I'm indexing in US, Missouri—County Marriages, 1806–1969 [Part O][M9LN-9ZZ].
Two questions:
1. When a marriage license is returned unused do we show the date of marriage as blank or do we enter the license date? 2. On indexes that show a license date do we show that as the marriage date or leave the entry blank?
Best Answers
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First question. If the date is blank, press Control B to mark the field blank. The instructions say "Some images to be indexed may contain only a name. Images that contain only a name should be indexed regardless of whether the image contains any other fields that are being indexed in the project. This rule does not apply to book indexes, where only a name and page number are to be indexed."
Second question. If you haven't already looked at the project instructions and the little purple question mark that appears when you select a field to write in, do so. The little purple question mark that appears when you click on the Marriage Day field says: "If a marriage date was not indicated, type the date based on the following priority:
- License date
- Latest banns date
- Consent date
- Recording date
- Any date other than a birth date"
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Thank you for indexing :)
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Answers
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My concern with this answer is the license has hand written on it "Returned Unused" meaning they were never married. If the record is indexed and it is made available on Ancestry the "hint" could leave the researcher to believe there was a marriage, when in fact there was not.
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@MarkNorviel We definitely DO index these unused licenses. They are a part of the individual's journey. It is up to the researcher to view the image and find out that the license was never used. This shows another reason why it is so important not to use "hints" without viewing the actual documents.
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