Hi,
In short, I want to know if RM template based sourcing is flexible enough to allow me to basically duplicate the sources as described in the book Evidence Explained.
I am new to Roots Magic, but I have been studying genealogy since 1999. I have been using FTM and ancestry since starting on this journey. This spring I encountered a bug which stopped my ability to sync with ancestry.com, so I started to explore other software. I have tried MacFamily Tree, FTM, Legacy and even Gramps. More importantly, I want to address my family tree's sources and make them meet best standards as defined in Evidence Explained.
So as an example from page 430 of Evidence Explained, for a Death Certificate from Kentucky.
Ancestry describes this sources as:
Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives; Frankfort, Kentucky
Ancestry.com. Kentucky, Death Records, 1852-1965 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.
Original data:
- Kentucky. Kentucky Birth, Marriage and Death Records – Microfilm (1852-1910). Microfilm rolls #994027-994058. Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, Frankfort, Kentucky.
- Kentucky. Birth and Death Records: Covington, Lexington, Louisville, and Newport – Microfilm (before 1911). Microfilm rolls #7007125-7007131, 7011804-7011813, 7012974-7013570, 7015456-7015462. Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, Frankfort, Kentucky.
- Kentucky. Vital Statistics Original Death Certificates – Microfilm (1911-1964). Microfilm rolls #7016130-7041803. Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, Frankfort, Kentucky.
The actual Death Certificate can be seen here
Evidence Explained provides the following template for State-Level Records, Vital-Records Certificate. Since I have the certificate in hand, I can site the actual source.
Subsequent (Short) Note
Jurisdiction. Certificate Type & No. Cert Date, ID of Person.
11. Kentucky birth certificate no. 28610 (1925), Ludy Rodgers.
So ideally, I want my source to show up exactly like this. Lastly, how can I configure my source to where it contains all the information because in some cases I will not have the certificate in hand. I will be depending upon ancestry.com or another source that has re-published or index the data of other sources like this death certificate. If I did not have the actual certificate, I would need to cite ancestry and then put in citing, etc.... after the source.
If this were the case then, the citation would look like this based upon p 164-165 of Evidence Explained:
Corporate Records Online Images p164
Corporate Records Online Database p 165
I could choose either one of these, but lets say I did not have the certificate in hand or it was a bad copy and ancestry had provided some translation or other data that was important to the citation that prevented me from just making the citation as described above.
So I will this template from page 165: Corporate Records Online Database.
Source List Entry
"Database Title." Item Type of Format. Owner or Creator, Website Title. URL : Date.
"Kentucky, Death Records, 1852-1965." Database. Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.., Ancestry. https://search.ances...646&usePUB=true: 2007.
First (Full) Reference Note
1. "Database Title," Item Type or Format, Owner or Creator, Website Title (URL : Date), entry for "Item of Interest."
1. "Kentucky, Death Records, 1852-1965." database, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry (https://search.ances...646&usePUB=true : 2007), entry for "Vital Statistics Original Death Certificates - Microfilm (1911-1954," cataloging "Microfilm rolls #: 7016130-7041803, Death Certificate, Name: Ludy Rodgers, Maiden Name: Cole, Gender: Female, Race: White, Death Age: 55, Birth Date 7 Feb 1870, Birth Place: Kentucky, Death Date: 9 Oct 1925, Death Place: Casey, Kentucky, USA, Father: John Cole, Mother: Lissie Jacobs."
Subsequent (Short) Note
11. "Database Title," Website Title, Item of Interest ...
11. "Kentucky, Death Records, 1852-1965," Ancestry, entry for "Vital Statistics Original Death Certificates - Microfilm (1911-1954," cataloging "Microfilm rolls #: 7016130-7041803, Death Certificate, Name: Ludy Rodgers..."
So Ideally I want to create a Master Source that produces each one of these citations and much more....
Can this be done? Ideally I want the software to prompt me for Name, Maine Name, Gender, Race, Death Age... all of the fields that ancestry.com usually describes? How would I do this if it can be done.