Massachusetts death records in Ancestery

By Anonymous on Sat, 05/14/2016 - 13:53

Forums

I would love some help the following image of a death register found on Ancestry.

http://interactive.ancestry.com/2101/41262_b139491-00435/1821646?backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.com%2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3fdb%3dMADeathRecords%26gss%3dsfs28_ms_db%26new%3d1%26rank%3d1%26msT%3d1%26gsfn%3dmartha%2520goulding%26gsfn_x%3d0%26gsln%3dbrown%26gsln_x%3d0%26msddy%3d1902%26MSAV%3d0%26uidh%3dm0t&backlabel=ReturnSearchResults

Ancestry's source information reads as follows:

Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Death Records, 1841-1915 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.
Original data: Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts.Massachusetts Vital Records, 1911–1915. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts.

The same image can be found on AmericanAncesters at

http://www.americanancestors.org/databases/massachusetts-vital-records-1841%E2%80%931910/image/?volumeId=10800&pageName=435&rId=123822429

They list it as "v. 529,p. 435.

 

The image itself has the header: Deaths registered in the town of Concord for the year nineteen hundred and two.

My first question is, am I correct in treating this source as a derivative?

Second, how would I cite this source?

I am reading EE9.41 and 9.42 and came up with the following:F

For Ancestry:

Massachusetts Vital Records, 529:435, no. 2865, Martha Goulding Brown, death, 1902; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 14 May 2016); Massachusetts Death Records, 1841-1915.

or

"Massachusetts, Death Records, 1841-1915," Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 14 May 2016), death register image, Martha Goulding Brown, 27 May 1902; citing Massachusetts Vital Records, 528:435, no. 2865.

For AmericanAncestors:

Massachusetts Vital Records, 529:435, no. 2865, Martha Goulding Brown, death, 1902; digital images, AmericanAncestors.org (http://www.americanancestors.org : accessed 14 May 2016); Massachusetts Vital Records, 1841-1910.

or

"Massachusetts Vital Records, 1841-1910," AmericanAncestors.org (http://www.americanancestors.org : accessed 14 May 2016), death register image, Martha Goulding Brown, 27 May 1902; citing Massachusetts Vital Records, 528:435, no. 2865.

Submitted byEEon Sun, 05/15/2016 - 13:26

kasmets, good work in thinking through the issues. The 2nd citation for each is the one that most accurately captures what you have used.

Submitted byJadeon Thu, 05/19/2016 - 11:16

Is there a good reason for not mentioning that the death record is from records of the Town of Concord, Middlesex County, Massachusetts (a published index of these records).  Or is it somehow preferable for the footnote to let the reader understand that the death took place just somewhere in Massachusetts?

Regards to all,

Submitted byEEon Thu, 05/19/2016 - 18:23

Jade, you raise a good point. Practically speaking, if the location of the event is not necessary in order to locate the record, then the location is frequently omitted. Typically, the location of an event will already be mentioned or discussed in the narrative to which the reference note is attached.  If not, then of course it should be mentioned in the reference note.

Submitted bykasmetson Thu, 05/19/2016 - 18:57

Thank you so much for the feedback.  What happens when the database reproduces a previously published work? 

Would the following citation work?

"Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988," database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 14 May 2016), birth register image, Martha Goulding, 7 February 1844; citing Town and City Clerks of Massachusetts, Massachusetts Vital and Town Records (Provo, Utah: Holbrook Research Institute); reproducing Vital Records of Dover, Massachusetts to the Year 1850 (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1908), 25.

For some reason Ancestry will not respond to my queries this evening (it must be rush hour), so you may have to find the record on your own in the Ancestry database, or look at my attached images.  You'll see both the page of the book, and the title page. 

Submitted byEEon Fri, 05/20/2016 - 08:08

Kasmets, have you seen the discussion at this link? https://www.evidenceexplained.com/content/citing-database-image-index. There are probably a half-dozen others in the forum archives. It's a question that keeps getting asked!

Also, if you have QuickSheet: Citing Ancestry.com Databases & Images, you'll find a model included there. In fact, the Ancestry QuickSheet covers every type of Ancestry material we might need to cite.