Obituaries Indexing with Family Search is vital to the work of salvation February 2014

This project will be enticing to all, especially those who are just beginning to research.

Look at the scope of this project. Likely it will take much longer than 2014!

The little orange circles in the middle of this chart represent the projects that are now available. The black line at the bottom represents live projects.

Part of the value of these records comes in the number of names and relationships.

Clicking “learn more” on Capt’n Jack’s page takes you to this blog article:

“Tens of thousands of additional volunteers are needed to keep up with the volume of obituary indexing projects coming this year.”

Clicking “learn more” on Capt’n Jack’s page takes you to this blog article: “Many indexers will enjoy indexing obituaries because they are so interesting to read and are virtually all typewritten. However, each obituary is as unique as the deceased person it portrays, and this uniqueness can make obituaries deceptively tricky to index correctly.”

Scroll down to find links to specific obituary training and general instructions also.

Use these resources before and as you index.

Here is the current indexing program workspace. Download an obituary batch.

If you don’t see “obituary” in the title, select the “all projects” button.

Read messages from your administrator and from FamilySearch indexing headquarters.

Every time you open an obituary batch, you will be invited to review a video, a blog article and..

A 52 page PDF document trying to answer every question you might have. It might be a good idea to download this document and save it for ready reference on your desktop.

In the next few slides I will alert you to some of the rules and characteristics of this project.

Use the ruler to keep your place in the document if that is helpful.

Now for some of the trickier rules:

Gender: In this obituary, gender of the deceased can be determined from the words, “Mrs.” and “daughter.” Do not ever assume gender based on a given name.

Relationship: Use “Parent,” “sibling” or “child” unless a gender specific relationship type is stated.

In this obituary, the words “sons, daughters, sisters and brothers” are used, but not “mother and father”, so you would index them as “Parents.”

Names: Index “Marie” as the given name, “Kober Hubert” as the surname, with the maiden name first, and “Mrs.” in the title field. Names: What about Maiden Names?

If the mother’s name “Fellinger” had been inside ( )’s, then we could assume that this is a maiden name, and we could assign the parents a gender. Otherwise, they are just “parents.” Maiden Names can be tricky.

Index every name in the order in which it appears in the obituary. Include people like the minister if he is named. He would be categorized as a “non-relative.”

If someone is mentioned twice, record the most complete name, but only record him/her once (unless it is an obituary for 2 people and they share relatives.)

Age: Don’t do the math to figure out the age if it is not stated. Don’t add geographic locations if they are not stated. Don’t assume anything!

In this obituary, the date of death is not specifically mentioned, but the date typed on this card can be used, “13 Aug 1979.”

Tricky Names Mrs. Robert (Susan) Jones is indexed as one person: Susan Jones

Tricky Names Mrs. Robert (Susan) Jones is indexed as one person: Susan Jones Robert (Susan) Jones is indexed as two people: Robert Jones and Susan Jones.

Helpful Hints: There are no “step, adopted, foster or great” grandchildren. Just index them as “grandchildren.”

Helpful Hints: There are no step, adopted, foster or great grandchildren. Just index them as “grandchildren.” On Funeral Programs, do not assume a relationship. Pallbearers should be listed as “Non-relatives.”

Helpful Hints: There are no step, adopted, foster or great grandchildren. Just index them as “grandchildren.” On Funeral Programs, do not assume a relationship. Pallbearers should be listed as “Non-relatives.” If an obituary stretches over two or more images, index all information on the first image and mark subsequent images as “No- Extractable Data”

Helpful Hints: There are no step, adopted, foster or great grandchildren. Just index them as “grandchildren.” On Funeral Programs, do not assume a relationship. Pallbearers should be listed as “Non-relatives.” If an obituary stretches over two or more images, index all information on the first image and mark subsequent images as “No-Extractable Data” A widow is a spouse; a divorced spouse is a non- relative

Helpful Hints: There are no step, adopted, foster or great grandchildren. Just index them as “grandchildren.” On Funeral Programs, do not assume a relationship. Pallbearers should be listed as “Non-relatives.” If an obituary stretches over two or more images, index all information on the first image and mark subsequent images as “No-Extractable Data” A widow is a spouse; a divorced spouse is a non-relative If an obituary shows up in German, mark that image “No- Extractable Data”

There are many more “picky” rules: the most important is Use Your Best Judgement! VITAL

Have Fun! And play by the rules ! “Or I’ll come lookin’ for ye!”