Helpful Name Hints

Guidelines for Indexing Names

• Type the most complete version of a name

Please take time to scan the entire document. In one place, the name may be C.H. Johnson. In another place, it may be Chas. H. Johnson. In yet a third place, the name maybe written as Charles Henry Johnson. Type only the most complete name

• Titles and terms do not go in the Given or Surname field

Titles such as Jr., Sr., Mrs.,Miss, Senor, Senora, Don, Dona, Captain, Dr., or terms such as Unknown, stillborn, twin, or infant are entered in a Title or Terms field if it is available as a column in the project.

• Punctuation in Names

Include punctuation that is part of a name: like O'Rourke, if it is written on the document. Do not include punctuation such as a period after an abbreviation or other punctuation that is not normally part of a name.

• Abbreviations

Sometimes names are abbreviated or a portion of their letters are written raised above the rest of the name, resembling a ditto mark. Type what you see, typing all letters on the same line. Do not guess what the abbreviations stands for unless directed to do so by a specific project.

• Maiden Names

Maiden names are considered surnames and should be typed before the married name in the Surname field. If you cannot determine if a name is a given name or a surname, type the name in the Given Name field.

• Indexing "Mrs. John White" :

When a woman's name is recorded with her husband's name instead of her own (such as Mrs. John White), look throughout the record to see if her given name is included elsewhere. If it is, index the most complete name that is recorded (such as Amanda White). If it is not, mark the Given Name Field as BLANK, and index the last name in the Surname Field. Do not index titles or terms such as "Mrs" in either the Given Name or Surname Field.

Indexing Tip:

ADJUSTING HIGHTLIGHTS

THERE ARE SEVERAL WAYS TO ADJUST THE HIGHLIGHTS IN A BATCH

1. Go to VIEW and click on Adjust Hightlights

Yellow boxes with red borders will appear. Click and drag red boxes into the corners of the border to fit your image. To turn off this feature, click on Adjust Hightlights again.

2. You can use the CTRL key as a shortcut to simplify your efforts.

Press and hold CTRL, and move the mouse pointer over the area where the highlights should be. The highlights will appear just as though you had selected Adjust Highlights from the View menu. Release the CTRL key when you finish adjusting the hightlights.

July 2010 Stake Indexing Statisticts

Indexing Statisticts for July are FABULOUS ! Thank you everyone

25,879 names indexed

1502 names arbitrated

Stake total for 2010 now at 64,597 names - 49 indexers this month!

Break down by Wards:

Clinton Ward - 1155 names - 4 indexers

Edmond First Ward - 1138 names - 3 indexers

Edmond Second Ward - 1575 names - 2 indexers

No Location assigned? 1248 names - 7 indexers

OKC Fifth ward - 28 names - 1 indexer

OKC First Ward - 8054 names - 16 indexers

OKC First ward - 1502 names arbitrated - 1 arbitrator

OKC Third Ward - 5185 names - 4 indexers

Quail Creek Ward - 2554 names - 8 indexers

Village Ward - 4690 names - 3 indexers

Woodward Branch - 252 names - 1 indexer

GOOD JOB

World wide indexers have indexed 100 million names since the first of the year ! Our stake is part of that effort and it is greatly appreciated.

To search these names cick on the "Indexing Links" tab on the bottom right of your indexing screen then choose FamilySearch RecordsSearch.

You can also go to www.familysearch.org and do a records search.

Helpful Hints

(My three great aunts: Gussie, Lizzie, Ellen)

Hints to help you Index Texas Birth Records:

1. There are usually 20 images in one batch - sometimes there are two records on one image. You may have to add a line if you have two records. Go to TOOLS to add lines

2. Sometimes there is an original birth record and an ammended record for the same child. Do not indicate that one is a duplicate in the record type. They should all be normal even if they are for the same child. Index each record seperately.

3. If the child was unnamed, do not enter the father's surname as the childs surname. Enter in Blank for the childs surname.

4. Do not add the county name if it is not written on the birth record, even if you know what it should be.

Always read the field helps and the project information to know what to do.

Remember the GOLDEN RULE of Indexing: "Enter what you see", no more no less.

There is one exception to the golden Rule: Put in the complete place name if it is written on the document. If the name of the state or county is abbreviated, and you know what it should be, enter the complete name. If you can not determine, from the drop down list, what it should be then enter the abbreviated form, with out the period.

Answers to Indexing Questions

Where to find Help and Answers to your indexing questions

1. Read the Project Instructions: click on the tab on the right side of your work screen - each project has different directions

2. Please Read the Field Helps : the information changes on the right side of your data entry area, each time you put data into a new field. At the bottom of the field helps you will see a link ( in blue) that takes you to an example. Check this link to see if you are using the correct page number. The page numbers they want are not always the "formal" page number. As an arbitrator I see this as the common mistake that indexers are making.

3 Go to HELPS : You can get there from your work sheet by clicking on F1 while in the indexing program. You may also go to helps on your indexing Home page ( boys on bikes).

4. Ask a Question: go to http://indexing.familysearch.org : you will find answers to many questions by just typing in your question in the Ask a Question Box. A document should open with the answer. You can print off these documents for future reference.

5. Go to Resource Guide on Home page: (boys on bikes) click on Help and it opens a list of resources for all levels of Indexers, ie., Indexers, Arbitrators. Under Indexers there is a link to a "Users Guide" which is 84 pages of useful directions about the basics of indexing. You can print off all or part of it, or just read what you are interested in. It has been a big help to me in learning how to do indexing. Try opening it up and looking at it's contents.

Happy Indexing !! Call me if you have problems 405-367-7159 or SLC 1-866-406-1830

Indexing Progress in July

We invite all ages to join us in our Stake Efforts to Index 100,000 names by December 31, 2010.

The young sisters at the left are Sylvia McLendon and Kaiulani Long of the Oklahoma City First Ward, who both attended the Stake Indexing Fair at the Surrey Hills Building in June.

Our leader, with the most names indexed in July, so far, is Susan Crane of the Village Ward. Susan has indexed 3644 names by July 16th!

For those of you who need help, please call Lois Gilbert at 405-367-7159 and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible with an answer to your questions.

Keep up the good work, it is greatly appreciated.

Helpful Hints

ADDING MORE LINES TO YOUR BATCH

There has been an increasing number of batches returned by the arbitrators. The most popular reason to return a batch is that all the data was not entered. This problem can be eliminated by reducing your image size when you are checking for the "image type". Try reducing the size of the image to 37%. This will allow you to see most of the image. It will also enable you to see if there is a second page on the right. This is the general case with State Census records.

Once you determine that you have two pages to index, you can see how many lines you will need on your worksheet below. At this point you can go up to TOOLS at the top of your page and click on "Records per image" then open "Number of Records" to see what your worksheet is set for. It might be set at 50 when you need 100. So Click on the up arrow to increase the number 50 to 100. Then go down to your worksheet and scroll to the bottom and make sure there are 100 lines there.

If the original document image has 100 lines, but only 80 of them have anything written on them, then you must use "ctrl blank" to put blank in those 20 blank data lines. EVERY LINE has to have something in it or you can't submit the batch. Be sure you put "BLANK" on the line number that is blank, not at the end of the batch. Unless, of course, all the blank lines are at the end of the batch.

If you need help, call me 367-7159 or email me lgmgilbert2@yahoo.com and I will try to answer your questions. Thank you for your efforts.