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US, Wisconsin—Death Records, 1959–1978 - Country fields?

davidleelambert
davidleelambert ✭✭✭
January 30, 2022 edited August 18, 2024 in Get Involved/Indexing

Currently have batch https://www.familysearch.org/indexing/batch/bffc749e-4dec-43cc-a594-5d1a952144be open, but I have this doubt about the whole project.

The index has a field "Residence Country", with instruction

"Type the name of the residence country as it was written. Do not correct misspellings or expand abbreviations.

Do not assume the name of the country from other information in the document, such as the name of the town or city."

and also a field "Birth Country", with instruction

"Type the name of the birth country as it was written. Do not correct misspellings or expand abbreviations. If a state was listed as the birth state, mark this field blank.

Do not assume the name of the country from other information in the document, such as the name of the state, town, or city."

The form (at least for 1972) doesn't have a residence country field, but the "RESIDENCE: STATE" field usually reads "Wisconsin". It also doesn't have a separate birth country field, but it does have a field "STATE OF BIRTH (If Not in U.S.A., Name Country)".

By the most-literal interpretation of the project instructions, if the "RESIDENCE: STATE" field contains the name of a U.S. state, I think "Residence Country" should be indexed blank. Likewise, if "STATE OF BIRTH" holds a state name, I think "Birth Country" should be blank (although if it said e.g. "Canada", or "Mexico", or Norway", I would put that in the "Birth Country" field and leave "Birth State" blank).

But another indexer put "USA" in both fields. Is that correct, or should I change it to blank?

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Best Answer

  • Janice Duszynski
    Janice Duszynski ✭
    January 31, 2022 Answer ✓

    The individuals listed on each record are not all born in the US. Some may have been born in, or resided in, other countries. That's why there are fields entitled birth country or residence country. Use those fields ONLY if those people were born in other countries. Also, don't put US or United States of America as a birth country. The only field that you might see US in is the field entitled country of citizenship. That is not the same thing.

    1

Answers

  • conniekwhite1.5658916162801685E12
    conniekwhite1.5658916162801685E12 ✭
    January 31, 2022

    Same question - where's the answer?

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  • PiperTWilson
    PiperTWilson ✭✭✭
    January 31, 2022

    Hello,

    Thank you for sharing your batch information here. You can also ask for help in the Wisconsin SSN Indexing Projects group.

    1
  • maryellenstevensbarnes1
    maryellenstevensbarnes1 ✭✭✭✭✭
    January 31, 2022

    @davidleelambert and @conniekwhite1.5658916162801685E12 - please click on the Wisconsin SSN Indexing Projects group and scroll thru the comments that pertain to your questions Thanks 😎

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