Is there an updated and detailed online guide for indexing obituaries?

Scott Haycock

Years ago, I used to have online access to a detailed guide for indexing obituaries. Pretty sure it was authored by FamSearch. I'm now indexing obits again and have some nitpicky questions for which I find inadequate guidance. For example: Does the sentence "she was united in marriage to John Barnes, and twelve children were born to this union" constitute sufficient evidence that John Barnes was a male, or do I mark his sex as blank? Also, based on the above statement, do I consider him a "husband" or a "spouse"?

Is there a current online guide that answers such detailed questions? Thanks

genthusiast

@Scott Haycock

Comment about the nitpicky questions not the guide:

 "she was united in marriage to John Barnes, and twelve children were born to this union"

constitute sufficient evidence that John Barnes was a male, or do I mark his sex as blank?  my vote: yes, male

do I consider him a "husband" or a "spouse"? my vote: both - obviously a spouse and 12 children are probably enough to make him a husband...

Comment about the handout/guide: I saw a handout yesterday here is the link:

https://fh.familysearch.org/system/files/team/ait/indexing/IndexingObituaries.pdf

Melissa S Himes

Hi Scott. The 44 page handout is no longer available online, neither are the webinars. The handout was reduced to the guide above.

I do remember though in the live webinar, it was said that based on the timing of the records we can determine whether the spouse is a husband or a wife. And that gender specific records were very important to the FS search engine, so we should determine gender and use husband and wife relationships. However, moving forward, it might become more difficult to make this distinction. I would say that the records we are indexing now, it is pretty safe to say that these are husbands and wives. Some marriages after 2000 in the US might be a bit more difficult.

If you have other questions, I still have a print copy of the 44 page guide.

Scott Haycock

Thanks, Melissa.

With your above comments in mind, I have a couple of other questions regarding "assumptions":

1. In the sentence, "He was married to Alice M. Sutton on Nov 28, 1928", I'd say that I'm safe to assume that Alice can be indexed as "female" and "wife". You're correct, though, that such an assumption will no longer be appropriate after 2003, when San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom ordered city hall to issue marriage licenses to **** couples beginning in Feb 2004.
2. Should the title "Reverend" be indexed as male, or is it also a time-determinate choice? (Women have been preaching for hundreds of years, but I don't know when the title of Reverend started being applied to them.)
3. In the sentence, "He is survived by one child, Jeffrey, and Jeffrey's wife, Valetta." Should Jeffrey be indexed as "male" or "blank" and as "son" or "child"? As in #1, if this obit was from the early 1900's, I'd assume that Valetta should be indexed as "female" and "daughter-in-law". In such case, the fact that she's Jeffrey's wife would also make him a male, right?

Am I being too persnickety? Likely so, since the reviewer will probably go by his/her own criteria anyway.

Still, I appreciate your thoughts.