Why are there fields which do not match the data in this set of records?

ConnieBarton

Hi! I have a question concerning The US, Wisconsin - Pre-1907 Death Records, 1860-1907 [M3HG-8W4] Set of records. Here is the link, if that helps. https://www.familysearch.org/indexing/batch/8734e12a-7f52-4d30-b3d8-c79c002522fa

With this set of records (listed above - Wisconsin Deaths), in particular, there are fields that seem very relevant but are not asked for on the entry form. Example of this are: the deceased person's date of birth and parents full names and birthplaces. Another example is it asks for the deceased person's death county and residence county. I'm on my 2nd batch of this indexing set and the clerk has always listed the Wisconsin town, but not the county. The project directions say to technically mark it as blank, but.... that is painful in my mind - as the city is good, valid family history information!! I could go online and find the county and list that, but I think that is against project directions. I feel conflicted about sending in a half blank indexing form when there is so much more information on the record that could be listed!

I guess I've been wondering this for years with other batches I've indexed where this has also happened. Being a family history researcher, it pains me to submit a batch of indexing that leaves out pertinent information that could be so helpful to those who are searching for these individuals and other related ancestors. I'm mostly curious as to why some of the fields are left out of the entry form (or are not totally fitting to the particular record), when that information is written on every image of the batch. I wonder why the indexing entry fields do not match up more fully with the original record entry fields (meaning the columns that the clerk was to fill out)?

Can anyone help me understand this more?

Thanks!

Mirevo

Hi Connie,

Your concerns are valid ones, to understand why certain information and not all information is required to index we should know the following facts:

1-The Project instructions and field help are provided by the owners or guardians of these projects. FamilySearch follows their guidelines on how these records should be indexed.

2-Information not indexed is not lost, the Researcher will find the person by their names and last names and will be taken to the image of the record by a link. The researcher will make conclusions and take the information that perhaps was not indexed.

Hope this help you, your help on indexing these records is much appreciated.

Dellory Matthews

For this project, we are told: "The completed index and images may have restrictions." This is in the section of the Project Instructions titled "The completed index and images may have restrictions. "

So, we don't know if researchers will see the index or the images.

However, as Flor pointed out, we index records the way the record owner wants us to do so.

ConnieBarton

Thank you for your help, both of you! That helps me understand so much more! This work is definitely work and not perfect or perfectly done (at this point in the game). I will just continue to be a good indexer and follow the project directions, even if it doesn't all make sense to me. 🙂

Thank you!