Make sure the children from the Mil Info are added to the Grid

In continuing my task of matching children on the Grid with children from the Mil Info, I came across the following.

I was able to match 9 children on the Grid with 9 children on the Mil Info. There was one more child on the Grid, Jesse M born in about 1877. There was also one more child on the Mil Info, Arthur born in 1886. The inputter seems to have decided that Jesse and Arthur were the same child. They were not. Jesse had died before the veteran filled out his family circular in 1898, so his name was not listed in the Mil Info. In 1900, the veteran's spouse said that she had 12 children and 9 were still alive. In all likelihood, Jesse and Arthur (he was not on the 1900 census with his family) are dead brothers.

Please don't assume that just because you've found 10 children in the census and there are 10 children in the Mil Info that they are the same 10 children. They might not be. Before marking the MilIN? button, make sure the information you have in the Mil Info matches (or nearly matches or somewhat matches) what you've found in the census or other records. There is no reason to assume that Jesse and Arthur are the same child. Nothing in the census or Mil Info supports that assumption.

In this case, a child from the Mil Info (Arthur) was left off the Grid. This is a major inputter error.

Child in the Mil Info

As the Mil Info (pension) data is prepared to be added to the VCC data, I've been working on a list of names of people from the VCC data. I have to match the person from the VCC Grid to the person in the Mil Info.

I've noticed that sometimes the Mil Info says (CHILD) or (DAUGHTER) or (SON). DO NOT match this to a person on the Grid unless you have some identifying information. That is a birth date or a death date.

In one case, the soldier had three children on the Grid. The Mil Info listed (CHILD) twice. There was no other information about those two children. The inputter picked two of the children on the Grid and said they were the two children from the Mil Info. There is no way they could have known which two children were referenced in the Mil Info, so the MilIN? should NOT have been marked on the Grid.

In another case, there were two children on the Grid. The Mil Info listed (CHILD) twice. There was no other information about those two children. The two children on the Grid should not have had the MilIN? column checked, because there was no other identifying information. Even though you can't say those children were identified in the Mil Info, you don't have to add two extra children to the Grid. You have no evidence that the soldier had four children. You know he had two kids and two kids have been added to the Grid. I hope this makes sense.

When you mark a child (or anyone) on the Grid as being found in the Mil Info, that means there was information in the Mil Info that you were able to use to identify that child. If there is no identifying information, please don't mark that child as found in the Mil Info.

Notes on inferred relationships

Inferred relationships are those that you assign when creating the Grid and adding a new member. They apply across decades. Do not confuse them with the relationships written on the census manuscripts in each decade. If an individual appears on the census in multiple decades, you may use all that information to assign the inferred relationship for that individual.

We've noticed recently that a lot of people are being assigned the inferred relationship of "sibling-in-law" to someone else on the Grid. This is generally correct, but does not provide much information. If you know a more direct relationship, such as spouse, parent, or sibling, please use it instead of sibling-in-law. For example, here is a household.

·         Bob Jellyby - Head

·         Jane  Thomason Jellyby - Spouse

·         Peepy Jellyby - Son

·         Carolyn Jellyby - Daughter

·         Myrtle Thomason - Sis-in-law

You can infer from the information above, that Myrtle is probably Jane's sister. So, when adding Myrtle to the Grid, she should be entered as sibling to Jane rather than sibling-in-law to Bob. She will still be entered as sibling-in-law in the census decade. If the individual appears in multiple decades, there is usually enough information to assign a more informative  relationship. Remember, you can update the relationships when you find new information.

We have been preparing data to give to the PI, and we are correcting problems we've found with the inferred relationships. It is much easier for an inputter to correct problems while she's working on a family than it is for us to go back later and correct problems.

Here are a few notes to help prevent future problems with inferred relationships:

• Make sure only person 00 is assigned VETERAN.
• Make sure an individual is always "related to" someone. For example, SPOUSE of 00 or CHILD of 10 or VETERAN to 00, etc.
• Double check that when you're updating one relationship (or 2nd parent) that you haven't accidentally removed the relationship for another person.
• Update relationships when you find better information.

Adding spouses to the Grid

The soldier's spouse is only added to the Grid for the following reasons:

• She is found in the soldier's household in a given census year
• She had children with the soldier (even if you never find her living with the soldier during a census year)

Do not add the spouse to the Grid if she was never found with the soldier on the census and she had no children with him. This is to save time.

