I NEED HELP IN DIRECTING PEOPLE IN THIS AREA...I NEED TO KNOW HOW TO ENTER NATIVE AMERICAN MULTIPULE
I am Sister Ann Reese, Native American Specialist serving as Ward/Consultant for many years, Volunteer for 7 years at St. George, Utah, Family Search Center and NOW A MISSIONARY FOR 3 years at the same Center.
My husband (deceased) was 1/2 Cherokee (documented/CDIB Card), my son-in-law is 1/2 Cherokee (documented/member of tribe) I have been searching Native American records for 42 years and have privately purchased digital Archives for Dawes Rolls-7 tribes, Eastern Cherokee Applications, and census' from 1835-1906.
I am helping members as we identify ancestors WHO USE 1-2-3-4- different SPELLINGS of their name. We are in records that are dated 1880-1780.
I need to know how to enter an individual named: CROW MOCKER, - ONE NAME NOT A GIVEN NAME OF "CROW" AND A SURNAME OF "MOCKER", PID # L2PR-P92 - is 'CROWMOCK' entered as a GIVEN NAME OR A SURNAME AND individuals that legally have 2 NAMES: Such as Joseph Comingdeer or Buckskin PID # GS8J-4W3 .
What I'm finding as I help NAVAHO, HOPI, PAIUTE, SHOSHONE, BANNOCK AND eastern tribes is that people research their LINE - and DO NOT correlate the SPELLING/NAME of their ancestor - so MANY new individuals are created when there should only be ONE! SEE Joe Gi-ni-tsi-ha LOCUST PID #LC3T-7MG
HERE ARE THE SPELLING VARIATIONS OF HIS NAME on 2 children/10 grandchildrens DAWES and E. Cherokee Applications made from 1900-1906.
(Gi-ni-tsi-ha / Ge-ne-su-ah / Ke-ne-sur-ha / Kin-nu-cur/ Gee-nee-suh / Ge-nu-ser / Gi-ne-su-hi)Locust
These are the spelling variations for his wife: Cul-sta-yah / Kal-stah-yah / Ga-li-sta-ye / Gu-li-sta-ya / Car-le-star-yah / Col-sti-ya
I NEED HELP IN DIRECTING PEOPLE IN THIS AREA...I NEED TO KNOW HOW TO ENTER NATIVE AMERICAN MULTIPULE NAMES WITHOUT CREATING MULTIPLE PEOPLE.
Best Answers
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I would enter the alternative names under "Other Information" on the person's page. There's a choice for "Alternate Names" where you can enter each alternate name, one at a time. I believe that these names are searchable.
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After reevaluating the issue I took a look at Soundex used in genealogy. Knowing Family Search uses soundex but I’m not positive with other databases except Ancestry which I’ve been told years ago they do not use it.
anyway, this soundex system should pull the other names up when looking.
Min either case when a person is known with multiple names the names which are not primary are to be added in the also known as.
you can also do a note about different spellings you’ve seen if the name.
I personally had the same family all spell their surname different in records. One brother spelling the surname Stevens, another spelling it Stephens, another spelling it Stevans. This family in the 1860 US Federal census used Taylor for their surname. In all reality everyone is correct. Inless the person doing the research identified this same information they would have multiple entries, missing individuals and probably brick walls in their research. In a lot of black culture you have someone named Tikisha Smith she may be T-girl, Tisha, Kisha or possibly Kee Kee, Taking this into consideration. We had a missionary recently from African, he shared his tribals name, then he had a name he used but then he had an Americanized name is cultur the history is verbal as well.
I’m thinking the issue is more common than you might think.
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Using the Alternate Names fields is how I would handle the situation as well. I would also add a detailed note explaining what you have learned. I might even put some information in the "Life Sketch" section so that people see it more easily. This is one of those cases where things are just going to be confusing no matter what you do, so the more information you can include, the better.
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Answers
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Can someone at @United States Genealogy Research please help with this? This is a unique question to say the least. I looked all over in the Wiki and in the Help Center and couldn't find anything. Somebody must know something about this.
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Jenna, at first I felt this would correct the issue too. I believe when Family Search created the also known as portion they felt this would handel it as well.
However, I do believe the issue is the same as multiple spellings of the same surname.
one thing I’ve noticed is the merging process has helped in some was. It helped because once various spellings were merged when an individual input the old or other spelling they system asked if it was the current person.
I know now it has to be frustrating because with each new spelling creates multiple people who say they need their work completed when in actuality their work has already been done.
please let us know if you find out anything different
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I believe that the alternate names is useful in many different circumstances. My Norwegian 3g-grandfather went by Joger Ingebretsen in Norwegian records but George Jorgenson in the United States. The alternate names is the place to make note of that, too.
Merging frequently creates multiple individuals, even when almost every jot & tittle is identical. I have worked on some complex cases where different names designated the same individual. I kept a notebook nearby and wrote down the PID numbers. Then, I systematically worked through my notes, merging duplicates. This is the solution - it is not pretty or fun but eventually, it all gets sorted out.
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I would like a “safety measure” to pop up that before you can merge two people you have to have checked the notes and/or sources for persons for merging if they have any. There are a lot of situations where persons are merged by inexperience that had these two areas been properly checked would not have been merged. It would save a lot of valuable time and effort undoing sources and families that really don’t fit or belong together. That’s my only concert with the above question is it may not be enough to stop duplication of persons if notes aren’t checked beforehand. Good work everyone! It’s exciting and very rewarding work and it’s moving at a pace we haven’t seen before! Happy to be a part of it!
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I was a missionary on the Hopi Reservation for a year and also worked with the Navajo. We worked mostly in Ancestry because the Indian Census Rolls were available and we could attach the records to the individuals. Our practice was to put their English name and Indian name in the given name field. Children often used their parents/grandparents Indian name as their surname. In those cases, we would put their English name and Indian name in the given name field and the parents/grandparents name in the surname field. The myriad of spellings were entered in the alternate name field, In early records, the name was often broken into syllables using spaces or hyphens. These seem to confuse the system so we eliminated the spaces and hyphens.
Maybe take a look at L75M-JVM (Suzette Sackhymema Chokee) to see how one of the Hopi sisters handles her genealogy.
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Using the “alternative name” feature under “other information” is the way to handle this.
One of my lines is from a culture that changed names at significant points in life.
An alternative name is also referenced when one searches in FamilySearch for the name listed in the name section of vital information. In the example by Sister Reese above, a search for Joseph Comingdeer or Buckskin both should find the individual listed with PID # GS8J-4W3 .
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Thank you - several have suggested that. Ann Reese
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Thank you so much! Now I just have to convince Native Americans to do it. I've also started to put a Very Short list of names in "Life Sketch". Appreciate your quick response!
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Thank you! I love that you added an example!
Ann Reese
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I appreciate your input! I agree it takes time to help people sort this out when there are multiple people to work with to get a family cleaned up.
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That's true of older Native American records - multiple names. I appreciate your answer.
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Amen! Amen! Amen! So many searching their lines think they are the first to find their ancestor, and their record is the most correct and never OPEN the person to be merged, see if there are dots....and if so connect them!
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Yes, I spoke to a member of the Sach and Fox reservation today and he said the exact same thing. Being that one member may have up to ten names, the English and Native Name can be in the Given and Surname fields and all others in the alternate fields. Of course, you need proof that it is indeed the same person before match/merging them.
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thank you
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Polynesians have the same challenge and the use of chief title names as a part of their name as well. I found the alternate name field the best option. One of my husband's ancestors has 22 alternative names, but that's the only way to avoid duplicates!
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I had similar issue while attempting to research
“BETSY QUATY A-QUA-TAKÉ WALKER” and “CHIEF MOYTOY”
of the North Carolina Eastern Cherokee Tribe,
there were so many people with the same or very similar name, some had matching info in some areas but not in others. Dates, spouses, parents and children were all mixed up too. I finally took a break and decided not to pursue that area just yet (🤷🏻♀️i dont know🤷🏻♀️ if anyone will ever get out of that rabbit hole with all the real and true facts). So I empathize with you in your dilemma:(
I just wanted to point out a group project on another site (and forgive me familysearch site if I’m treading in dangerous waters here, but I think it could possibly be helpful for those conducting Cherokee research) check out the page. It’s loaded with historical information and links to factual resources. I haven’t personally navigated through all the info, but it appears that it would be super helpful to anyone researching Native Americans. Hopefully this helps:) good luck with your project!
Cherokee Genealogy and History genealogy project:
Cherokee Genealogy and History
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