Sources: Marriage Contract

[Helmut Leininger 0]

Hi,

 

I have images of several marriage contracts and I want attach them as sources to an event.

 

Which source type is the best to use? It should contain at least the title, issuing administrative unit, place and date.

 

If you adapted another source type please specify some details.

 

Many thanks

[Michael Hannah 0]

Hi Helmut,

 

First, I don't believe there is any such thing as a best source type. It will depend upon how you want to record sources in TMG (the standard TMG discusson of "lumping" source records or "splitting" source records), and depend on how you want your source output to look in both footnotes and bibliography. Thus you are likely to get a different answer of what is "best" from each user.

 

For most sources I have constructed my own custom source types because of the way I choose to record that information. Many of my marriage certificates come from churches, so I have the following source type for an individual certificate or document of registration that lets me optionally enter the name of the church. [sPOUSES' NAMES] should be entered "groom-surname, given; bride-surname, given" as with all names. [LOCATION] is usually the name of the parish, which is typically different from the name of the [CHURCH]. [PUBLISHER] is usually a governmental entity authorized to issue certificates. [TITLE] is the kind of document, e.g. Certificate of Marriage. [RECORD TYPE] gives specifics about the document, e.g. Certified Copy. [DATE] is issue date of the document. I usually put details about what it took to obtain the certificate in the source [COMMENTS] field. If the actual date of the marriage is different, the date of the ceremony would be identified in the [CD]. This source type uses custom source elements: [CHURCH] in Second Location, [DATE OBTAINED] in the Second Date group. My templates are:

 

FF:

[SPOUSES' NAMES], [ITAL:][TITLE][:ITAL], [DATE]<, [CHURCH]>, [LOCATION]<; [RECORD NUMBER]><; [RECORD TYPE]><; [PUBLISHER]><, [PUBLISHER LOCATION]><: [CD]>

SF:

[SPOUSES' NAMES], [ITAL:][TITLE][:ITAL], [DATE]<, [CHURCH]>, [LOCATION]<: [CD]>

B:

[SPOUSES' NAMES]; [ITAL:][TITLE][:ITAL]<; [RECORD NUMBER]><; [RECORD TYPE]>; [DATE]<, [CHURCH]>, [LOCATION]<. [PUBLISHER]><, [PUBLISHER LOCATION]>. <[REPOSITORY REFERENCE]. ><[REPOSITORY]><, [REPOSITORY ADDRESS]><. Obtained [DATE OBTAINED]><. [COMMENTS]>

 

Examples of the output:

Full Footnote:

Edward Graham Dawes and Juanita Violet Richards,

Marriage Certificate

, July 31, 1934, St. Anne's Church, Moseley; MXA 594889; certified copy of an entry of marriage; District of Birmingham, County of Birmingham C.B., England

Short Footnote:

Dawes and Richards,

Marriage Certificate

, July 31, 1934, St. Anne's Church, Moseley

Bibliography:

Dawes, Edward Graham and Juanita Violet Richards;

Marriage Certificate

; MXA 594889; certified copy of an entry of marriage; July 31, 1934, St. Anne's Church, Moseley. District of Birmingham, County of Birmingham C.B., England. Richards File. Private holdings, Michael J. Hannah, Los Ranchos, New Mexico. Obtained 17 March 2000. Application number PASB241932/2000. Filed in register Volume 6 d, page 726, entry 90.

 

Hope this gives you ideas from my way of doing this,

[Helmut Leininger 0]

Hi Michael,

 

Thank you for showing me the right direction. It seems I wanted to put the cart before the horse.

[Michael Hannah 0]

NO, NO, Helmut. I would never say my way was the right direction. Only one that works for me. And asking for suggestions as you plan what to do is never "the cart before the horse". It is, in my opinion, a rational and efficient thing to do. Keep asking questions! There are many users like me who will be happy to share what works for us.