Which Template for an Index

In an ongoing dialog with Genea-Blogger, Randy Seaver, I mentioned to him that I followed a Hint on his Brick Wall, William Knapp. He posted what he found here: Exploring Family Tree Maker 2012 - Post 27: Doing a Web Search - Case 1 - Source Citations

Randy did a great job of documenting what he did and why. The end result is that he had actually seen the microfilm that had the information on it.

For me, I was having difficulty in selecting the most appropriate Template, within Family Tree Maker that would point me to find that Microfilm, or to the original document that was found. 

I did a websearch and found this entry.

I viewed the information in that link:

Confirmed that this was the right person, and noted two things. 1) the Source Information:

Ancestry.com, New Jersey, Deaths and Burials Index, 1798-1971 (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011), www.ancestry.com, Database online.and 2) what listed next:

"New Jersey Deaths and Burials, 1720–1971." Index. FamilySearch, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2009, 2010. Index entries derived from digital copies of original and compiled records.


Ancestry's entry in an Index of information, which is where I found it, but that is an Index from FamilySearch.org. I am gussing, that if I go to FamilySearch that I will find the same record, or index.

BUT, this isn't the record, only an index. The record was in a book in Newton, Sussex County, New Jersey, was transcribed and sent to the New Jersey Archives. I may get there, so I would want to see the record itself, if it still exists. Randy has seen the Film. I am not looking at the Film, so that isn't the Template I want to use.

After I did the merge, I went to the Sources Workspace, selected the Source that the merge provided, and Clicked on the Pencil ICON to Edit that Source. That will bring up the Edit Source screen. In this case,  I wanted to Change the Source to a Template.

Clicking on Change and started to type Death (dea), as a keyword, so see what templates would be available. What seemed to be obvious was that this is a Local Record, from a Vital Record Register. So, I selected that template.

That brings up a screen for me to fill out.

Notice that as you tab through the fields, you will be prompted as to what goes in that field.

New Jersey, Sussex County, Local Jurisdiction would be Newton, etc.

So far, this looks good. But then I looked at the Reference Note for this new Citation:

Newton, Sussex, New Jersey, "New Jersey Deaths and Burials Index, 1798-1971", Database online.;  www.ancestry.com.

To me, that Reference Note is what I would "like to be looking at" directly (wishful thinking) and NOT the "Index" that I am actually looking at. So, that isn't the right Template.  Had I seen the actual register when I visited Newton last week, that is what I would have selected.

I then went back to Change and didn't use the Keyword but did the manual selection process for an Artifact and Archives, selected Archived Material, and Digital Archives.

Clicking OK brings up this screen;

What that gave me for a Reference Note was:

"New Jersey Deaths and Burials, Index 1798-1971", Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com), Online Database.

I'll keep that one. Like Randy, I am not sure that is enough information, but the Citation does tell me that it IS and Index, the name of the Document, and that I was looking at Ancestry.com when I found the information.

At this point, I can now check, since FamilySearch was mentioned, that I could go there to do further searches, especially for the MicroFilm Randy mentioned, or to the New Jersey Archives in Trenton, where this record should be located.

Thank you Randy.


Copyright © 2011 by H R Worthington