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Date on military rosters

Janet Holdstock
Janet Holdstock ✭
January 8, 2022 in Indexing

I have seen military rosters where there are about 100 names. About 11 of those will have a date by their name - the others do not. I do not see any other date stamped or recorded on the sheet. I am a checker and am seeing that someone has put the date of the 11 people on all of the enlistment dates. Is that correct or should I put "blank" by those without a date? There is no indication such as a (") to indicate it should be the same as the one above.

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Best Answer

  • maryellenstevensbarnes1
    maryellenstevensbarnes1 ✭✭✭✭
    January 11, 2022 Answer ✓

    @Janet Holdstock, Hi A "joined" date is the date the person joined that particular company or group of soldiers such as Company B -- in all the Muster Roll/military projects I have seen, the joined dates, or other dates found in the comments to the right of each name are never used in indexing. Example:

    John Smith 6600000 (military id #) jd Jun 8th -- we index the name and the date at the top of the page "ending Jun 30, 1928 and we mark the Birthdate and Age boxes as Blank, using Control+B or the toolbar.

    Researchers will see our indexed record and will go to the original document and be able to see the details.

    Thanks for your excellent questions and your hard work in making these records available to the public.

    Mary😎

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Answers

  • LarryClark43
    LarryClark43 ✭✭✭✭
    January 8, 2022

    For the US military Roster the instructions say:

    • The date at the top of a roster or roll may be used for all entries as the military date if the entries don't contain their own individual military dates.
    • When multiple dates are present on the image, please choose the military date based on the following hierarchy:
    1. Enlistment date
    2. Muster roll or monthly roster date
    3. Any other applicable military date

    If the batch you are working on does not have a date at the top you can normally find the date at the beginning of the roster, which may be one or more pages back, by using the reference images.

    If you share the batch code with us we can give a more definitive answer.

    2
  • Janet Holdstock
    Janet Holdstock ✭
    January 8, 2022

    I'm not sure if it did. I am not aware that you can go back or forward a page. I only get one sheet at a time I thought. I have gone out of that image but I believe I put the reference at the beginning of my question.


    On the page I had there was no roster date at the top not any stamp showing a date on the page. I assumed the 11 individual dates by the side of the 11 names were specific only to those 11 names.

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  • LarryClark43
    LarryClark43 ✭✭✭✭
    January 8, 2022

    In the instructions it tells us that for this project we are allowed to use the reference images to find column headings and dates. Normally you will be able to find the first page of a roster by going back on the reference pages.

    The limit for looking back is 5 pages and some rosters are very long so in a few cases I have not been able to find the date.

    Hope this is helpful

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  • LarryClark43
    LarryClark43 ✭✭✭✭
    January 8, 2022

    You were correct in thinking that the dates were specific to the names.

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  • Janet Holdstock
    Janet Holdstock ✭
    January 8, 2022

    I sorry I still do not understand if an "re-enlistment date" has preference over the date at the top. I know an enlistment date does but what about if it a re'enlistment date? Sorry to be so compliated.

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  • Janet Holdstock
    Janet Holdstock ✭
    January 8, 2022

    I did not see an answer to this question so I will send it again.


    I sorry I still do not understand if an "re-enlistment date" has preference over the date at the top. I know an enlistment date does but what about if it a re'enlistment date? Sorry to be so complicated.

    1
  • LarryClark43
    LarryClark43 ✭✭✭✭
    January 9, 2022

    You shouldn't feel sorry my answers are sometimes a bit confusing. I am the one that should say sorry. It is my understanding that if there is a complete reenlistment date that it does take preference over the roster date.

    I think I am correct but I have been wrong before so I will involve an expert. John Empoliti what is your ?opinion

    1
  • Janet Holdstock
    Janet Holdstock ✭
    January 9, 2022

    Thank you Larry. Your comment above helps answer the re-enlistment issue.

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  • annewandering
    annewandering ✭✭✭✭✭
    January 9, 2022 edited January 9, 2022

    Yes re-enlistment takes precedence over the Monthly Roster date. This was clarified recently.

    Asking questions is a good thing, not something to apologize for! Better to ask instead of making a needless error, Janet Holdstock!

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  • Janet Holdstock
    Janet Holdstock ✭
    January 9, 2022

    Thank you.

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  • maryellenstevensbarnes1
    maryellenstevensbarnes1 ✭✭✭✭
    January 11, 2022

    @annewandering sorry I just decided to email you personally rather than make my comments public 😎

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  • John Empoliti
    John Empoliti ✭✭✭✭✭
    January 11, 2022

    @LarryClark43 . Sorry I'm late to the party. Yes, a re-enlistment date is still an enlistment date, so for a given soldier it has precedence over any other military date except an earlier enlistmwnt date.(for that soldier).

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  • Janet Holdstock
    Janet Holdstock ✭
    January 11, 2022

    Thank you for clarifying that for me Larry.


    I also want to know if a "joined" date is the same as an enlistment date?

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  • John Empoliti
    John Empoliti ✭✭✭✭✭
    January 11, 2022 edited January 11, 2022

    No, the "joined" date is the date that the soldier joined the specific military unit that is the subject of the roster - typically if it happened during the month. It is not the date that he or she joined the military service (the actual enlistment date).

    Notations like that are meant to clarify the status of soldiers who were not in the unit during the whole month or two-month period covered by the muster roll or roster because they transferred in or out (joined or transferred out) during that period. So, presumably, a soldier with no additional date notations of that sort was part of the unit for the entire time covered by the muster roll or roster.

    Nonetheless, for any soldier on that muster roll or roster without an actual enlistment date, the Indexer may use the roll or roster date as the military date.

    1
  • Janet Holdstock
    Janet Holdstock ✭
    January 11, 2022

    Thank you so much. That helps me a lot!!!

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  • John Empoliti
    John Empoliti ✭✭✭✭✭
    January 11, 2022

    You're welcome, Janet.

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  • maryellenstevensbarnes1
    maryellenstevensbarnes1 ✭✭✭✭
    January 11, 2022

    @John Empoliti, Hi, your explanation on Muster Rolls is excellent and needs to be addressed as an announcement or in the Project Instructions possibly as an indexing sample (see also the comments of the past 3 days about Muster Rolls-- I don't know who to tag to make that happen -- I'm technologically dyslexic!

    Thanks for all your comments on different batches/projects -- Mary 😎

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