Indexing Virginia marriage records 1715 - 1901
After indexing a number of records I think that both parents are listed under the column labeled as 'father's name'. It wasn't clear at first as usually only an initial was entered but it frequently had a + between two initials. Around the twentieth entry I found an entry of 'J. + Mary'. I have made entries per instructions under the father field but it seems we may be losing valuable information. How should I proceed?
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@Sandi Ton - in most of the Virginia Vital Records I've seen the columns show names of both parents , so they would be entered thusly for the Husband (Principal) make two entries: Harry Graves (father) & Easter Graves (mother) then do the same for the Wife (Spouse): <blank> (father) & Sylvia Harvey (mother). These are the "in-laws" so there are 4 entries. These old records are quite the challenge! Happy indexing!
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Maryellen,
Thank you for your response, I appreciate the help. It is helpful to hear from someone who is indexing the same project. On this page of the register about 98% of the entries are of initials only so I couldn't tell who was father or mother. (And this is my first page.) Should I assume that the father's initials are listed first? So far I have transcribed it exactly as written using the father field except the one with Mary.
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Hi@Sandi Ton Even though indexing guidelines tell us not to assume, I think we would consider the time frame of these records - historically, (and sadly) women were little more than property in social status, so we can safely assume that the first initial shown belongs to the man or father, with the second initial belonging to the woman or wife. Have a great day
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Generally we do index the first name that appears as the primary name. As maryellenstevensbarnes1 has said that order has been pretty standard for the time and is likely even up to now.
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