Peter,
Technically, every name variation that you find is an alternate name.
You need to pick one for the primary name that is your best
evaluation based on the evidence you have.
You should document each name variation with where you found it and
how it appears. Based on the variations of old writing, I have gone
back to sources after I found better evidence to make sure I took the
best "guess" at how to read something.
I now transcribe all of the census data under the head of household
for each census event. I copy that event to others who are listed. (I
usually do not copy event to minor children unless I have a special
interest in that child.) I can always go back to the recording and
update it if I find I guessed wrong.
Here is an example from one of my web sites:
http://www.lislefamily.org/stedman/tng/getperson.php?personID=I340&tree=stedman_stafford
john.
At 05:19 PM 4/19/2006, Peter Chalmers wrote:
As we're discussing "standard" ways of entering things, how do
people enter information (other than dates) that they're not sure
about? For example, I'm busy going through census entries and adding
them to Legacy. In a number of cases, either the given name or a
middle initial is not easily readable and I have to make a "best
guess". Sometimes it is corroborated elsewhere later, sometimes it
isn't. At the moment, in order to mark the fact that I'm not very
confident about a name I enclose it in angle brackets e.g. "John
<B.> Smith" - but I'm sure this'll have some disadvantages that I
won't find out about until I've got hundreds of them to change :-)! Any views?
Thanks,
Pete C.
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