Citation Issues

FamilySearch Full Text search

I'm loving the new Full Text search feature of FamilySearch. It's amazing to find all the records. I've not got a problem when I find something. Just figure out where you are and cite that easy peasy :)

The issue I'm thinking about is when I get an empty result. So, for instance, I'm looking William Parker, in the 1830's for Lawrence, Alabama. No hits. Do I attempt to figure out all the docs that the Full Text search is using (and I'm not sure I know for sure what that is given the rules sometimes as to what is and is not available) or just cite Full Text?

"Accessed" date to websites

Hello Elizabeth!

I have two questions about accessed dates:

1) If you cited a website back in 2014 and after checking the link in 2024 it's still alive and well, do you update the "accessed" date in the citation, even though that would be the ONLY change you'd make to the citation?

2) If you make a small change to a database name (such as updating a database name with a new date range), would you also update the "accessed" date in all your citations that cite that database?

Deed citations with long lists of grantors or grantees

I am working through some deed books and have crafted the following citation

Clarke County, Alabama, Deed Record B: 28-30, Stephen Noble to L.B.R. Noble et al., deed of trust, 9 March 1823; imaged, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSLX-SSTM-V: accessed 16 March 2024), Image Group Number 8193658 > images 295-296 of 922.

Deed records and affidavits of heirship

I feel like I have a built a good citation for an affidavit of heirship, but I know I can always learn from posting to this forum.

Clarke County, Alabama, R: 485, W. B. Summers to Sarah A. Zellar & Jno. C. Summers, affidavit of heirship, 11 November 1876; digital images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C37R-3SZ7-V : accessed 12 Mar 2024), Image Group Number 8587552 > image 590 of 828.

How to describe death certificate that is not a copy of the original

I received 3 death certificates from El Paso County, Colorado Vital Records Office.  All state "For Genealogical use only."  Two look like photocopies of the originals, but on official certificate paper.  The third looks like it was generated from a computer record.  The format is modern, and there is no handwritten content or signatures, like I see on the other death certificates.

Can Layer 2 be omitted from subsequent citations to a previously cited record book, page and digital image if the person of interest is different?

EE4, section 8.21, pp. 297–298, notes 2 and 12, provide a model for omitting Layer 2 from a subsequent citation when the same parish, record book, page, entry number, person, URL and image number are involved.

1st Reference Note as given in section 8.21:

Capitalization of vital and church certificates

Dear EE,

Studying the templates and examples throughout EE (4th and 1st eds.) for capitalization with regards to vital and church certificates, I think I understand the pattern as:

- In the reference notes, use lower case and generic descriptions, so birth certificate, baptism certificate.

- In the source list as collections these are upper case such as Baptism Certificates, or as in 8.23 (4th ed.) Sacramental Certificates.

... and regardless of whether I am using Template 9 (Church Office) or Template 7 (Family Artifacts).

Do we use a hyphen or an en-dash to connect bride and groom in marriage citations?

Hello, EE,

In EE4, section 8.23, page 301, you provide an example of a citation in which the parties to the marriage are linked by either a hyphen or an en-dash. Looking at it, I'm not sure which punctuation mark I'm seeing between the two surnames. A hyphen seems reasonable since the two names are being connected, but I wonder if an en-dash sometimes fulfills the same purpose. Which am I seeing, please?

Thank you.

F.T.C.