* Citing Ancestry.com Sources in FH

[edmacke]

Looking for thoughts on how to best cite ancestry.com sources in the FH sources.

For example, on ancestry, there's a marriage fact whose source ancestry cites as "Virginia, Marriages of the Northern Neck of Virginia, 1649-1800".

But when you look at the details for that source, you see that it was actually from a book, "Headley, Robert K. Married Well and Often: Marriages of the Northern Neck of Virginia, 1649–1800. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2003"

I was thinking about setting the FH source title as "Married Well...", author as "Robert K. Headley", and then making the short title be the ancestry name of "Virginia, Marriages of the Northern Neck..."

Thoughts??

[tatewise]

It somewhat depends on a number of other factors.

Are you proposing to use Method 1 'splitter' mode or Method 2 'lumper' mode for such sources?

How do you record Source Citation details for other Marriage records.
I would recommend you stick to a Title format similar to what you use elsewhere.

e.g.
I use Method 1 'splitter' mode for Marriage records.
The Title always has the format:
HIS-SURNAME, Forenames & HER-MAIDEN-NAME, Forenames 1999 Marriage
I would suggest the following:
Author: could be Robert K. Headley, Genealogical Publishing Co., 2003
Publication Info: could be Married Well and Often: Marriages of the Northern Neck of Virginia, 1649–1800. Baltimore, MD, USA plus a detailed reference such as page number.
Type: is Marriage Record

But if using Method 2 'lumper' mode, the detailed reference such as page number would be in the Citation field Where within Source, and the Title would be Married Well and Often: Marriages of the Northern Neck of Virginia, 1649–1800. Baltimore, MD, USA similar to your suggestion, but I think Genealogical Publishing Co., 2003 is part of the Author details.

[edmacke]

Are you proposing to use Method 1 'splitter' mode or Method 2 'lumper' mode for such sources?

Ummm... huh? I'm guessing it's probably "lumper" based on your examples.

How do you record Source Citation details for other Marriage records.

Well, so far my source source citations for Marriage (and any fact, really) has been pretty rudimentary.

Almost everything just has only a title. Basically, I just want something documenting the fact that it's not just something I - or somebody on ancestry - made up, and also to allow me to determine what data to use in case of collision, e.g. if I have a death date source as "findagrave.com" but later find a death death certificate with a different date, I know which to use.

So in this specific example, I have a source with a title of "Virginia, Marriages of the Northern Neck of Virginia, 1649-1800" and I've attached it to the marriage record and the name attribute of the bride and groom, and that's it. Very simple.

Basically, my question here is how could I easily capture the Ancestry.com source info (i.e. the one-line Ancestry description) and the "real" source info that may just be a online ancestry database, a book, etc.

[tatewise]

For more details on Source Citation Methods see how_to:index#recording_facts_and_sources|> Recording Facts and Sources.
It is a good idea to use a consistent Source Citation strategy, otherwise in later years it will become increasingly difficult to review what you have recorded and why.

On further investigation the Ancestry page at https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=5063 gives some more clues under Source Information and especially About Virginia, Marriages of the Northern Neck of Virginia, 1649-1800.
The author is clearly Robert K. Headley.
The book title is Married Well and Often with a subtitle of Virginia, Marriages of the Northern Neck of Virginia, 1649-1800.
The publisher seems to be the Genealogical Publishing Co. of Baltimore, MD, USA dated 2003.

If you have a Birth/Death/Marriage Certificate then that is a small document citing just one Birth/Death/Marriage and if you include an image of the certificate and its transcript in the Source record then you are using Method 1 'splitter' mode.
What format do you use for the Source Title in these cases?

The book we are discussing is a more complex document, because it lists some 7,000 marriages with other details.
It is a bit like the full register of BMD Certificates, which no doubt has a title & author, but if you just cited that whole register it would not identify a specific certificate.
In the case of the book you need to cite the specific section or page that holds the details for the bride & groom's marriage, otherwise hunting for those details in future years will be more difficult that it needs to be. Where amongst the 7,000 is this marriage?

If you choose to use Method 1 'splitter' mode, then the section/page references go in the Source record.
I would also recommend downloading an image of that page and attaching that to the Source record Media tab.

If you choose to use Method 2 'lumper' mode, then the section/page references go in the Citation field Where within Source.
The downloaded image of that page also is attached to the Citation.
BUT in this case those details must be copied into each Citation e.g. for the Marriage fact, and the Name of the bride and groom.

I advise downloading an image, because there is no guarantee that Ancestry will always hold that document in the future.

Besides the names of husband & wife and date of marriage, entries may contain much more, such as family relationships and birth/death details. So you may have many more facts and citations for this one book source entry.

[edmacke]

In the case of the book you need to cite the specific section or page that holds the details for the bride & groom's marriage, otherwise hunting for those details in future years will be more difficult that it needs to be. Where amongst the 7,000 is this marriage?...

The problem with ancestry is that very often there is not a specific page. My fact may exist on page 123 of the original book, but ancestry doesn't tell me that - it just tells me the fact is in its database representation of that book, period. Sometimes there may be an image available, and it may have a page number, but just as often not. When I find page info, I will put that in the "Where within Source" field for the citation attached to the fact.

I advise downloading an image, because there is no guarantee that Ancestry will always hold that document in the future.

Yeah, that lack of guarantee is the exact reason I want to cite the original source. Also, the people I pass this on to may not have ancestry access. In either case, an ancestry source called "Virginia, Marriages of the Northern Neck of Virginia, 1649-1800" isn't helpful, but the book source of "Married Well and Often: Marriages of the Northern Neck of Virginia, 1649–1800" might be.

[BobWard]

That entire book is downloadable on Ancestry.com. If you can find the page number that your relatives are listed on, go to that page and download it and attach it as a Source record. In such instances, I always also attach a copy of the title page. If you do not know what page they are on, do a name search in the document and see where they are at.