Include a divorced spouse?

jasoncoyeldredge1

I've found the following two questions, but for whatever reason when I click on them the page that opens say "You don't have permission to do that." Odd, and unhelpful.

https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/82968/ms2n-4kq-divorced-spouse

https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/28352/indexing-when-recording-the-spouse-of-an-individual-what-if-it-states-they-are-divorced-do-we

What is to be done when a record includes the name of a spouse, but says they have divorced? Should their name be indexed? Should the field be left blank?

Thanks in advance for the help.

Susan Ann Mullen

Even though there are no specific guidelines for this we suggest that you index the divorced spouse. The family researcher will be able to see the record and decide for themselves whether to use the information or not. It was considered important enough to include the information on the record. It is in a way similar to crossed out names. We know they are crossed out but we include them if there is no replacement name. We can speculate as to why the person was included but better to leave the judgment to the researcher.

Dellory Matthews

Please share your indexing batch here so someone can see the record to know better how to answer your question.

https://www.familysearch.org/help/helpcenter/article/how-do-i-share-an-indexing-batch-with-someone

Those links also bring me to the same error page.

jasoncoyeldredge1

Here's the Share Batch link: https://www.familysearch.org/indexing/batch/3c920538-9560-4225-aa5f-cacdd174d0a8

Dellory Matthews

Costa Rica—Registro Civil, 1932–2018 [Parte D] [MSLQ-M3D]

The project is in Spanish. I see that for record 666, the divorced spouse of the deceased is mentioned. This is not covered by the Project Instructions or Field Help, but to be very literal, since he was not the actual spouse at the time of her death, we would not need to index his name.

Our index will bring a researcher to this image and they will find this information and various other details that we aren't asked to transcribe. "The completed index and links to digital images will be freely accessible online to the general public when the collection is published."

jasoncoyeldredge1

Thanks for taking a look. You mention not needing to index the divorced spouse's name, but is it better to leave the name there so it can be found by researchers/interested parties in the future? Or should the name be removed before submitting the batch for literal accuracy, as you pointed out?

J Wolfgang R Binte

Hi there,

these are the limitations of - only- indexing records so they can be found ; Some time, by some one, who hopefully can and will open and read the original source again ..

If you´re able, and the record you´re indexing contains enough information, you can look those persons up in the tree .. and maybe complete their information ... or even start their part of the common tree of mankind by adding a "not connected person", means a person thats not connected to your own part of the tree of mankind ..

If you´ve done that you should come back to them after some month, after the indexing process is done, to connect the source with the source-linker in familysearch ..

good luck