Hi Lou, often when you can only partially read something you deduce what the rest is. Usually square brackets is used for this. That way a reader can tell what precisely was there and what you deduced it to be. Like Thomp[s]on. Probably Thomp_on is Thompson, but because you do not see the letter, you deduce. Or you put a dash and let the reader figure it out. The point isn't to make it easy to read. The point is to accurately transcribe what is there and to not transcribe what isn't there <grin>. I have a number of cases where the different transcriptions of a cemetery differ. Why? Well, other than the fact that tombstones disappear, transcribers fail to transcribe correctly, so they inadvertently interpreted something. They saw it but no one else transcribing the cemetery saw it. Did the tombstone get beamed up by UFOs or dumped in the gully or it is still there? We donno!! Whole family histories hing on this kind of inadvertent misinterpretation. And as for interpretation -- that's why we got footnotes where you can explain what you think it really is. Or arrange it in some other format, just so people can tell. I'd be a little less confused today if everyone did this <grin>. Linda Merle ----- Original Message ----- From: [email protected] To: [email protected], [email protected] Sent: Monday, March 22, 2010 8:20:18 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [S-I] Transcribing Tombstones Yeah. That's my thought as well but it really makes it hard to read sometimes particularly without the punctuation. Thanks, Lou Lou Emeterio (724) 663-5149 H (614) 206-4945 C [email protected] In a message dated 3/22/2010 5:56:56 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: I don't know the actual rules regarding this, but I would think that one should always transcribe anything EXACTLY as it is written. Even if it is deemed wrong by our current standards, I think it should be transcribed as is. ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>; <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, March 22, 2010 2:59 PM Subject: [S-I] Transcribing Tombstones Could I get some opinions / guidance on transcribing tombstones as far as: · Do you transcribe it exactly in terms of capitalization (i.e. Many/most names are entirely in capitals, DIED is often all caps, etc) · Do you transcribe exactly with regard to dates (i.e. many of my headstones have one date over another (or side-by-side with another) without a dash) · If you have a multiple person headstone that lists the Surname then lists the individuals by first name and initial, (e.g. I have a person Samuel T. Carroll. The family group stone - 4 members listed - is CARROLL. Would you transcribe it as CARROLL Samuel T. or Samuel T. Carroll or Samuel T. CARROLL or something else) · Finally, for now, do you put punctuation marks where there should be but often aren't (e.g. a name listed on one line Joseph P Ward - there is no period after the P but...) This technical stuff drives me absolutely crazy. Thanks in advance, Lou Lou Emeterio (724) 663-5149 H (614) 206-4945 C [email protected] ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message