Non-direct death record citation

By Anonymous on Thu, 06/27/2013 - 05:53

Forums

Hello all,

I've got some new issue (old one about some cousin who were named as a father in 1878 in actual Church Baptism Register Book 3 years after his death wasn't solved yet, I didn't find a record about his death since 1947, so search is still on). Issue is citing Church Parish Birth Record Book and note in it.

I have a relative who was born on July 14th 1898 and baptized on August 16th same year in Local Church. As a note about his death local state government officer wrote this

He died in Cacak (name of my birth town)  on December 1982, State Death Record Book Cacak, p. 194, No. 699/82.

My question is:

How to cite that record citation which is entered in Church Baptism Register Book (I didn't have an opportunity to see State Death Record Book).

Sincerely yours,

Fr. Ivan Delic

Serbia

Submitted byEEon Fri, 06/28/2013 - 10:02

Fr. Delic,

Pardon the tardy response. EE's E has been toiling in other vineyards this week.

Regarding your new dilemma, yours is a situation frequently encountered also by American researchers who trace the European origin of late-nineteenth and early-twentieth–century immigrants. Notations of their American marriages and  deaths often can be found as marginal notations made upon their original baptismal act or birth registration in the village of birth. 

This is a good place to apply two basic principles:

  • Cite what you use.
  • Explain the quirk.

In other words:

  • Cite the baptismal register as you would if you were citing the baptismal act.
  • After you cite the specific page and act, then add something such as this:

... ; marginal notation by [name], [date], stating "He died in Cacak on December 1982, State Death Record Book Cacak, p. 194, No. 699/82."

Note that italics aren't needed for the actual notation. Quotations are best handled by the use of a pair of quotation marks at the start and the end of the quoted text.

The four instances in which italics conventionally appear in citations are (a) the formal title of a published book, journal, etc., (b) the name of a ship; (c) the random use of a word from a language other than the one in which we are writing; (d) the rare need to emphasize a word or phrase.