These are standard considerations that I use for entering
data into my TMG datasets. While I will occasionally do enter data differently than set
forth below, I try to stay as close as possible to these standards for consistency. This
makes it easier to search for something later, makes for a cleaner and neater dataset and
prevents a lot a editing later in narrative reports. Remember that these are my
standards. You may have differing ideas of what you want.
- Names.
- Enter ALL names in full, if known.
- Enter names in normal mixed case, capitalize only normal letters.
- Do not capitalize letters that are not usually (i.e., de Silva).
- If a surname or given name is not known, leave the field(s) blank.
- When a woman has prior marriage(s) and only her married name is known (i.e., Mrs. Jane
Doe, enter her Given Name (Jane), leave the Surname field blank, and enter a husband's
record and marriage using her married surname (i.e., Doe).
- Accept the prompt to create a married name tag. Leave the default of only the surname
(i.e., do not change to add prefix, Given Name, or Suffix unless the change would be
different from the U.S. norm.
- Enter a name variation tag showing person's desired name at any time, if different from
the Subject (Primary) name. Leave this Surname field blank if it is the same as the
Subject (Primary) Name.
- Review ALL name tags for consistency when changing the primary tag.
- Dates.
- Select the "dd Mmm yyyy" date format in the System Configuration.
- If a date is known to be "old style", enter it in
that format.
- Do NOT convert any date for entry in the Date field, i.e.,
enter "2nd Sunday after Trinity in 1709" in the Date field, acknowledge, and
ignore the irregular date notice
- Do convert dates as necessary for the Sort Date field,
i.e., enter "9 Jun 1709" for "2nd Sunday after Trinity of 1709."
- Places.
- U.S. locations:
- Detail: Enter the church, cemetery, hospital, etc. as needed.
- City: Enter the full name of the city or town.
- County: Enter the name of the county (parish for Louisiana
and other places). A full county/parish name includes the word "County"
("Parish" if Louisiana) as part of the name to distinguish it from a city/town
name. Enter the County Name with an Exclusion Marker if the City has been entered and is
found on most maps. For non-U.S. areas larger than the City, but smaller than the next
larger area within a country give the complete name.
- State: Enter the full name of the state.
- Country: For the United States, enter "-USA" unless
pre-Revolutionary data. If a smaller (geographically-speaking) pre-Revolutionary
geographic name is known, enter it otherwise use "America."
- Non-U.S. locations:
- Detail: Enter the church, cemetery, hospital, etc. name as needed.
- City: Enter the full name of the city or town.
- County: Enter the region or district name. Include 'County',
'shire', or other standard prefix/suffix.
- State: Enter the province, state, or comparable name.
- Country: Enter the usual English version of the country name.
- Make all entries mixed case using normal capitalization.
- Make all entries in the English equivalent form.
- Leave unknown or unused fields blank.
- Enter common abbreviations rather than full spelling (e.g., St. Louis, Mt. Sterling).
- Do not abbreviate name modifiers (e.g., county, parish). Spell them in full.
- For independent cities (e.g., Richmond, Virginia or St. Louis, Missouri), enter
"-Independent City" as
the County name. But if the city is not independent, enter the county name (e.g.,
Jacksonville, Florida
is in Duval County).
- Enter a location as it was known at the time of the event. Mt.
Sterling, Kentucky is now in Montgomery County, Kentucky, but was in Clark
County, Kentucky. Before that, it was in Bourbon County, Kentucky,
and before that it was in Fayette County, Kentucky; and before that, in
Fayette County, Virginia;
and before that in Kentucky County, Virginia. This kind of situation
should be noted in the
introduction to all generated reports for places that are noted very
often. A place like this that is only noted a very few times might
include a notation like: Mt. Sterling, Clark County (now
Montgomery County), Kentucky.
- Surety Values.
- - = Information known to be
incorrect.
- 0 = Estimates and guesses with little or no support.
- 1 = Data from a source which in known to be less than reliable.
- 2 = Data from a respected document/source (a secondary source).
- 3 = Primary source data.
- A primary source may contain secondary source data (e.g., birth data on a death
certificate). In such cases (at least so far as the secondary source
data is concerned), the source should be considered to be a secondary
source while remaining a primary source for primary data.
- Tags. The Tag and Witness Sentences will determine to some extent how
you enter some data. In most cases, it is rather straight forward. In other
cases, you may want to consider how you enter data (particularly Witnesses) and may wish
to change the Sentences to more closely fit your needs.
- Census.
- Enter the head of household as Principal #1.
- Enter all other household members as witnesses.
- Non-family members may be included as desired.
- Leave Principal #2 blank.
Note: Those interested in other ways to enter census data should visit Diane
Begeman's website (see the TMG Tips Homepage for the URL link).
- Residence.
- Enter spouse a Principal #2.
- Enter other family members as Witnesses.
- Marriage and Divorce.
- Enter males as Principal #1.
- Enter females as Principal #2.
- This will allow simpler report filters.
- Flags.
- Living - Set to N for those born before 1900 or married before 1920, or have
died since.
- Birthorder - Set ONLY if known AND if birthdates are not known.
- Multibirth - Set if known.
- Adopted - Set to Y or N if known otherwise leave as
"?".
- Unmarried - Set to Y if never married, N if married or "?" if
unknown.