South Africa, Johannesburg—Cemetery Records, 1840–2019[M32Y-7LL]
As I started to review this batch of South Africa, Johannesburg—Cemetery Records, I noticed that the indexer entered the date as the date of death. What would be the best solution for knowing whether the date is for the death or burial since we've been instructed not to assume?
Answers
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So nothing jumps out at me in the project instructions or the field help guides as to what to do in this situation. However, because the "undertaker/stonemaker" names are on here after the dates, I would say these dates need to be put in the "burial date" fields.
In the field help it states this : If there is only 1 date with the "D.O.B." abbreviation, index it as the burial date.
I know it says DOB and on this particular batch there is no indication or abbreviations to show what date this is, but I would say this may show Burial Date takes priority? Since we aren't sure the exact death date and I assume guessing the death date is a bad idea as opposed to guessing the burial date.
I edit to add, these situations always frustrate me especially in reviewing. I love having direct directions about EVERYTHING that we may see while indexing/reviewing. I realize with all of the different records taking place for a long period of time, it almost impossible to show examples for everything. I wish it were possible though.
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@Ksalers Thank you. I thought the same initially and after looking for examples and finding none I decided to ask for another opinion. I did see where a few of the graves were to be reopened so I took that as a clue that the dates might be for burial. I shall go forth, review, and correct. Thank you again.
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The image in you batch is a cemetery registration- The project instruction: what to index image # 2- no quite the same image but it is also a cemetery registration and it indicates that date on the first column should be indexed as a Burial date and not as a death, or record dates.
Hope this helps answer your question.
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Also please put South Africa after the cemetery name as the automatic name resolution program frequently resolves South African Place Names to weird places across the globe.
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Thank you so much.
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