PDF Download of Extract from Website of a Family History Society

By Anonymous on Sat, 09/02/2017 - 13:04

Forums

I'm struggling with how to cite a record I purchased and downloaded from the Cambridge Family History Society website. They have a service known as "Ancestor Finder" which allows one to enter Surname, Parish/Placename, and/or Record Set to "look up transcriptions from all the Cambridgeshire Parish Records, a miscellany of Non-conformist Lists and the 1841, 1851, 1861 and 1871 census records." Once the search has been completed, one can purchase the results and download as PDF. My search turned up the following record:

Record Set Stretham Marriages 1558 - 1952                           Parish Records

Groom CASBEN James (x)
- Age 42
- Status widr
- Occupation lab
- Address otp
Bride JACKSON Mary (x)
- Age 33
- Occupation [blank]
- Address otp
Marriage Date 3-Nov- 1866
Licence Details by banns
Groom's Parent son of Isaac Occupation: lab
Bride's Parent dau of Robinson Occupation: lab
Witness 1 AYRES James Witness 2: AKRED Rebekah (x)

I would like to write a reference note. Here's what I've come up with:

Marriage of James Casben & Mary Jackson, 3 Nov 1866; "Stretham Marriages 1558 - 1952," PDF extract, Cambridge Family History Society (https://www.cfhs.org.uk/tokens/tokpub.cfm : downloaded 2 September 2017) >Casben >Stretham >Stretham Marriages 1558 - 1952; citing Stretham (Cambridgeshire, England) parish records.

I'm trying to follow the principal of citing what I see. In this case, I don't know the author (presumably someone in the CFHS), and the document doesn't have a title, so I'm describing its content. The source of the data seems is the CFHS database known as "Stretham Marriages 1558 - 1952," so I'm using that and the website title as my second layer. Finally, the website only tells me that the source of the source is "Parish Records".

I haven't found a specific model to use in EE, but I've tried to apply what I've learned using various models and other forum discussions.

I would appreciate your advice!

Submitted byEEon Sat, 09/02/2017 - 16:25

jcasbon, have you seen the recent discussion at https://www.evidenceexplained.com/content/vital-records-purchased-online ?

There is one basic difference:

  • In that discussion, Chuck was citing an actual record. He uses a 2-layer citation in which Layer 1 cites the imaged original that he is eyeballing, while Layer 2 cites the database and website that provided the image for purchase.
  • In your case (if I understand you correctly) you are not viewing the original document. Rather, you are paying for a transcript or extract. (The link does not work so we cannot see exactly what you have.)  However, your Layer 1 cites the marriage record itself. If you have not purchased an image and are only using the database entry, then you would not want to leave an impression that you saw the original. You would cite this like any other database entry you find online:
    • Layer 1, you cite "Database Title," Website Title (URL : date), specific information;
    • Layer 2 (after the semi-colon) you cite the source-of-the-source, using whatever the website tells you about the record.

The fact that you have to pay before you can see the database entry (if I understand you correctly), is no different from a situation in which you are citing any other paid site. Some charge an annual fee for all-the-records-you-want. Some let you search and then charge a fee for each specific hit you want to examine. Regardless, the citation format is the same. If you want to add a third layer with a comment that you have to purchase each "extract" individually, you're certainly free to do that in your working notes.

Submitted byjcasbonon Sun, 09/03/2017 - 21:49

EE, thanks as always for the advice. The data, once I paid for access is exactly as I posted above, in the form of a PDF download. You are correct, it is an extract, not the original record. I understand how my proposed citation could give the impression that I was viewing the original record, so I will modify as suggested.