Thanks for everyone's help and advice I should have been clearer in my intent. I try always to have my camera with me when I traverse graveyards and when I'm doing things for my family tree info I would always copy it exactly as written. I was posting several of my family on Find A Grave and am also going to include a photo. With a written inscription on a single line it isn't very coherent at times. I do appreciate everyone's help. Lou Lou Emeterio (724) 663-5149 H (614) 206-4945 C [email protected] In a message dated 3/22/2010 2:59:48 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: 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

While it is very important to transcribe original material exactly as it was originally presented - warts and all - do keep in mind that, however accurate the transcription, it still may be incorrect. My best example is that of the three youngest children from one family who died within eight days in 1862: Allen, Nannie, and McClellan Warnock. Their parents were William Howe Warnock and Emily "Emma" [Ratcliff]. The children and their parents are all buried in the same small family cemetery. The information on the headstones: 1) Allen Warnock b. May 5 1856 - d. 1862, son of Emma and McClellan, twin of Nannie 2) Nannie Warnock b. May 5 1856 - d. 1862, dau. Of Emma and William, twin of Allen 3) McClellan Warnock b. Oct 28 1861 - d. 1862, son of Emma and William Except for the listing of "McClellan" as the father of Nannie (which I attributed simply to an error made by the engraver which the family chose not to have corrected) everything seemed in order. However, later information taken from Bible records by a direct descendant of Emma and William disclosed that only McClellan's stone was without error. Allen, the oldest, was b. May 4, 1856 d. Oct. 29, 1862, Nannie (really Nancy Ann) was b. May 27, 1858, d. Oct 26, 1862, and McClellan, the youngest, was b. Oct. 28, 1861, d. Nov. 2, 1862. None were twins. In this case, since all involved died as infants and there are no descendants, correcting the record was solely for the sake of accuracy, but a lot of footnotes were involved! Those of us researching this family have speculated about why so many errors were allowed to stand uncorrected. In either scenario the family might have overlooked a lot just to be done with this nightmare. Were the parents so overcome with grief that someone other than an immediate family member gave information s/he thought to be correct to the engraver, or was the engraver himself at fault, perhaps overwhelmed and distracted by an epidemic that may have caused many other deaths in the community? Academic questions, for which we have no answers. Information given by relatives or others who don't really know the true answers often appears on death certificates and in census records, but we do like to think that something carved in stone is accurate! Virginia [email protected]sweb.com [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, March 23, 2010 8:12 AM To: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: Re: [S-I] Transcribing Tombstones Thanks for everyone's help and advice I should have been clearer in my intent. I try always to have my camera with me when I traverse graveyards and when I'm doing things for my family tree info I would always copy it exactly as written. I was posting several of my family on Find A Grave and am also going to include a photo. With a written inscription on a single line it isn't very coherent at times. I do appreciate everyone's help. Lou Lou Emeterio (724) 663-5149 H (614) 206-4945 C [email protected]

All this talk of transcribing tombstones reminds of a recent find of an Internet cousin-researcher. He found the cemetery stones of our great grandparents. One says "Mother" and the dates, and the other says "Father" and the dates of birth and death. We knew the cemetery where the folks were buried, but it was tough to find the stones until we found them with several of their sons who actually had full names and dates. Apparently the family was saving money on engraving and expected people in the future would certainly know who mother and father were. If the dates hadn't been there we would never have known. Marilyn ----- Original Message ----- From: "Virginia Beck" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>; <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, March 23, 2010 6:33 PM Subject: Re: [S-I] Transcribing Tombstones > While it is very important to transcribe original material exactly as it > was > originally presented - warts and all - do keep in mind that, however > accurate the transcription, it still may be incorrect. > > My best example is that of the three youngest children from one family > who > died within eight days in 1862: Allen, Nannie, and McClellan Warnock. > Their > parents were William Howe Warnock and Emily "Emma" [Ratcliff]. The > children > and their parents are all buried in the same small family cemetery. > > The information on the headstones: > 1) Allen Warnock b. May 5 1856 - d. 1862, son of Emma and McClellan, twin > of > Nannie > 2) Nannie Warnock b. May 5 1856 - d. 1862, dau. Of Emma and William, twin > of > Allen > 3) McClellan Warnock b. Oct 28 1861 - d. 1862, son of Emma and William > > Except for the listing of "McClellan" as the father of Nannie (which I > attributed simply to an error made by the engraver which the family chose > not to have corrected) everything seemed in order. However, later > information taken from Bible records by a direct descendant of Emma and > William disclosed that only McClellan's stone was without error. > > Allen, the oldest, was b. May 4, 1856 d. Oct. 29, 1862, Nannie (really > Nancy > Ann) was b. May 27, 1858, d. Oct 26, 1862, and McClellan, the youngest, > was > b. Oct. 28, 1861, d. Nov. 2, 1862. None were twins. In this case, since > all > involved died as infants and there are no descendants, correcting the > record > was solely for the sake of accuracy, but a lot of footnotes were involved! > > Those of us researching this family have speculated about why so many > errors > were allowed to stand uncorrected. In either scenario the family might > have > overlooked a lot just to be done with this nightmare. > > Were the parents so overcome with grief that someone other than an > immediate > family member gave information s/he thought to be correct to the engraver, > or was the engraver himself at fault, perhaps overwhelmed and distracted > by > an epidemic that may have caused many other deaths in the community? > Academic questions, for which we have no answers. > > Information given by relatives or others who don't really know the true > answers often appears on death certificates and in census records, but we > do > like to think that something carved in stone is accurate! > Virginia > > > [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] > On Behalf Of [email protected] > Sent: Tuesday, March 23, 2010 8:12 AM > To: [email protected]; [email protected]; > [email protected]; > [email protected] > Subject: Re: [S-I] Transcribing Tombstones > > > Thanks for everyone's help and advice > > I should have been clearer in my intent. > > I try always to have my camera with me when I traverse graveyards and when > I'm doing things for my family tree info I would always copy it exactly as > written. > > I was posting several of my family on Find A Grave and am also going to > include a photo. With a written inscription on a single line it isn't > very > coherent at times. > > I do appreciate everyone's help. > > 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 >