US, Virginia-Birth Records, 1853-1896 MQ7H-MFT
Hi, I am working on the " US, Virginia—Birth Records, 1853–1896[MQ7H-MFT]"
I am at the surname of Sims. Just above the transitional surname post, it states
Sims, see Semmes, Semms, Simms, Simm, Syme, Syms
Do I just put Sims, or do I put all the variants with the word "or" between each one in the surname box?
Thank you for your time.
Michelle
Answers
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Or is reserved for something like Sims Or Simms, A. and every entry under that until the next surname.
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On How To Index a Birth Register, Example 2, which is like this batch, notice there is a line
MERCER: SEE: MURCER
Only Mercer is indexed for the next names, so we would follow that example.
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Thank you so much.. I see that now. Appreciate the time you took to answer.
Michelle
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What does the Asterisk at the front of many of the rows mean? I have read the project and field instructions as well as looked at the examples that even shows it, but does not address the meaning. It would be good for the examples pages to also include the heading pages or explanation pages. I mean, could this mean slave? a race? stillborn? something indicating a parent status or surname? orphaned? Since it is throughout the project, something to let us know the significance...
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We don't know what it means. If it were a stillborn child, it would be indicated by something like (S.B.) in the given name section. It's not an indication of the parents' surname (since we wouldn't put that in most cases; we don't assume that the parents and child share the same surname) and any child born after the Emancipation Proclamation would not (legally) be a slave. It is not our job to assume anything. I wouldn't worry about it.
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The significance of the asterisk is that it is the registration of a "colored person". This index was created in 1938 as a WPA project. However, for the purposes of indexing, we would not index the race since they do not on the example.
This information is found on Image 9 of the filmstrip. Since the collection is deemed as follows, the researcher will be able to find the information at the beginning of the film:
- The completed index and links to digital images will be freely accessible online to the general public when the collection is published.
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There has been a change in the instructions on this project. When I signed in to review a batch today, they cautioned us to be sure to read the instructions because they now want us to index all the entries with the * and index them to indicate the race as colored. So if there is a * in front of the surname, you MUST include the race as colored.
Please be sure to read the instructions.
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Additionally, In the Field Help: On typed registers, an asterisk (*) preceding the surname indicates that the child is colored. If no asterisk is present and the color or race was not otherwise recorded, mark this field blank. 😎
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