Indexing Ireland church records
Hello. I have been indexing the Ireland church records for a few months now. I still have some questions. I have been returning a number of batches that are difficult to read or understand. Still, in even the easiest ones there are sometimes words I just can't make out. I have used the ? if I can't read one letter or the * if there are more than one.
I am wondering how other indexers are doing this. I also wonder if there are people who can do a better job than I can and maybe I should just leave it for others. Then I tell myself it is probably difficult for everybody and maybe I should just soldier on.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Answers
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From my point of view, please soldier on. Some of the registers are very old and hard to read, I know. Some are a delight. Hopefully, you'll get enough of the latter to save your eyesight and sanity.
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So what you are doing is correct. If you are only indexing, a reviewer who may be able to recognize these letters, can correct the name once they receive it after you submitted the batch. I do the same thing if necessary. Also, as you get more comfortable with the names and batches, you will have a better eye for the names... it will become easier :)
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Thanks for your encouraging comments. They help.
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@ Aine Ni Donghaile, @Ksalers, @PatariciaGausnell35
I'm having the same difficulties though I'm just beginning Irish records. Is there an indexing group devoted to Irish records that I could turn to for questions? For example, on batch MQ3C-HQN, I think that they are marriage records.
For the first one I think this is what it says:
1866 Aug 10 Mat who Jacobus son of Coroli M'Lroy and Macgarita M'Kanna married to spouse Joannus M'Lroy and Ellenora Moynagn.
To me, this looks like there are two spouses which is ridiculous! Also, why would the first spouse have the same last name as the groom? So the Joannus M'Lroy must not be a spouse. So who is s/he?
The records seem to be in the same format so I'm not understanding something. Can you help me get started?
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That's a baptismal record @Wendy Taylor. The first word is Bap, short for I (the priest) baptized.
Transliteration
I baptized James, son of Charles McElroy and Margaret McKenna, married couple. Sponsors (godparents) John McElroy and Ellenora Moynahan.
You might look at some of the records that have already been imaged and indexed, to get a feel for the pattern. The formula is often very much the same.
Many priests put the surname with the child and NOT with the father. The presumption, by the priest, is that the father had the same surname as the child, unless he specifically indicated the child was illegitimate, often in terms that may seem shocking today.
In that case, the form would be
I baptized James McElroy, son of Charles and Margaret McKenna
Unfortunately, some of the indexes then show that the surname of Charles is McKenna because the indexer or the post-indexing process did not account for the pattern.
Hope this helps.
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I rarely visit Indexing, but another ("trending") post caught my eye, so I decided to scroll down further whilst here.
As you may be aware, I am not a great supporter of the "only index what you see" instruction and see a problem in a variation of this example. Just how would you index an entry if it appeared as below?
I baptised James McKenna, son of Charles and Margaret McKenna
Personally, I would find it crazy not to index Charles without the "McKenna" surname, but that is based on my knowledge of how the search engine works, once these records get added to a FamilySearch indexed records collection. However, should indexers follow the "index only what you see" instruction to the letter, hence index James as "James McKenna", Charles as plan "Charles" and Margaret as "Margaret McKenna"?
I assume this would be the case, based on previous instructions not to index, say, "the last day of May" as "31 May", because that would be making "an assumption"!
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@Paul W Having seen the issues on the 2 other websites that have indexes of the Ireland Roman Catholic Registers, I know how it should be interpreted. I know what the FS instructions say.
The issue, on the other 2 websites with the shared index, is that the indexers did make an assumption and entered a name when there was not one in the original.
I compensate in my search method on those other 2 websites by not entering a surname in the father's box.
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