Missing children

As you've all been working on assigning 2nd parents to the soldiers' children, a few of you have needed to request the family tree. The primary reason for this is that the original inputter forgot to search for one (or more) of the children. That is, there was a child on the Mil Info that was never entered on the Grid.

This is just a reminder to double check that you've added all children from the Mil Info to the Grid before you hit complete.

Updating the Grid

There are a couple of updates to the Grid that I'd like you to start making yourselves.

If you don't have a birth year, but you do have the marriage date of the parents, just enter black Xs on the Grid. I'd rather not add black dots in those cases. From a data user's perspective, they mean the same thing anyway.

You can delete death information yourselves. There is no reason to wait for me to do it. There is a Delete button at the bottom of the death screen.

If you do these things yourselves, then you won't have to wait for me to handle them for you.

Blank names

Sometimes a person will only have one name on the census or obit record, or none at all. Follow these rules to input them:

INPUT THIS	WHEN IT LOOKS LIKE THIS ON THE DOCUMENT
(BLANK), Mary	When only first name shows (and last name isn't dittoed from above) such as on a death certificate.
Jones, (BLANK)	When only the last name is given and there is no first name
Jones, (?)	When it says, Jones, ? on the manuscript.
Jones, (WIFE)	When it says Wife in the wife’s line on the census underneath a husband whose last name is given
Jones, (BABY)	When it says BABY on the census manuscript and last name is written in or dittoed from above
Jones, (DEAD INFANT)	When mil info says DEAD INFANT or you find a death record saying DEAD INFANT [you can mark all decades with black x’s even without death date]
Jones, (CHILD)	When it says CHILD on mil info (include Vet’s last name)
Jones, (NO NAME)	When census manuscript says NO NAME
LEAVE BLANK	When it says unknown, not obtainable, not given or just ?  In other words, no names are given at all.

See previous blog post and comments on Sept 14, 2015 for additional reference.


What you're trying to accomplish is to make the name conform to our standard name format rules using whatever information you have. Anything that is not a last name, first name, or middle initial/name should be in parentheses ( ). If the first name or last name is left blank, let us know by inputting "(BLANK)."

Soldiers without death dates

For the original sample for vets without death dates,the rule was once we had two NF decades after 1880 to stop looking and assume he was dead.  You could mark the two decades yellow and any remaining decades would be marked not searched. If you get a guy like that, we would like you to mark it as you do the children without death dates. 

Mark all decades as yellow unless you have some evidence indicating the vet is dead.

Births and deaths within the census year

This is a repeat of a previous post. I thought a little reminder would be beneficial.


There is a little confusion about what to do when individuals are born in the census decade, but after the census was taken. There is also confusion about what to do when individuals die in the census decade but before the census was taken.

If the individual was born after the census was taken in a given decade, the system will not add a black dot for that decade. Please make that decade a black X (for not searched). For example, if a person was born in 1880 after the census was enumerated, the system will have black dots for the decades 1850, 1860, and 1870. Mark 1880 with a black X.

If the individual died before the census was taken in a given decade, the system will not add a purple gravestone for that decade. Please make that decade a black X (for not searched). For example, if a person died in 1920 before the census was enumerated, the system will have purple gravestones for the decades 1930 and 1940. Mark 1920 with a black X.

This does not hurt the data. From a data perspective, black dots, purple headstones, and black Xs all mean the same thing. They are just administrative tools to make our jobs easier.

Black dots and not searched

From the user's perspective, what you see as a black dot (not born) or a black X (not searched) on the Grid are the same thing. They each just mean there is no data in that decade. Because of this, on your checks, there is no need to tell the inputter to replace black Xs with black dots. It is not worth spending the time.

We distinguish between the two as an administrative tool to help you input. Continue to use black dots and black Xs as instructed. There is just no need to write it on the checks.

Duplicate family members

Check carefully to avoid duplicates.  Make sure when you see a grandchild with your vet, or a niece or nephew with a child of the vet, that you realize that this is a person that you might already have on the grid or might find later living with their immediate family.

Stillborn child

We just had a question about a stillborn child come up. In this case the soldier's only child was stillborn. Here is how we've decided to handle this case.

• Update/check HH0 information
• Add stillborn child to the grid adding gravestones and black dots, as appropriate
• DO NOT search for the soldier's spouse outside of his household

Again, this is only for when the soldier's ONLY child is stillborn. You should always add stillborn children to the grid. In this case, we've decided to save time by not searching for the soldier's spouse because they have no surviving children.

