Posts in July 26, 2019

When using a record series, do you think about how the originals were recorded and organized? It’s usually worth a thought: Vital records are usually recorded by file date, not necessarily the date of the event. Land records are organized by date the document was brought for recording, not the date the document was executed. Baptism records are organized by date of baptism, not birth date. Census records are organized geographically–with the amount of precision varying over time and from one place to another. Names may be organized in order of visit or roughly alphabetized. Loose probate papers are organized by probate case and those case files are generally organized by a case number–which may have been assigned based upon when the probate process was begun. And there […]