Whose name do I write?
Hi! I was reviewing a Boston Tax Record batch and I came across two people who had been grouped together with a brace. This occurred twice in a row in the batch, and I'm not sure whos name I should write in either situation. Do I just write an individual entry for each new name?
Also, one of the names (Charles L) looked pretty similar in each group, so I'm not sure if that's the same person or not.
https://www.familysearch.org/indexing/batch/d9e8f749-a8ce-4127-94c1-b80079c23247
Best Answer
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Hi,
Those grouped names mean that they are both involved in the same transaction. In the first instance, you have Charles L Hill [surname Hill - dittoed (*) from the top of the page] and Julia A Hill. Both get indexed. You have Charles L (Hill) and Frances E Richardson in the second bracket. Ordinarily, you'd index Charles L Hill, but you've already indexed that name, and the instructions say (**) not to index exact duplicates, so you skip him and only index Frances E Richardson. The two Charles L Hill persons could be the same or different, but that doesn't matter - only the name matters.
From What to Remember About This Project:
*On the implied ditto from the top of the page:
"Surnames may be written only once but should be indexed along with each given name until a new surname is written."
**Regarding unique/non-duplicate names:
"Index each unique name. Some names may be duplicated. When names are exact duplicates, index only the first instance of the name listed."
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