Libeau Digitization Project - Phase 1 Data Entry

Thankyou for supporting the project by offering to assist with data entry. An overview of this project can be found on our book update project page. To recap, we have chosen to use Ancestry.com’s tree editor for this project because it allows many volunteers to work on the tree simultaneously without needing to buy or install any software.

Getting started

Before getting started, you’ll need the following:

  • A free account from Ancestry.com – the UK or Australia versions of the site are fine too.
  • Familiarity with editing trees via Ancestry. We have produced a website with video to help here, Editing trees on Ancestry.com.
  • Access to the pages of our 2012 book. Contact the project coordinator for assistance.
  • Please read this entire document before beginning work.

The data entry process

  1. Head to our 2012 tree. If you haven’t been granted access yet then this page will give you the option to request access.
  2. Find your ancestor in the tree whom you are doing data entry for; we recommend Bookmarking that ancestor’s profile using your browser.
  3. The 2012 book contains some tree diagrams, and a vertical listing of people along with details and biographies. Disregard the tree diagrams and just follow the vertical listings.
  4. Create one Ancestry profile for every person in the vertical listing – that is, each name against a number marker, plus their spouses.
    • We recommend doing each person strictly in the order they are listed in the book, so as to not miss anybody out.
    • If a person has two spouses, that’s three profiles. You can attach two or more spouses to one person profile.
    • Do not create profiles for names that are only mentioned in the biographical text, but not actually in the listing.
  5. For each person profile, enter only their details from the book. More detailed guidelines follow below.

Using other genealogy software (Optional)

If you already have installed and are familiar with a program like Family Tree Maker which has the capability to export a GEDCOM file, you can perform your data entry that way and upload the file to Ancestry. Ancestry does not allow merging trees, but you can then import people one by one from your uploaded file into our shared tree.

General guidelines

  • Please enter only the exact information from the 2012 book. Do not correct any mistakes (even obvious typoes), do not add new information, do not accept any Ancestry.com Hints. The update stage of the project is a separate process to the data entry stage.
  • The following information should be entered if present in the book, and left blank if not given in the book:
    • Forenames (first & middle name)
    • Surname (maiden name – as it appears in the 2012 book)
    • Suffix (e.g. JP, OBE)
    • Gender (use “Unknown” if not 100% sure)
    • Whether Deceased or not (use “Living” if unsure).
    • Birth date.
    • Birth location.
    • Death date (if Deceased)
    • Death location (if Deceased).
    • Marriage Fact(s)
  • Do not type out biographies or upload photos, we will deal with those separately.
  • The following information is optional to enter, if it is described in the person’s Biography in the book.
    • Burial Fact (date and/or location)
    • Residence Fact (date and/or location) for each place of residence.

Specific guidelines for the Ancestry.com editing fields

Don’t worry too much about these details – just getting the facts and figures from page to screen is the most important thing! Our proof-reading pass once the data has been entered will standardize the dates and places.

Locations

We always include a Country; we don’t use abbreviations; and we try to use the Government designation of the name as it was at the time of the event. We only use the locality, and not an address or building. See here for even more detail.

  • ✅ Christchurch, New Zealand
  • ✅ Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand
  • ❌ Christchurch
  • ❌ Chch, NZ
  • ❌ Christchurch Hospital, Christchurch, New Zealand
  • ❌ Smith Street, Christchurch, New Zealand
  • ❌ Ōtautahi, Aotearoa (not a formal government name)
  • ✅ Sumner, Canterbury, New Zealand
  • ❓ Sumner, Christchurch, New Zealand (Sumner was not part of Christchurch until 1945)
  • ✅ Akaroa, New Zealand
  • ✅ Akaroa, Canterbury, New Zealand
  • ❌ Akaroa, Banks Peninsula, New Zealand (not a formal government district)
  • ✅ Rochefort, Charente-Inférieure, France (correct designation for our ancestors’ time)
  • ❌ Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, France (not formed until 1941)

Dates

  • ✅ 1904 (if the month/year are not known, and the year is definitely 1904)
  • ✅ Apr 1904
  • ✅ 9 Apr 1904
  • ❌ 9/4/1904
  • ❌ 19??
  • ✅ ABT. 1904 (if the year is thought to be about 1904 but not definitely certain)
  • ✅ BEF. 1904 (if the year is probably 1904 or earlier)
  • ✅ AFT. 1904 (if the year is probably 1904 or later)
  • ❌ c. 1904 (not recognized by Ancestry.com’s editor)

Names

Please replicate spelling used in the 2012 book even if it seems clearly misspelt.

  • ✅ Joseph Libeau
  • ❌ Mr. Joseph Libeau (do not use Mr/Mrs or any other prefixes or titles)
  • ✅ Clémence Rosalie Gendrôt
  • ❓ Clemence Rosalie Gendrot (don’t worry about copying accent marks from the 2012 book; we will fix this up on a proof-reading pass)
  • ❌ Clémence Rosalie Libeau (only use maiden name / name at birth - not married surnames)
  • ❌ Clémence Gendrôt (include all forenames)
  • ❌ Clémence Agnes Wright (the 2012 book does NOT use the acute accent on her name)
  • ✅ Jane Unknown (if Jane’s maiden name is not known)
  • ❌ Jane
  • ❌ Jane LNU
  • ✅ Unknown Libeau (if the person’s forenames are not known)
  • ❌ Jane Unknown Libeau (if the middle name is not known, leave it out)
  • ❌ Boy Libeau
  • ✅ Unnamed Infant Libeau (for children who died very young or stillborn and were never named)

Name Suffix

Only include a suffix if it was given in the book (for this one, it’s OK if it was mentioned in the biographical text and not the listing).

  • ❌ Joseph Libeau Mr. (would be a prefix, not a suffix)
  • ❌ Joseph Libeau 3rd GGF
  • ✅ Joe Bloggs OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire)
  • ❌ Joe Bloggs AllBlack

Gender

The 2012 book doesn’t mention a person’s gender. Use your judgment here but err on the side of using Unknown if not 100% sure. It’s perfectly fine to just mark everybody as Unknown gender for this phase of the project, that will help to highlight areas where research is needed – i.e. we’d rather have an Unknown than a mistake.

Status (Living/Deceased)

If the 2012 book does not indicate that the person is deceased, mark them as Living. Even if you happen to know otherwise that they are deceased.

Adding Notes (Optional)

If you spot any obvious mistakes or if you have any comments to add for other volunteers, optionally open the “Notes” section on the right-hand side of the Ancestry profile, and make some notes.

Biographies

We will scan and digitize the Biography text as a separate pass, so don’t worry about typing those out now.