The ability to customize almost anything is one of The Master Genealogist's (TMG) most powerful features - and one of its most frustrating. The amazing detail in Evidence Explained makes it a treasure for genealogists - but makes it difficult to synthesize principles. Put the two together and you get chaos - or a wonderful way to cite your sources consistently and professionally.

The Tri-Valley TMG User Group is associated with the Livermore-Amador Genealogical Society (L-AGS), and we meet in Pleasanton, California. Information on our meetings - location, date, time, and topic - is always available on the home page of the L-AGS web site. Our three-hour meetings are actually hands-on workshops in which up to fifteen computers are connected to a digital projector allowing customized personal assistance to attendees. In the past, the group has systematically studied Lee Hoffman's Getting the Most out of The Master Genealogist and Terry Reigel's A Primer for The Master Genealogist. In February 2010 we embarked on our most ambitious project to date, a study of Elizabeth Shown Mills' Evidence Explained.

If you would like to participate in the Tri-Valley TMG User Group's adventures as we attempt to create TMG source templates that approximate Evidence Explained's principles, please feel free to comment and share your ideas.

If you would like to download and use our source type templates in your personal database, we would appreciate it if you retain our acronym (TVTMG) in the template name. Societies, if you would like to use these templates in your group activities, please contact the TV-TMG chair at: tvtmg.chair@L-AGS.org.

Please note that these are our attempts
and they have not been approved by Mills! In other words, please don't blame her incredible book for our mistakes. Unless otherwise stated, all references are to the 2007 edition of Evidence Explained.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Citing a Cemetery Marker (Urban)

Cemetery Marker (Urban) (Duplicates Mills, EE, 5.15 and QuickCheck Model, p. 214)
  • Bibliography (Source List Entry):
[CEMETERY] (<[CITY], ><[COUNTY], ><[STATE]>). ><[RECORD TYPE]<. [MEMO]>.

Oak Woods Cemetery Association (Chicago, Cook County, Illinois). Grave markers and burial records.
  • Full footnote (First Reference Note):
[CEMETERY] (<[CITY], ><[COUNTY], ><[STATE]>)<, [CD1]><, [CD2]><; [FORMAT]><>< [DATE]><; [CM]>.

Oak Woods Cemetery Association (Chicago, Cook County, Illinois), Frances H. Johnston grave marker, Section I, division 1, lot 876, plot 9; photographed by Susan Goss Johnston, 10 March 1987<; [CM]>.
  • Short footnote (Subsequent Note):
[CEMETERY]< ([SHORT LOCATION])><, [CD1]><; [CM]>.

Oak Woods Cemetery Association (Chicago, Ill.), Frances H. Johnston grave marker.

Explanation of variations from Mills:
  1. Mills' example has only the year entered in the date field. Since I was the person who visited this cemetery, I entered the day I was there. If I made multiple visits to the cemetery, I enter the month and year or the year alone. When my research at a cemetery spans multiple years, I'm currently entering the year range in this field. (The exact date of a visit is entered in [CD3].)
New source elements in this template:
  1. Cemetery (in Title)
  2. City (in Publisher)

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