Should I index a separate marriage record when a bride or groom is a widow?
I'm indexing marriage records from Belgium. Occasionally, the previous spouse is listed if the bride or groom are widows (or widowers). Occasionally, even a birth record has listed the mother as "widow of ...." with a specific name.
Would I make a separate marriage record for that first marriage? Only the names are given...no dates or locations in this case.
Best Answers
-
No, you would not create extra marriage entries for these references.
1 -
Fortunately the researcher will be able to see this additional information. It will be a nice surprise for them!
0 -
That was my conclusion, too, because the information is within the marriage (or birth) record.
But I did speak with a help center indexing missionary who felt that the itemized listing at the end of these Belgium (and French) marriage records should be indexed separately since the instructions talk about indexing all the birth, marriage, and death records. After the 3 paragraphs about the marriage, the Belgium/French itemize, with numerical bullets the birth date of the groom; the birth date of the bride (and both of these already have the parents names from the marriage paragraphs); the death dates and place of any of the bride or grooms parents who have passed; and even death dates and place of extended family members. On her advice, I'm starting to index those as separate birth and death records because they're official, and may be the only record of those events.
There seems to be confusion on this. Most of the batches I've been sent to review have not indexed the individual births and deaths separately; one batch has so far--which led to my question. She suggested that if I have time, it would be helpful if I indexed those rather than send the batch back for reindexing.
These are questions that are not unique to a specific batch or location, but seem to be characteristic of all the Belgium/French records for over 100 years . Hopefully our efforts will help!
Thank you so much for your answers!
Vicky
0 -
We see what you are saying but that is a different situation. Those are records of those events. Mentioning a bride was married before is not the record of that marriage. It is just a note.
It does help that when you do index the mixed records instead of sending them back. It means one less indexer is going to be wondering what to do with that record.
0 -
That makes sense! It's challenging figuring this out... and so helpful when those of you with more experience take the time to help out :)
Thank you again
Vicky
0
