Maiden Name Format?
Johnson
I'm somewhat new to genealogy and entering info into a genealogy
computer program. I am wondering how to handle maiden names when
entering someones name. Should I use their married name and put the
maiden name in parentheses behind (that is what I've started to do) or
just put the maiden name.
As a broader question, how important is format to keeping genealogical
records. I imagine there are standards (for names, dates, places,
documentation, etc.). What are those standards and how closely do
genealogists hold to those?
Thanks for your help,
Kevin Johnson (k...@frugal.com)
Beginning list of surnames: Ackeret, Hegge, Hull, Huseby, Johnson, Waide
Gre...@aol.com
In a message dated 96-03-24 17:42:12 EST, Kevin Johnson wrote:
>I'm somewhat new to genealogy and entering info into a genealogy
>computer program. I am wondering how to handle maiden names when
>entering someones name. Should I use their married name and put the
>maiden name in parentheses behind (that is what I've started to do) or
>just put the maiden name.
Use just the maiden names. Gets way too confusing when their are mulitple
marriages, etc, later in life. Also serves to remind what the parents would
have been known as. All of the computer programs record data in this way.
>As a broader question, how important is format to keeping genealogical
>records. I imagine there are standards (for names, dates, places,
>documentation, etc.). What are those standards and how closely do
>genealogists hold to those?
The most important thing about standards is recognizing that eventually other
people are going to want to know what you have recorded. Using standard
formats helps to insure that accuracy and understanding is maintained.
Dates I record as: DAY MONTH YEAR ie. 20 Aug 1961. ALWAYS write out
all four digits of the year (is. 1961 not '61). Someday it is going to be a
new centruy and people are going to wonder what you were talking about.
Months can be abbreviated to three letters.
Places are recorded from smallest jurisdiction to largest. For example, in
the U.S. a place might be recorded as: Beaver, Iron Co., UT. If the event
has an even smaller jurisdiction, include it also. Example of a burial:
Mountainview Cemetery, Beaver, Iron, UT. It is not necessary to add country
for U.S. or Canada, though you can.
For documentation, I have a group of standard tags that identify the data I
am talking about. For example, in the notes for Greg Maxfield I may have tags
for BIRTH, DEATH, MARR, etc. They might look like this.
Sources
BIRTH: Birth certificate in possesion of Leroy Maxfield, PO Box 465, Castle
Dale, UT.
MARR: Beaver County Marriages, Book 1, pg. 23.
DEATH: Headstone marker, Mountainview Cemetery, Beaver, UT.
You can use as many or as few tags as you desire, just make sure that they
are easily understandable. Some others are: BURIAL, WILL, CENSUS, JOB,
CHRISTENING, ....well you get the idea. Also, I use the same tags and add
notes to each individual when necessary. For example:
Notes
MARRIAGE: Eloped to Milford, Utah. Parents disapproved and would not allow
them bcak to family occassions.
DEATH: Headstone records death date as 23 FEB 1981, death certificate confims
as 23 MAR 1981.
Please, please, please attempt to document all the work that you do. The work
that you do is so valuable and good that it would be sad if that research had
to be continually redone by new genealogists. Looking at your documentation,
they can get a good idea of how much value to place on your work. Without
documentation, they pretty much have to assume that all of your information
either is or can be incorrect.
You also need to invent or adopt a system of recording what research you have
done. I cannot tell you how many times I have gone back to a microfilm, book
or letter only to remember that I had looked there 2 or 3 or 5 years before.
You might think that you will remember, but believe me you won't.
These are simple things to do, shouldn't cause you much grief to institue
them in your own research, but you will find that they are immensely valuable
later on.
Greg
R. Leutner
I have been into and out of working on family history several times in the
past 30-odd years, and have found that "formats" for presenting
genealogical information are nearly as numerous as there are genealogists.
HOWEVER: in assembling my own records I keep coming back to the basic
rule that has also guided my academic writing, which is simply to take as
your model what you understand to be pretty much the "industry standard"
in your field, and modify it to your own needs, but then BE CONSISTENT.
Consistency in format is not simply a matter of tidiness, but also
important to intelligibility to other readers. I am not doing genealogy
for publication, so haven't paid much attention to any fine points of
format or "style sheet" issues, but I guess if I were to point to a
current model of clear presentation, it would be The American Genealogist.
If you are using a genealogical software program, of course, your format
will pretty much be dictated by its rules and either your problem will
be solved or you will become unhappy enough to jettison your
specialized program and switch to a general-purpose word processor. I
have done the latter, mostly because most of what I am doing these days
is gathering a large amount of very miscellaneous data from lots of
different sources, and the genealogical software I had (BK) was just too
specialized to be of real use in pulling together raw notes into usable
one- or two-page summaries. I'm sure that by the time I get around to
trying to produce any snazzy product, any current software will be
antique anyway!
Bob Leutner
Iowa City IA
On 24 Mar 1996, Johnson wrote:
>
> I'm somewhat new to genealogy and entering info into a genealogy
> computer program. I am wondering how to handle maiden names when
> entering someones name. Should I use their married name and put the
> maiden name in parentheses behind (that is what I've started to do) or
> just put the maiden name.
>
> As a broader question, how important is format to keeping genealogical
> records. I imagine there are standards (for names, dates, places,
> documentation, etc.). What are those standards and how closely do
> genealogists hold to those?
>
Marvin G. Beshirs
I put the maiden name into my program and people can look at who they
married. I have had some people that were married numerous times. Which
married name would I use? Using the maiden name takes all the guess
work out.
--May God be with you and yours. Don't criticize me too loudly until
Marvin Beshirs (:> you have walked a mile in my shoes!
