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Uncle Willy was Hieronymus
Or,
Creating a Name Authority File for Family
History Research
By
Dolores Jungheim Barber, 2009
Published at dvhh.org, 12 Jan 2011 by Jody McKim
Pharr.
In searching for
our Banat ancestors, we sometimes find that an
ancestor is listed under one name in one record
and under another name in another record. This
may be because the name is spelled differently
(e.g., Diebold vs. Tiebold) or because it
includes or does not include a middle name or
initial. Or the person may have been known also
by a professional name or a nickname. It could
also be because the person changed his name at
some point. The most common case of this is when
a woman changes her surname upon marriage. We
also often find different language forms for the
same name. An 1822 birth record in the town of
Gross Betschkerek, for example, was recorded in
Latin. Sixty years later, a birth record in the
same place was recorded in Hungarian. By 1905, a
transcript of a birth record in the same place
was written in Serbian. All of the records were
for ethnic Germans.
Examples of
different language forms for the same given
name:
Hieronymus = Jeromos = Jerome
Lajos = Ludwig = Louis
Nicolaus = Miklos = Nickolaus = Nicholas
Mihály = Michael
Katalin = Catherine = Katarina
On the other hand,
a not uncommon occurrence in any family is that
we have more than one ancestor with exactly the
same name.
And of course, we
know that a single Banat village may have been
known by many different names -- German,
Hungarian, Romanian, or Serbian.
If we have
different names for the same person and the same
name for different people, not to mention
variant place names, how can we keep them all
straight? There is already an excellent system
in place for doing this. This system has been
fine-tuned over the course of a century by the
international library cataloging community, led
by the U.S. Library of Congress. I have adapted
this system, called a name authority file, for
use in family history research. It can be
realized as either a database or a card file,
with one record or card for each name. Creating
it really entails only three steps:
1) Accurately
and completely record each form of name you
find for a person or place, just as you find
it in the source record. Include a complete
citation for the source.
2) Choose a
unique form of name for each person or place
(the standard form)
3) Make cross-references in the file leading
you from the non-standard forms to the
standard form. Note these references on the
record for the name.
Record Each
Name Form and Its Source
The first step in
creating the name record is to cite the source
in which the name was found. Then follow that
with an exact transcription of the name and
other distinguishing data, such as a birth date,
just as you found it in that source. Remember,
it is absolutely essential to transcribe each
name (and other data) exactly as it appears in
the source when first recording it in your notes
or research log. For example:
Source:
Petition for naturalization, 1913 June 6 (Jeromos
Mihaly Wilhelm)
If, as you
continue your research, you find different name
forms for the same person, create a name
authority record and note each one along with
its source citation:
Source:
Petition for naturalization, 1913 June 6 (Jeromos
Mihaly Wilhelm)
Source: U.S. Census 1910 (Jeromas M.
Wilhelm)
Source: Declaration of intent to become a
citizen, 1911 Feb. 17 (Jaromos Wilhelm)
Source: Chicago city directories, 1911-1915,
1923 (Wilhelm, Jerome)
Source: Application for Social Security
Number. SS no. 324-09-7886. Dec. 2, 1936.
(printed: Jerome Michal Wilhelm, signed
Jerome Wilhelm; date of birth: Feb. 10,
1888)
Source: Death certificate, Cook Co., IL,
1957 Dec. 11 (Jerome Michael Wilhelm)
Choose a
Standard Form of Each Name
For the example
above, I chose the name as it appears on the
death certificate: "Jerome Michael Wilhelm." I
chose it mostly because it is the most complete
and most recent form he used. But don’t worry
too much about deciding which name to choose.
Use your own judgment. The cross references you
will make will ensure that you can make the
connections later.
The standard form
of the name will be in the form: surname, comma,
family name, comma, birth and/or death dates (if
known). If you don't know the exact dates, use
"circa" and make an approximation of the birth
or death date or both. The addition of dates to
the name itself is what makes this system work.
