How to Source a Baptismal Record

After a visit to a church, I found a copy of a of a Baptismal Certificate, in the Church books. How do I record that?


Please note: a Source, in Family Tree Maker is an artifact, book, document, film, person, recording, website, etc., from which information is obtained. The Source-Citation is where in the Source the information was found.


The first step would be to go to the Source Workspace, and on the right click on Add:

 The next screen, you will select New, since this a new Source for this file:

To select the appropriate Template for this Source, this is the screen that will be presented:

The next thing to do, is to note the Source Repository.For this example, I have a copy of the Baptismal Certificate, so the repository is in my files.

So, New is selected, which will bring up the following screen:

At this point, just fill in the blanks on this screen.

The Repository field has now been filled in. Now, click on the More button on the Right:

This is where the Template is Selected. The Source Group is Church Records. The Category is Church Books, as that is where the document was found, and that original record is held by the Church, so that is the Template Selected.

Clicking on OK, will bring up the Template to be completed. The Source Template is filled in. The book that was looked at was at St. Mary's Church in Windber, PA. The Record Book is recorded, the Repository is selected from the pull down menu,  and the comment is made that a paper copy is in the family file.

At this point, the completed template form indicates where the information came from and where a copy is now.


Clicking on OK will bring up the Source-Citation information screen. The Source Title is presented, and the Repository is completed. This Baptismal Record was a form attached to Page 74 and it listed the Parents, God Parents, and Clergy. The Citation Detail was entered (where in that book) and the text or summary of what was there is entered in the Citation Text.

Clicking OK will return you to the Source Workspace. Selecting the Source that was just entered, will present the Source-Citation Information.

Now, it's time to use that Source-Citation. Going to the People Workspace and selecting the person who is listed on that Baptismal Record and using the Person Tab, the list of Facts are seen. Since the Certificate had her name, the Name Fact is selected.

Since we want to add a Source-Citation to the Name Fact, the down arrow next to the New button is selected, or the use of the Control (CTRL) Key and the letter "S", will take you to where you select the Source-Citation. If that Source-Citation is used in subsequent People and Facts, use Existing Source Citation would be selected.

 From here, you select the Source Title from the Pull down menu to the right of the Source title.

Here is where you would enter specific information for this individual from this Source..

The Source-Citation has been completed. Below is what the Family Group Sheet would look like, if the Items to Include had a Check Mark in the Sources box for the Family Group Sheet.

 Family Group Sheets are found in the Publish Workspace, Relationship Reports, from in the list under Publication Types.

© 2010, copyright H R Worthington