Death information on Baptismal Records

Steve Washburn

I have a batch that has baptismal dates and for some of the records have in a column labeled "Memoranda " there is information concerning the death of the individual. For example, "Died May 1910" is listed in the Memoranda column. Is there anything I can do to get the death recorded even though this appears primarily to be a baptismal record? The batch is from "UK, England, Lancashire—Nonconformist Church Records, 1647–1996 [Part B][MSG4-G23]". Thanks.

Susan Ann Mullen

We have an answer for you. We are not to index the information in the messages, only the birth information.

Thanks for asking this question!

Susan Ann Mullen

We are asking but since this is after hours you might want to hold the batch till tomorrow for an answer.

genthusiast

(Community member response - not official)

You can always Add Entry (icon left of trashcan) after that baptism record (if entering in order and if additional entry is needed) then change the record type on that Entry from birth/baptism/christening to death/burial and enter that death/burial information.

The instructions for the Project read:

What to Index▲

• Records that are outside of the project date range should still be indexed.
• Index the following types of records: baptism, christening, birth, marriage, burial, and death records, regardless of the county the records may be from. 

So I would interpret that to mean - go ahead and Add Entry> Record Type: Death/Burial and index it.

Melissa S Himes

Usually we don't create an entry for marginal notes or for additional events unless the project instructions tell us to create a new entry for every event even if it is the same individual. Since the main record here is a baptism, and the project instructions do not say to create multiple records for the marginal events, it is doubtful that you would create a Death record. The person's actual death record will more than likely be on an image somewhere else and thus an entry would be created for that significant event.

But, wait for Anne's instructions from whomever the moderator's seek guidance.

"Occasionally, information was written in the margin of a document that is not being indexed in the project. For example, in baptism records marriage information may have been added about the child’s parents (names, date, and place). In these situations, do not index an entry for the notes in the margin. Index only the information on the main record."

Here is a Help Center Article for "How should I index information written in the Margins".

https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/how-should-i-index-information-written-in-the-margins

Steve Washburn

Excellent! Thanks for the quick response from everyone. It makes sense that we don't index it. I just wasn't 100% sure if I needed to include it. I'll proceed as you've instructed.