posted by Sandy on Family History Hints and Helps

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There is a universal language used to record and report Family History.  I think that you will find that it is easy to learn and easy to use. In fact, you probably already know some of it because when you make a Pedigree Chart, it looks just like an “outline” . . . the kind of outline that is taught in an English class.  Its use eliminates confusion when reading and writing names, dates and places.  It makes note-taking fast and accurate.  For example, if you talking to someone on the telephone and they start to tell you about a family member and his family, you will be able to write down the information so that  you will know exactly what was meant, long after the telephone conversation is over.

Here are the simple, basic rules:

• Write all surnames in capital letters, followed by a comma, the first name and initial.     DOE, John R.
• Write all dates in this order:     12 Jan2006
• Abbreviate the month to its first three letters:     Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
• Use “b” to indicate a birth date
• Use “chr” to indicate a christening date
• Use ” d” to indicate a death date
• Use “mar” to indicate a marriage date
• Use “bur” to indicate a burial date or place
• Use “bap” to indicate a baptism date
• Use a “+” when indicating a spouse on a pedigree chart
• Use “sp” to indicate a spouse when taking or sharing notes
• Use numbers beginning with “1” to record children in their birth order, oldest first to youngest
• Write places in this order:    City, County, State. Smallest jurisdiction to largest.
• If your place has a township AND a county, write the City, Township, County, State
• You do not need to use the word “County” after a county name
• You do not need to use United States the names of states
• Separate City, County and State by commas.  If you do not know one or more of the places, use a comma to indicate that you do not know.   Draper, , Utah.  This example means that you do not know the county.  , Salt Lake, Utah means that you do not know the city.  Draper, Salt Lake, , means that you do not know the state.
• DO NOT ABBREVIATE STATES OR COUNTRIES ! Connecticut is not CT.  Vermont is not VT.  Utah is not UT.  When you consider the many differences in handwriting from one person to another, it is easy to see how these abbreviations,  CT, VT, UT can be easily misunderstood . . . especially VT and UT.  Places are important.  Write them out completely.
• Use <brackets> to indicate that a piece of information you have included in your record might not be correct but you want to leave it there until you know for certain. I use brackets to indicate my questions for names, dates and places.  Using brackets also helps me to review where I need to spend more time.
• Women should always be entered onto your records using their maiden names. They will eventually appear in the following records with their married names:  Social Security Death Index, Census Records, Burial Records and Obituaries.

Tags: helps, hints