City Cemetery and Burial Records

By Anonymous on Sat, 07/25/2015 - 13:26

Forums

I think I have a doozy of a citation problem for you.

I am trying to write a reference note to a Savannah, Georgia cemetery & burial register on Ancestry.com.

The database on Ancestry.com is titled “Savannah, Georgia Cemetery and Burial Records, 1852-1939.”

So, if I put my ancestor's name, Lizzie Sample into the search fields, an entry comes up for her on the results page.  For that image I wrote a citation like this:

“Savannah, Georgia, Cemetery and Burial Records, 1852-1939,” database with images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 25 July 2015), unidentified manuscript register, headed “Report of Interments in Cathedral Cemetery,” entry for Lizzie Sample; citing “Research Library & Municipal Archives, City of Savannah, Georgia.”

Here is the link to the image: http://bit.ly/1KqrF3I

Herein lies the problem.  Ancestry has cut up the register and there is a companion page to the above page I just cited.  However, the image of companion page is not the next image.  The page that I wrote the citation for is image 120.  The companion page is image 125.  The second page is actually headed “For the Month of February, 1881,” and has a page number of 122. 

Here is a link to that image:  http://bit.ly/1OFrSS0

How in the world do I reference the second image when it isn’t even listed on the results page?  When I  looked at the first image I reasoned that there had to be a second page with the month and year, so I flipped through the images until I got to the companion page (I knew the month and year of Lizzie Sample’s death from prior information).

Please let me know if I can explain the above more clearly.  I look forward to anyone’s help in this matter

leflake

 

 

 

Submitted byEEon Sat, 07/25/2015 - 16:56

leflake, you made a good catch on those mismatched pages.

The root of your problem seems to be that you are trying to merge two types of citations—one to the image and one to Ancestry's database entry. If you intend to cite the database entry, then you are constrained by whatever data that entry gives you. But if you intend to cite the images, then you are free to cite whatever you need to cite, whether or not Ancestry included that data in its "abstract."

The forms of the two citations are also different. For the database entry, you would want to feature the database, in which case your two-layer entry would look like this:

“Savannah, Georgia, Cemetery and Burial Records, 1852-1939,” database with images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 25 July 2015), entry for Lizzie Sample  [date or other distinguishing data]; citing “Research Library & Municipal Archives, City of Savannah, Georgia.”

But, if you are citing the image copies from an original register, it would better to turn the entry around and cite the original as Layer 1, then the database as Layer 2, then whatever Ancestry cites as its source in the last layer. That would give you an entry such as this:

Cathedral Cemetery (Savannah, Ga.), "City Death Records, Cathedral Cemetery {Catholic}, Book XI," manuscript register entry for Lizzie Sample, buried 24 February 1881, a two-page entry of which the left side is unnumbered and the right side is numbered 122; imaged as "Savannah, Georgia, Cemetery and Burial Records, 1852-1939," database with images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 25 July 2015), images 120 and 125; citing "Research Library & Municipal Archives, City of Savannah, Georgia."

Incidentally, you describe the manuscript as untitled, but if you jump back to image 1, you find a title on its cover.

The Editor,

Thank you for answering my question.  I really appreciate your help.

You are correct about the manuscript title.  When I first started working on this source, I did go back and look at the title of the register.  This was my first working reference note using the image:

Savannah, Georgia, “Cathedral Cemetery {Catholic} Book XI” arranged by month & year, every other page numbered starting with the number 2, page 120, “Lizzie Sample,” 23 Feb 1881; accessed via “Savannah, Georgia, Cemetery and Burial Records, 1852-1939,” database with images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 July 2015); citing “Research Library & Municipal Archives, City of Savannah, Georgia.”

 But I like yours better because it is less complicated.   Isn't it crazy of Ancestry to digitize the register like that?!  I'm sure there probably is a logical reason for doing it that way. Thank you again for your help.  Someday I will be so knowledgeable, I'll be able to help others.  For now, I read the threads for clues to help in my citations. Linda 

 

Submitted byEEon Sun, 07/26/2015 - 11:28

leflake, there's one other significant difference between the two possibilities. If you start the citation with "Savannah, Georgia," then you are saying that the city of Savannah is the author/creator of that set of records. Is that the actual case? Or is this a register created by Cathedral Cemetery itself?

Well, I went back and looked for image 1, the title page and it does say "City Death Records."  But your question is certainly interesting.  Is the Cathedral (Catholic) cemtery owned by St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Savannah or is the city of Savannah in charge of the cemetery.  Were the books kept by the church or the city.  I'll have to do more research.

Linda

 

Submitted byleflakeon Sun, 07/26/2015 - 17:31

Ok, I did a little research online at the Savannah Research Library & Municipal Archives (love that place).  

The Cathedral (Catholic) Interment Books, sub-series 5600CL-090 Vol. 9, are part of a record series named City of Savannah, Georgia Records-Clerk of Council, Series 5600CL, who was the official record keeper of the city.  The Interment Books were kept in this office.

http://www.savannahga.gov/documentcenter/view/491

Linda