himself/herself last, and the sibling he/she least liked first, and everyone else as he/she thought of them. I saw one where the same sister was listed 3 times (her actual name, then a few sibs later, her nickname, a few more sibs and her married name). By the end of World War II, most papers had a form which effectively standardized their death notices/obits and sometimes had tips on how-to-fill-me-out. Grandchildren -- Unless a surname is provided, the surname is typically that of the deceased. Generally, I put the obit in the notes for the DECEASED. Then I have a quick cruise through the newspaper for a marriage notice. Often that pops the who married whom. Until then I don't enter the grands at all. FWIW Cheryl Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages after Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Archived messages from old mail server - before Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp Follow Legacy on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/LegacyFamilyTree) and on our blog (http://news.LegacyFamilyTree.com). To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp
