how to fill out dittos
there are a lot of dittos in the death records when i get to occupation and place of death. i know that the place of death would all be the same . but some of the people are babies or children and they have also dittos in the occupation. should i just put a blank if they are ditto or put what ever is above the ditto.
Best Answers
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Hello @lindapurvis1
When there is a ditto we should type the corresponding information from above the ditto.
This article explains further
You can use the icon on the tool bar (shown above) "Copy text from the same field on the previous entry into the selected entry" (next to the wastebin) or use CTRL D to copy the information down.
This articles explains the icons in the toolbar.
If there is no occupation - so you would entering blank anyway - then you can use CTRL B (for blank) or CTRL D as the CTRL D would be copying down the Blank anyway. I hope that makes sense.
There is an icon in the tool bar to copy the text from the previous entry onto all of entries for that field in the batch which can be useful.
You may want to experiment with the icons.
best regards
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I bet you are working on Virginia Death Records where the original scribe was a bit lax in recording. I think you have to use your best judgment and common sense on these. If the baby is still born, obviously they didn't have a chance for an occupation. If it is a toddler, most likely they are not "farmers, laborers, etc." Back in the "olden days" when we had a great Basic Indexing Guideline instruction sheet, I believe the 5th rule was that in some cases you can use your best judgment. In my opinion, this is one of them.
There are some errors on records that we can't "fix", like recording of the wrong year or date on a form, or the incorrect gender unless there is relationship evidence that says something like daughter, son, wife, husband, mother, etc. But, this one - I'd be inclined to blank "farmer" for a two year old.
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