It is often the only way to ensure that you have
a unique standard form for each individual. In
this example, the standard form of the name
becomes "Wilhelm, Jerome Michael, 1888-1957."
Make
Cross References from the Non-Standard Form
Finally, decide
which forms will need cross-references, add
these to the record, and make the cross
references searchable, too.
Example: Name authority
record for a personal name
Wilhelm, Jerome Michael, 1881-1957
Refer
from: Wilhelm, Hieronymus, 1881-1957
Refer from: Wilhelm, Jaromos,
1881-1957
Refer from: Willy (Uncle Willy),
1881-1957
Source:
U.S. Census 1910 (Jeromas M. Wilhelm)
Source: Declaration of intent, 1911 Feb.
17 (Jaromos Wilhelm)
Source: Chicago city directories,
1911-1915, 1923 (Wilhelm, Jerome)
Source: Petition for naturalization,
1913 June 6 (Jeromos Mihaly Wilhelm)
Source: Application for SSN 1936 Dec. 2
(printed: Jerome Michal Wilhelm, signed
Jerome Wilhelm)
Source: Death certificate, Cook Co., IL,
1957 Dec. 11 (Jerome Michael Wilhelm)
Source: Personal recollection of djb
2001 May 11 (his sister Emma, my
Grandmother,
referred to him as Der Hieronymus; my
brothers and I called him Uncle Willy)
If you are
using a card file, you will file a card under
each of the cross-references. For example:
Example: Cross
reference card
Wilhelm, Hieronymus, 1881-1957
See
Wilhelm, Jerome Michael, 1881-1957
Place Names
Records for
place names can be set up in the same way.
Example: Name
authority record for a place name:
Nagybecskerek
Refer
from: Betschkerek, Torontal, Hungary
Refer from: Groß-Betschkerek,
Torontal, Hungary
Refer from: Petrovgrad an der Bega,
Yugoslavia
Refer from Veliki Becskerek,
Torontal, Hungary
Refer from: Zrenjanin, Serbia,
Yugoslavia
Source:
Regényi, Isabella, and Scherer, Anton.
Donauschwäbisches Ortsnamenbuch. -- 2. verb.
Aufl. -- Schriesheim, Germany, Arbeitskreis
donauschwäbischer Familienforscher (AKdFF),
1987 (Zrenjanin; Groß-Betschkerek;
Betschkerek; (Nagy-) Becskerek, (Veliki)
Beckereck, Petrovgrad, an der Bega)
Index
An alphabetical
index for a family history text containing the
two names in the preceding examples would look
like this:
Betschkerek,Torontal, Ungarn see
Nagybecskerek
Groß-Betschkerek,Torontal, Ungarn see
Nagybecskerek
Nagybecskerek, [page nos.]
Petrovgrad an der Bega, Banat, Yugoslavia
see Nagybecskerek
Veliki Becskerek,Torontal, Ungarn see
Nagybecskerek
Wilhelm, Hieronymus, 1881-1957 see Wilhelm,
Jerome, 1881-1957
Wilhelm, Jaromos, 1881-1957 see Wilhelm,
Jerome, 1881-1957
Wilhelm, Jerome Michael, 1881-1957,
[page nos.]
Willy (Uncle Willy), 1881-1957 see Wilhelm,
Jerome, 1881-1957
Zrenjanin, Serbia, Yugoslavia see
Nagybecskerek
One final word of
advice: KIS. "Kis" means "small" in Hungarian.
In English, it means "Keep It Simple (period)."
Do not set up an elaborate and ambitious system
that will fail as it falls into disuse. Just
keep a simple file of those names you most need
to keep control over and let the others take
care of themselves. And keep your technology
simple too. A stack of index cards may be
superior to an elaborate database. Just pick a
system you can live with over the long term, and
keep it simple.
©2009 Dolores
Jungheim Barber
Thanks to my fellow BANAT-L e-mail list
members for providing the motivation to put a
first draft of this essay on the web in 2003.
Criticisms, comments, corrections, and
suggestions on this revision are more than
welcome, and may be sent to me at
Dolores Jungheim Barber.
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