Some thoughts on linking

I was discussing quality code 4 matches and census linking with Irene this week. She had some good comments that I'd like to share with you.

We both agreed that sometimes people take a QC4 match because they don't want to leave a no find on the grid. They think that any match is better than no match. That is not the case. We don't want to collect false matches. Just because you only found one person with the right name living in the right county doesn't mean you've found the correct person. If you've found two possible matches, you can't necessarily choose the person whose age is only off by 3 years instead of 5 years. Beware of common names. When an individual lives in a large city, there might be multiple people with the same name on the census and others who just got missed by the enumerator.

Here is what Irene had to say about linking records:

I see linking records and clues like stepping stones across a creek - you need to step on each stone to get you to the next one without skipping over any of them. There needs to be a clear link between the starting info and the records we use and attach to the family.

Please keep this in mind as you do census linking.

Use quality code 4 sparingly

Some of you probably remember back when we collected the Urban and USCT samples that we were sometimes inclined to take soldiers at a quality code (QC) 4 match. The idea was that even though we didn't have much supporting evidence, the individual was demographically similar even if he wasn't a perfect match. Then we could tell users that they were weak matches, and they could decide to drop them from the data they analyzed.

Now that we are searching for the soldiers' children, this doesn't really work. First of all, we don't want to spend two days searching for the 12 children of a QC4 soldier. Why waste all that time if they might not be the people we're looking for. Additionally, we have many more records available to make a solid match than we did for the previous samples. That is to say, most of the time, you should be able to find solid supporting evidence for the match you've made.

Because of all the great records available, we should only add a QC4 match (of soldier, spouse, child) to the grid on rare occasions. Use it sparingly. Occasionally, you can make an assumption and justify a QC4 match. I was trying to come up with an example of this, but it is so infrequent, that I couldn't. If you have to make multiple assumptions (even if those assumptions are logical and possibly correct) to add an individual to the grid, then you should not add that individual.

You should hardly ever add a QC4 individual to the grid. If you do, you should be able to defend the choice without making multiple assumptions about the individual or family. Just because a soldier is married, doesn't mean he has kids. Just because an individual is the right age in the right town doesn't mean she is the soldier's child. Maybe the child is related but is a niece or nephew, not a child. Make decisions based on all the information you have at your disposal. Whenever I'm tempted to take someone who is a weak match, I ask myself, "How do I know this is my person and not some random person with the same name?" What are the reasons to rule out this person?

This applies to both Project 1 and Project 2, but it is especially relevant to Project 2. Many of the birth/death/marriage dates change from decade to decade and sometimes the family structure has broken down. All this must be taken into account when matching individuals and families.

Many QC 4 matches will turn out to be wrong. It is so much worse to have wrong data than missing data.

Mil Info

I had a question about the Mil Info this week. There was not much in the Mil Info for a particular soldier. The inputter found a document from the soldiers home that had information she thought was about her soldier (she was correct). She wanted to know if she could use this document as Mil Info for purposes of increasing the soldier's (HH 0) quality code, since it is a "military document." The answer is no.

When we collected our original samples of soldiers, we selected a bunch of companies and input the pension records and other military documents for each soldier. What you see as Mil Info comes from the pension record. Because of how we collected the sample, we know the information in the pension is for the soldier we want to link to the census. Therefore, we use ONLY that information to assign quality codes for a soldier's household. It doesn't have anything to do with the pension information being military information.

Sometimes, you'll have a soldier that has next to nothing in the Mil Info. If that happens, you may ask me if I can provide you with "extra information" to supplement the Mil Info. This happens in cases where the pension is at the VA, so we couldn't access it, or the pension went missing from the Archives. The extra information that I provide comes from the pension index and often includes death date and place or widow's name. The pension index is information that is included in the pension. Therefore, it is considered Mil Info and can be used in matching and assigning quality codes.

Quality code 2 matches

By definition, both quality codes 1 and 2 mean you're sure you've found the right individual in the census, and you have evidence to prove it. If you're unsure what the criteria are to rank a match QC 1 or QC 2, please review that information in your manual.

While we love quality code 1 matches, it is not worth the extra time to find a marriage certificate or other document to bump up your quality code 2 match. You are not adding enough value to the data to warrant the extra time you must spend to find the additional documents.

If you have a quality code 3 or 4 match, then it is worth a few extra minutes (but be careful not to take too long) to see if you can find a new document to bring it up to a QC 1 or QC 2.

Quality code 3 matches are those we think are correct, but there is missing or discrepant data that makes us unsure. It's worth taking a few minutes to strengthen the match. With QC 2, you already have a strong match, so you should move on.

Death and the public family tree

A question came recently about using public family trees as death sources. Here is Sandy's answer.

If you find a DOCUMENT (like the photo of the death certificate) on a public tree, it can be counted as a DEATH CERTIFICATE and given a QC1 (assuming it's your guy with proof of parents' names and birth date just like any other death certificate).

A document on a public tree is not the same as an unsourced date written in a public tree. A document is a document and should be treated as such.

Do not take PLACE of death from a tree when you got the DATE of death elsewhere (example Find A Grave). If you found a good death date somewhere other than a tree, then use that (QC3 or higher). If the only place you find the PLACE OF DEATH to go along with that death date is a public tree, then we don't want you to use the place of death, because public trees are last resorts only and are QC4. If each field had a QC, then we probably would allow adding bits of information from a public tree.  But we can't do that.

If you only find the place of death and the death date on the public tree, then you may use the information from the public tree as a QC4.

In a nutshell: a public tree can be used for death information if, and only if, it is the ONLY information you can find. Give it a QC4.  If the tree has a photo of a document as a source of death information, treat that document like any other document with the appropriate QC up to a QC1.

Quality code review

The following people were the first to respond that they reviewed the section on quality codes in the manual. They may each add 30 minutes to the next time sheet. Thanks to all those who have responded. I expect all those who haven't responded to do so. I know that some of you won't respond until you're back from vacation.

1. Robin
2. Audrey
3. Michelle
4. AnnaLisa
5. Stacy

If you have questions about quality codes after your review, please let us know.

Please review quality codes

Recently, there has been some confusion about quality codes. Quality codes for the soldier (HH0) are used a little differently than quality codes for the children and spouses.

For the soldier, you must always tie the information back to the Mil Info. If you have a death certificate with the parents' names and you use that information to find the soldier in the 1850 census, you may use that information to make the match. You cannot use that information to increase quality code, because the parents' names were not in the Mil Info.

Please review quality codes in your manual. Please email me to let me know when you've done this.