What do you do with brackets?
I am fairly new to indexing. I am looking at "Index to Grantors - Wayne County , N. Y. - Commencing January 1, 1943. On line 3 there is a Given Name and Surname initial of Grantee, Surname of Grantor. The Grantee section (usually has a company name) is bland and the date of record is blank.
On line 4 there is a Given Name and Surname initial of Grantee, Surname of Grantor. The Just before the Grantee section there is a bracket. I am thinking the bracket includes the previous entry (line 3), but I am not sure. What do I do?
Best Answer
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Yes, both Charles H Mills and Cora B Mills are Grantors to that one Grantee. So you will create two entries, one for Charles and one for Cora, with the same Grantee and the same transaction details. The clerk was a bit dainty in his use of the brackets. Please see my bracket in red below, emphasizing the grouping.
Sometimes the brackets are missing entirely, and all you have is the space indicating a grouping of Grantors. You would have to use your best judgment in a case like that. The left side could have several Grantors. And sometimes you'll have multiple names on both sides - e.g., 3 Grantors and 2 Grantees. If so, you would create 3x2 = 6 separate entries for the same transaction to account for all the pairs of people who have a stake in that transaction.
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Answers
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John,
Thank you for your guidance. I thought that might have been the case (your edit to the graphic), but I didn’t want to enter it incorrectly. I had a little chuckle with your “dainty” comment : )
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I'm glad I put a smile on your face.
BTW, on documents like these that are typed rather than handwritten, you may see a clerk use the following construction - stacked parentheses to emulate brackets. The meaning can be unclear if you're not tuned into the possibility. The red bracket is implied, and the blank line above the Grantee also indicates the intent.
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