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Archiver > TMG > 2004-09 > 1094083910


From: Darrell Martin <>
Subject: RE: [TMG] Census questions
Date: Wed, 01 Sep 2004 19:11:50 -0500
References: <200408312233.i7VMXdtl002333@mail.rootsweb.com><2004918392.334096@Terry3>
In-Reply-To: <2004918392.334096@Terry3>


At 07:39 AM 9/1/04, Terry Reigel wrote:
>On Tue, 31 Aug 2004 18:33:41 -0400, Ken & Sharon Thomas wrote:
>> I do it similarly to Bob Gillis. I have one source for
>> each year, then put the county, state, etc in the
>> citation.
>
>I cite the census on lots of tags - name, parent/child, birth,
>marriage, occupation, and census typically - and I don't want the
>extra stuff like film number and comments (i.e. viewed on Ancestry) to
>appear on each note. I avoid that by making one source for each roll
>of film, which generally is a county, except in larger cities.
>
>Terry Reigel

Greetings:

I use one source record per census household. I record, and output, just about everything that appears in the census. Even so, very little of the identifying information ever gets repeated. My primary means of output is Second Site. However, TMG printed output works in essentially the same way. I "have my cake and eat it too" by taking advantage of TMG having *three* output formats, not the *two* that are so often the extent of the discussion.

1. The bibliography format contains the full identifying information such as microfilm roll numbers, dwelling and family numbers, and page numbers. I also put a nearly full quotation of the enumeration data in the "Supplemental" memo field, and output it, in this format. This information appears only *once* in my complete publication, whether it is printed or electronic. In Second Site, the Bibliography format is output on the Sources page; in TMG, it appears in the Bibliography.

2. The full footnote format includes the information generally accepted as necessary for an appropriate citation, plus Citation Detail quoting the data relevant to the Tag to which the citation is linked. The full footnote appears only the first time the source is cited in the person entry.

3. My short footnote form is *severely* abbreviated, plus the Citation Detail; "Ibid" if it all matches. It appears on the second and subsequent citations of the source record for the person entry.

I understand that whether to use a broad or a narrow definition of a "census source record" is to a great extent a matter of taste. But so far, I have found that I have the maximum of flexibility and *still* avoid nearly all redundancy, without a lot of effort, using the one household per source record approach. The one thing I will cheerfully concede is that this method will not scale well for someone who wants to keep all, or most, of their source records visible in the Master Source List, and who has a VERY large number of census households to track.

For what it may be worth.

Darrell M.


Darrell A. Martin
a native Vermonter currently in exile in Illinois
http://www.darrell-martin.net/genealogy


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