Pine Ridge Road Forsyth 65653
e-mail at mbes...@mail.orion.org Between Springfield and Branson MO
On Sun, 24 Mar 1996, Johnson wrote:
> I'm somewhat new to genealogy and entering info into a genealogy
> computer program. I am wondering how to handle maiden names when
> entering someones name. Should I use their married name and put the
> maiden name in parentheses behind (that is what I've started to do) or
> just put the maiden name.
>
"Marvin G. Beshirs" <mbes...@mail.orion.org>
Paulgron
The approach I use which works for me is to always use
the maiden name when it is known. Your software will link the wife
and husband even though the surnames are different.
When I don't yet know the wife's maiden name, for example, when getting
data from a census, I use the husbands surname for the wife but I put it
in parentheses. This 1) tells me it's not her true surname and 2) when
searching the software's indexed list the surnames in parentheses sort
at the top of the list before capital A.
I don't know if there is a "standard" way for handling this. If there is,
would someone please post the standard or most generally accepted
method.
Paul Groneman
paul...@aol.com (Paulgron)
Jim Royer
Gre...@aol.com wrote:
>In a message dated 96-03-24 17:42:12 EST, Kevin Johnson wrote:
>>I'm somewhat new to genealogy and entering info into a genealogy
>>computer program. I am wondering how to handle maiden names when
>>entering someones name. Should I use their married name and put the
>>maiden name in parentheses behind (that is what I've started to do) or
>>just put the maiden name.
>Use just the maiden names. Gets way too confusing when their are mulitple
>marriages, etc, later in life. Also serves to remind what the parents would
>have been known as. All of the computer programs record data in this way.
Here, here! I concur. After reviewing some of the work in the WFT CDs
I've come to the conclusion that your not going to do anything but
confuse people if you put in anything other than their maiden names.
This is even more important when your sharing your work with others.
The maiden name leaves a trail to the parents. If you publish your
work and only use the surname of the husband the chances of someone
else matching individuals with you drops drastically.
Jim Royer
jro...@comm.lts.aetc.af.mil
Opinions expressed above are my own and are independent of
the position of the U.S. Air Force!
Gene Stackhouse
You should always enter the maiden name. The program should link husband and wife.
What software are you using?
[ If this thread is going to get into the details of how particular
programs behave or a comparison of different programs, then it needs
to move to soc.genealogy.computing. -- Mod ]
Gene in Philadelphia
Gene Stackhouse <EGStac...@mail.biosis.org>
BCJohnsonJ
In a GEDCOM file database enter the maiden name of the wife. If she was
previously married set up a separate group sheet for her first marriage.
If you are compiling a word processing document the Registers System of
putting the maiden name in Parenthesis followed by previous married name
is normally used if wife was previously married.
B. Johnson
bcjoh...@aol.com (BCJohnsonJ)
Merritt Mullen
In article <4j4cua$p...@bl-1.lightspeed.net> Johnson, k...@frugal.com
writes:
>I'm somewhat new to genealogy and entering info into a genealogy
>computer program. I am wondering how to handle maiden names when
>entering someones name. Should I use their married name and put the
>maiden name in parentheses behind (that is what I've started to do) or
>just put the maiden name.
Standard practice is to use the person's birth name. Some reasons
for this:
1. Your genealogy software will link the husband and wife, so the
name is irrelevant for that purpose.
2. The woman's birth name will link her to her parents' family
(even if you don't know her parents, you at least know her father's
surname).
3. You want to use one name that is good for a person's life, not
have to change it each time a woman marries, divorces, remarries,
etc.
4. Although it has been customary (at least until recently) for
American women to take her husband's surname, this has never been
universal, and is not the case in some cultural groups. Many women
in the US these days continue to use their birth names after
marriage.
Adopted persons are a different case, so I won't start a thread on
that.
Merritt <mmu...@ridgecrest.ca.us>
dr...@ccnet.com
> Johnson <k...@frugal.com> writes:
>
> I'm somewhat new to genealogy and entering info into a genealogy
> computer program. I am wondering how to handle maiden names when
> entering someones name. Should I use their married name and put the
> maiden name in parentheses behind (that is what I've started to do) or
> just put the maiden name.
>
>
>
>>>>
If there is a "standard", it seems to be to enter the name a person is
born with, whether male or female. FTM manual suggests adding
name changes under aka, which will cause both names to show
up in the index, and are searchable. (unfortunately the aka does
not show up on the basic family group sheets unless extended
information is added. I wish they would change this)
I personally always enter maiden names, This way there is no
ambiguity. I have probably a dozen or so same name marriages
in my database (my greatgrandmother was a Saunders who
married a Saunders). This would not be clear if you sometimes
put down a woman's married name.
I then enter the married name as an aka. This gives me full
control over what a woman's name is. FTM will allow the
user to list women by married or maiden names, but it has
to be one or the other for every name. With many women
these days retaining their maiden names, they can get a
bit put off if they see their names listed as their husband's
(understandably). If a woman has retained her maiden
name (or changed her name more than once), I simply
list it under aka. If a woman's maiden name is not
known, I just list her as: <firstname> unknown. Leaves
no doubt, and I have had no problems with this system
so far.
-------------------------------------------------------
Drema Swader | Visit the Trent/Saunders
dr...@ccnet.com | Family Tree at:
drema....@autodesk.com | http://www.ccnet.com/~drema
-------------------------------------------------------
Lenora Mulock
Alway use maiden names. Also include the parents names of wife in your
genealogy data base and when you publish some of the programs includes
parents names. Such as GENBook.
-
LENORA MULOCK NAB...@prodigy.com