Two different people with the same name
I'm reviewing United States—Enlisted and Officer Muster Rolls and Rosters, 1916–1939 [Part O][M3KV-2VM] and on the image are two separate people with the same name. One is listed as, Williams, Frank #1, and then Williams, Frank #2.
Should both names be indexed or just one?
Best Answer
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We were taught to only index a name once on an image, unless there was something that made the record different (an age, a parent, spouse, middle initial, etc.) I think it used to be part of the Basic Indexing Guidelines before they became the very abbreviated General Indexing Guidelines. It makes no sense to index the same name twice when they will be multiple, exact same entries leading the person to the image. But, FamilySearch did start adding these relatively new instructions about "duplicate names" and "unique names" to some sets of instructions. Apparently, the people who write the instructions are going to have to be very consistent and explicit in what they are trying to convey.
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Answers
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Good question, @scottjosephgillespie1
If those two same-named soldiers have different military dates, or birthplaces or birthdates, there is no question that you do index both, because their entries would be different in some (required- field) way. As you know, all fields are required to this project.
Oddly, because this project does not explicitly say not to index duplicates, we’ve been told to index both names even if their entries are the same in every required field. However, I believe that the system would delete the second of those two adjacent identical entries. And one of the two would be sufficient to draw a researcher to the image to find both. Nonetheless, we do it.
Here’s the logic: Per the instructions for this project (see below in italics), the only name we’re to not to index is that of the person preparing the roll or roster unless that person is also listed within the roll or roster. Thus we index every other name because is no default general guidance not to index duplicates. So, unless we see that “do not index dupes” language in the instructions for a given project; we index dupes. Per the What to Index section for this project:
Do not index the name of the person preparing the record of monthly rolls and monthly rosters unless the person is also listed on the roster or roll itself.
I wish there were a General Indexing Guideline telling us not to index exact duplicates (i.e. every required field) unless Project Instructions tell us otherwise. Until then, we index them in cases like this.
Please refer to the comment thread below for the official guidance on this issue, i.e., to index even the same individual twice:
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I agree. If the names are in two separate fields, you index them even if they are the same name.
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Sometimes the name is listed in the roll itself, and then at the end when it lists 'Losses' it could be listed again in that section because that individual was a loss as well. On Jan 12 I came across that and i shared the batch here and was instructed to:
Melissa S Himes ✭✭✭✭✭
January 12 Accepted Answer
You should delete entry 41. It only takes one unique name entry to get the researcher to the image and there is no other information to be garnered from the repeated entry. If the same names had been in consecutive order, the system would have deleted the second entry.
I hope this helps!
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