Making corrections

Each of you are checked at least twice a month. When you receive your check sheets, make sure you review them and make all necessary corrections. We have noticed that this does not always happen. It is important for your ongoing training and the quality of the data that these corrections be made. If you disagree with or don't understand something the checker said, please discuss it with the checker. You may also ask Sandy or me for clarification.

Additionally, sometimes an incorrect census decade must be deleted. I do this for many of you. After the deletion is made, sometimes a red X is left behind. I will not assume that this X needs to be changed to yellow. I'm happy to do that if you tell me, but I will not do it without your instruction. Therefore, if you ask me to delete a census decade, you need to make sure that it hasn't left a red X on your grid. It also doesn't hurt for you to double check that I correctly did what you asked me to do.

When the soldier and his family live outside the US

Recently, we had a soldier from Ireland. He was never found in the United States census and his children were all born and lived in Ireland. It was not uncommon for foreign-born soldiers to return to their countries of birth after the war.

Here are some things to keep in mind if you encounter this situation:

• Make sure you enter ALL the soldiers children on the grid. Even if you never find them on a census manuscript, you need to add them to the data. Add the spouse as well (if she had children with the soldier)
• If you have evidence that the soldier, his spouse, or his children were living outside the US during a given census year, then mark that decade on the grid with black Xs (not searched) instead of yellow Xs (not found). If they live outside the country, then they are not at risk to be found in the census.
• Even if they live outside the country, go ahead and search for death information, just in case. Family Search is a good place to do this because you can access international records. If you don't find death information for the soldier, his spouse, or his children, mark the death column with a yellow X.

Any questions?

Reminder about 1850 & 1860 in Project 2

In Project 2, for the soldier and his family who are alive in 1850 and 1860, DO NOT mark either of these decades with a yellow X.

Most of the black soldiers and their families were slaves in 1850 and 1860, so they weren't enumerated on the population census. Even those soldiers who were free, were often not enumerated. Therefore, you may do a cursory search in those decades, just in case. But DO NOT mark the soldier, his spouse, or his children with a yellow X in 1850 or 1860. If you have census information for them, they'll have the green circle with a check mark. If you don't have census information for them, they'll have a black X.

Additionally, stillborn children are not marked with yellow Xs. By definition, they are dead and will not be enumerated on the census. Therefore, only mark them with black Xs if you don't know the birth/death date.

Let me know if you have questions.

New USCT record

Those of you who have been working on Project 2 know how difficult and frustrating it can be to find information on the USCT soldiers and their families. Recently, Stacy had a lot of success with one family.

There were 15 households and 164 people on the Grid. There were only three children that she couldn't find information for once they left the soldier's household. This is even more impressive, because the soldier's name was Robert Brown, and the family lived in the south!

I think Stacy was relieved after so much work to hit complete on this family. Good job, Stacy!

Adding black dots

I get many requests to add black dots to the Grid. When you make these requests, please give me the birth date. Please do not just ask me to add black dots for 1850 to 1870, or to everything before 1900, or whatever. When I add the black dots, I type the birth year, so that is the minimum amount of information you need to give me. Please.

Don't forget boarders!

Just a reminder that unless the soldier or his child is living in a household with more than 15 other people, you must input the entire household. That means you need to input every person. That includes boarders.

Even if the soldier or his child is living with more than 15 other people, you still need to input all related individuals.

Soldier's spouse

As you know, if the soldier's spouse does not have children with the soldier, then we do not search for  her outside the soldier's and children's households. With that in mind, please do not add the soldier's spouse to the Grid if:

• She never had children with the soldier AND
• She was never enumerated on the census with the soldier

For example, you know from the Mil Info that the soldier married Jane in 1883 and they were divorced by 1890. They did not have any children. Given the dates of the marriage, they were never enumerated together on the census. Therefore, Jane does not need to be added to the Grid.

We are trying to save time, so we don't want to add a person to the Grid that will just have a black X for every decade.

More on soldier's dead children

If the Mil Info says the soldier has a dead infant, we want that child added to the Grid. If you think this is the same as another child you've already added to the Grid, then there is no need to add the infant a second time. Sometimes you won't have any information on this child - no name, no birth date, no death date, or living/dead date. In this case, please do the following.

Add the child to the Grid in the following manner.

Jones, (DEAD INFANT)

Mark all the Xs black to indicate not searched.

We can discuss this further at our upcoming meeting.