US City Directory - 1902-1935 Part F - What to do about Deceased individuals info is MISSING!
In the popup to opening the image to index, you get the following popup text (put in quotes by me) :
"Please note that for this project there are special instructions for indexing surnames and deceased individuals that differ from the General Indexing Guidelines. Please see the instructions in the What to Remember section under bullet point that begins with "If multiple spellings..." as well the bullet that begins with "A spouse's name...". …" (there is more in the popup text about how this project is different than past projects)
But there is NO information in the General Indexing guidelines about deceased individuals, other than the widow information (which should not be indexed and which has applied in the past to other directory projects).
And since prior directory information had information about deceased individuals, it seems the guidelines is missing the information on what to do with deceased individuals, namely if it lists the individual name and date of death in the directory.
And i don't want to assume to index these individuals (and no i don't have an image with one at the moment) since the popup makes a point of mentioned deceased individuals.
Answers
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As it says in the text that you quoted, you should be looking for these instructions in the project's What To Remember section, not in the GIG.
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and that info is NOT there! Hence the question.
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Information about deceased spouses can be found at bullet point #11 in Project Instructions/What To Remember About This Project:
A spouse's name, if listed, may have been recorded in parentheses after the name of the principal individual. The surname should be indexed for both individuals. If a spouse is listed as deceased by the words "wid" or "widow of" do not index the spouse.
From the GIG:
If the record provides the given names of a husband and wife followed by a single surname, such as "John and Mary Smith," index Smith in the Surname field for both records. However, if a document does not indicate a shared surname, such as "John Smith and Mary" or "John Smith and Mary, his wife," do not assume the wife's surname from the surname of the husband.In the projects I've worked over 10 years, we've indexed the spouse, living or not. In the City Directories project, the deceased spouse is not indexed and that instruction is exclusive to the project; it does not carry over to other projects.
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Never mind … I had started a post and realize that this is a horrible instruction.
Why don't they index spouse? It makes no sense. I can understand not creating another record for a spouse, but, my goodness - the form has a line for the spouse.
If the deceased in your case doesn't list a spouse, and you don't index the name as the principal, they will NEVER be found on a search. Thus, I would create an entry for deceased souls.
This probably should be reviewed by the project managers for an explanation.0 -
As Erutherford has said, the "don't index deceased spouses" rule is what the popup is referring to.
"…And since prior directory information had information about deceased individuals, it seems the guidelines is missing the information on what to do with deceased individuals, namely if it lists the individual name and date of death in the directory."
Unfortunately, no, the instructions never had any guidance for that circumstance. The current guidelines are the same as they have always been. However, in the thread below, I was told that people listed as deceased who aren't listed as spouses should still be indexed.
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Non-spouse deceased individuals have always been index, but they are few and far between. They will look like John Smith, d'ced 7/4/07.
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