I do not know what to do with name abbreviations. Sometimes they are a superscript and while I thin
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Hi Cherie. Welcome to Indexing Chat! When we index records we are creating an index of exactly what is written on the document. So, you will see names abbreviated like that beautiful list John has posted! Just do your best, and if you can't read a letter use a question mark in its place - like Benj?. When you can read a few letter you would use an asterisk, like Be*j.
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@Shumate, Cherie Lynn ***pls click “expand post” to see links
***Perhaps the lists on these pages (links posted here) will help you as a reference or cross reference? Name abbreviations in historical documents:
Name abbreviations:
FamilySearch.org › wiki › Abbrevia...Abbreviations Lists for Personal Names (English) Genealogy ...
http://www.genealogyintime.com/dictionaries/list-of-first-name-abbreviations.html
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Traditional_Nicknames_in_Old_Documents_-_A_Wiki_List
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Here also are some old handwritten abbreviation examples:
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RULE: TWYS (Type What You See), Do not abbreviate, do not expand, do not assume. Let the family fix it.
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John Empoliti, Is there a link to where you found these or was it print? Hard to read. Thanks for the great post.
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Hi @nanlwar nanlwar . You're welcome. I created this montage over a year, maybe year and a half, ago from a project we had to Index at the time I think it was an Iowa Persons Eligible for Conscription in the mid-1800s or something like that. I collected and saved snips of abbreviations as little files as I encountered them and this is a screen snip of a directory listing (as large or extra large icons I believe) of those files.
I'm not sure why you're having difficulty reading it. When I click on it I can read it very clearly. Please clarify what you're having difficulty with and maybe I can figure something out. We can only post images on here, which is why I posted it as a JPG file (rather than a PDF for example). I think you should be able to click on it, bring it up as an image file, and save it to your own computer or print it (probably best in Landscape mode). Try right-clicking on the image when you have it up, and you might see Save Image, or Copy Image as one of the options. Please let me know what problems you're having and I'm pretty sure I can figure something out.
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Yes, but this does not address the case of indecipherable names / initials. Melissa gives the common sense response to this problem. Also, maybe there is no family to "fix it"!
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Thanks again, John. I used a Snippit and it was fuzzy. Didn't know I could click on it and that is clear.
Great information!!
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Super! You're most welcome Naniwar.
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Quite a frustrating problem, isn't it?
What helps me is to remember that when we are indexing, we are acting only as indexers, not historians. Indexing is not the place for extrapolation, guesswork, or deduction. It's just about doing your best to digitize what information is present on an image, and not worrying about the rest. Some writing is, frankly, a bit of a mess. That's just the nature of the work, and it's why the "Mark as Unreadable" option and "wild card" symbols are in the program. Humans are imperfect, historical records are imperfect, and it's just not possible that we will be able to exactly determine what every document says.
And you're right, sometimes there won't be a family to come along and fix it. But most of the time, there will be. I have seen many miracles in my own family history work as I've discovered relatives through indexed records. It's great that you're so concerned about individuals' information being accurate, but that is not something we indexers have been tasked with having much control over. Again, this is just the nature of the work. The right records will find their way to the right people at the right time. Indexing expedites that process, but is not the same thing as genealogical research.
So don't stress too much about it, and just have fun. 🙂 Indexing is meant to be an enjoyable act of service.
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