Entering Information from Monuments

How would you enter information from this tombstone in TMG?  This is the back face of the monument, and memorializes four people: Charles Varney and his wife, Huldah Lawrence, their daughter Josie, and her husband, Wesley Hoffman.  The front face has only the family name.  The right face memorializes Charles' brother, George Varney.  The brothers were in the same company in the Civil War, and two G.A.R. flags are posted next to the monument.  Entering information from grave markers that mark only one person's burial is simple; but what is the best way to enter information from grave markers like this?  I have absolutely no idea!

If you know me at all, you know I always have ideas.  In this case, though, I have yet to discover an idea that I think is best practice.  My TMG database is full of my experiments, and here are a few.

1. Add burial tags for each person named on the stone.  Transcribe the relevant face of the marker, noting which face it is, and put this in the memo area you like for your reports.  Link the photograph of the relevant face to the burial tag as an event exhibit.  Note in the citation memo the names of others found on the marker.  (This is what I'm doing at the moment.)
2. Add burial tags for each person named on the stone.  Transcribe the relevant lines from the marker and note in square brackets the names of others found on the stone.  Link the photograph of the relevant face to the burial tag as an event exhibit.
3. Create a custom tag called Tombstone or Gravestone.  Use it for markers memorializing multiple people.  Transcribe each face and link all photographs to the tag as exhibits.  Link each person to the tag as witnesses.

There are pros and cons to all three methods.  If you don't have a method that works for you, experiment with these and see if one of them meets your needs.  If you do have a method you love, please let us know.  I would love to find a better idea!

Gravestone Inscriptions, or Thoughts about Memos

Do you, or do you not, transcribe gravestone inscriptions?  For most people, data analysis doesn't begin with a photograph; it begins with the physical act of copying a record.  Transcribing a record nudges the conscious mind into awareness of anomalies, contradictions, and missing information.  It also helps us remember possible connections.  In other words, thoughtful researchers transcribe records.  As wonderful as TMG is, it still can't search digital images for information.  To get the most out of our cemetery data, we transcribe gravestone inscriptions and attach those transcriptions, as well as any digital images, to our burial event tag.  Now, where should you enter this transcription in TMG?

Where you enter your data is determined by how you plan to use it.

• You want your transcription to appear in a footnote or endnote.  If so, there are two options.  Enter the transcription as the first, or only, entry in the event memo; or enter it in the citation memo (CM).  Make sure that your source citation template is defined to print the CM, of course.
• The first option will print the gravestone transcription in its own note, preceding the source citation note.
• The second option will print the gravestone transcription as part of the source citation note.

• You want your transcription to appear in the body of your narrative.  If so, enter the transcription in the event memo field.  You're free to use any memo segment, MEMO1-MEMO9.  Just define your burial sentence appropriately and BE CONSISTENT!

• You decide you don't want your transcription printed in any narrative report or family group sheet, but you want to preserve your options.
• Don't enter the transcription in the citation memo.  This opens the door to lack of consistency in defining your source citations and its printing options are the most limited.
• Don't enter the transcription in the event memo as MEMO1.  It's simpler to reserve that for footnote material when a sentence is not defined. 
• Enter it in MEMO2 or higher, reserving that memo part in the burial tag for gravestone transcriptions only.  List reports can be defined to print it, and if you ever change your mind, you can define a new language using this memo part in the burial tag sentence.

Would you like to see these memo rules in action?  I've provided a page of examples on our TV-TMG web pages.

Any other ideas?  Feel free to comment.  The more, the merrier!