Persons, Places, Dates and Keeping Things Straight

Early on May 3, 2020, Steve inquired, via email:
"I'm looking for some sage (meaning an opinion other than my own) advice
on ... names.  ... Might there be a "Family History Learning Moment" coming up?"

In response, instead of saying "yes, there are many Family History Learning Moments associated with people and place names," Michael Dindinger wrote, on the 3rd of May, 2020 via email, advice on the Names of Persons, Names of Places, and even how Dates work so that people can figure out what is what:

Steve considered this pure gold, so he broke the email down into a four post series, of which this one forms an introduction. Other than the formatting, minimal changes have been made to Michael's thoughts on this important and often misunderstood series of topics, namely how best to record the names of people you are interested in, the places they lived, worked, or visited, and when all the events occurred so that it is understood by future generations. Without futher ado, Heeere's Michael!

Names of People in Genealogical Records

Back to Intro
Names - This Post
Forward to Places
Forward to Dates

Family History Learning Moment
by Michael W. Dindinger, via email on 3 May 2020



Names

• Six elements make up a name: given name, middle name, surname, title prefix, title suffix plus alternate names. Not all names have all elements. You will want to enter each element in the designated data field.
• A birth name establishes the identity of an individual in a genealogy database. Enter the name given at birth (or baptism) in the language used at the time of the event (e.g., French, German, Latin, etc.) in the given name field.

Place Locations in Genealogical Research

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Back to Names
Places - This Post
Forward to Dates

Family History Learning Moment
by Michael W. Dindinger, via email on 3 May 2020





Places - Four basic rules govern the entry of place names:

1. Always enter the place name as known on the day the event took place in the place name field. Never use “formerly” or “now” in a place name field. Getting It Right: Data Entry Standards for Genealogists © 2010 Judith Schaefer Phelps 4 [ Like I stated previously, there may be a better source on this now] 

Dates in Genealogical Research

Back to the Intro
Back to Names
Back to Places
Dates - This Post

Family History Learning Moment
by Michael W. Dindinger, via email on 3 May 2020




Dates

• The most readable and reliable format for presenting dates is day, month, year; this style is least likely to create confusion when entering, matching, or merging data.
• Some systems abbreviate months as: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec without a period. Enter days with double digits and present four digits for the year. I do not recommend using any abbreviations when possible.

Hidden FamilySearch Pages

"Secret" Link to "Hidden" FamilySearch Pages

There are quite a few "hidden" pages on the FamilySearch.org website. What I mean by "hidden" is that these pages are not in any of the easily discovered pull-down menus. They are also only marginally publicized by FamilySearch. Usually, after the initial blog post announcing the new page and perhaps a few pop-up notices on the main startup page, these pages go invisible to the casual user and even those who use the program almost daily, they soon fade into the background of things we once knew about but have forgotten to use.

Welsh Ancestors?

by Michael W. Dindinger, via email on October 20, 2019
FAMILY HISTORY LEARNING MOMENT

Michael's main sources for this post:

Sunny Morton in a FamilySearch blog suggested sources

The Family History Guide has a lot on finding Welsh sources.

In the blog, “Discover Your Welsh Ancestry in These 3 Key Sources,” Sunny suggests starting your Welsh family research with what she calls the three C’s: censuses, civil registrations, and church records. Censuses of genealogical help began in 1841 and were taken every 10 years thereafter. The 1921 census will be released in 2021. Civil registrations (births, marriages, and deaths) began in Wales in July 1837. Sunny explains the two-step process to obtain these certificates. Church records, some beginning in 1538, consist of baptism, marriage, and burial records. However, these three record types are just the beginning.

Michael Dindinger Talks about Ireland

by Michael W. Dindinger, via email on September 17, 2019

FAMILY HISTORY LEARNING MOMENT

SOURCES: The Family History Guide 

Goal 1: Learn about research in Ireland
Choice A:  Get started with Irish research

1. Learn the basics of Irish research in these videos

Michael Dindinger Looks at Czech Ancestor Research

by Michael W. Dindinger, via email on September 17, 2019

FAMILY HISTORY LEARNING MOMENT

Michael's Main Source for this Post: The Family History Guide


Goal 1: Learn about research in the Czech Republic and its antecedents
Choice A:  Learn the basics of online Czech research

Michael Reads the Newspapers

by Michael W. Dindinger, via email on September 17, 2019

FAMILY HISTORY LEARNING MOMENT
Michael's main sources for this post:

The Family History Guide
FamilySearch Research Wiki

Since digitizing and storing thousands of images of newspaper pages on the Web is expensive, free online collectons of digitized historical newspapers are rare. However, modern day newspapers are increasingly found for free online. Free access to “historical’ databases can often be found at local libraries in larger communities.

Introducing MyHeritage Education – September 2019

by Michael W. Dindinger, via email on September 8, 2019
FAMILY HISTORY LEARNING MOMENT

Michael's main source for this post:
MyHeritage Education
additional major sources:
MyHeritage Blog
MyHeritage Education – YouTube
Genealogy’s Star Blog

General Comment from Michael: I am aware that some of you do not have MyHeritage on your computer systems – This program is available within the FamilySearch Center portal. This ‘Learning Moment’ is long, but there was a lot of material that is new.

Emigration versus Immigration

by Michael W. Dindinger, via email on July 28, 2019
FAMILY HISTORY LEARNING MOMENT

Michael's main source for this post:
Riverton FamilySearch Library

Simply put, Emigration is when a person leaves a country.  Immigration is entering a country.  Many stories affecting our ancestors can be found, along with the reasons that influenced their decisions.  Get to know your ancestors better by turning your hearts to them, and you may discover their wonderful and faith promoting stories.

Who's Your Mama?

Who’s Your Mama?

Michael Dindinger has found some suggestions about finding out who our female ancestors were. His narrative follows: