FamHist Introduction

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The Family History area on the WAALT is available for researchers who are using at least some AALT resources; that use implies the abilities to read the relevant handwriting, know the relevant languages, and have some basic ability to interpret the documents or at least a willingness to focus on learning to do so. Any user accepts the obligation to look through the interpretation guidelines for basic problems and only resort to queries after the resources provided are exhausted. See FamHist FAQ. Remember that there are no paid employees here and that the volunteers have their own research projects. It is possible that, if usage of this site increases substantially, periodic Zoom sessions would be available to handle interpretation problems in a group setting. So: (A) You have a responsibility to do your own research, not a right to have others do it for you. (B) You have an invitation to ask for help after you have acquired the skills and when you have exhausted the written resources provided, but not just when you want an immediate, easy answer. Primary Volunteer Contact: Richard Carruthers-Żurowski, M.A. (Oxon.), historian and genealogist, email contact: leliwite at gmail dot com (N.B. convert the separating words to their standard email address equivalents and elide the elements before sending a message)

Creating a New Page Users are normally not computer programmers, so the codes used here are few and simple, and after a page is set up almost all the rest of code entries is done by copy and paste. So the learning curve is short, but requires attention: you have to know the logic to know what you need to copy and to avoid deleting necessary code. To get to the copy-and-paste and data entry stage: You first need to create a new page. Go to the FamHist Names page that contains a list of the names for which a page already has been created. Click the "edit" tab at the top. Scroll down to the point at which you need your page (only one page per name; you do not create a page for each name variant). Create space for your name with the "enter" key on your keyboard. In the space created, type in the code for creating a new page, that is two opening brackets, the family names you are researching, then two closing brackets. The double brackets are the code for a page; the family name you enter is entered WITHOUT a space at either side. NOTE: because of the wiki software, pages are not arranged in folders and subfolders, all pages are equal so each name must be unique. For that reason the name for your page must be the name being researched, then a space, then FamHist: (in between the opening double brackets and the closing double brackets) Ernle FamHist . If you save it in an incorrect form, you cannot just change the name: you have to create a whole new, correctly named page. (then strip the old, incorrect page of all information; you cannot delete the page completely, but you can save space and cost by deleting the information.) Save it (note that always, if you leave the page in "edit" mode too long, the "save" command will put you into "preview" mode with a red warning that the session data has been lost. Do NOT panic, just immediately go to the bottom of the page and save it again. Happens all the time without causing problems, barring panic.) That should put you back onto the FamHist Names page, so then click it to test whether it works correctly. Now that the page is created, you have to copy and paste the FamHist template into it. Once you have done this, all the coded elements that you need will be on your page and can then be expanded by copying and pasting the needed portions, so that you will be entering few codes, just text. Find the FamHist template here FamHist template, press the edit tab so that the coding actually appears, copy the whole template top to bottom without missing anything, then return to your page (leaving the FamHist template unchanged) and paste the template in. You are now set to begin entering your own data on your own page.

Entering the Data It is best if everyone uses roughly the same schedule for entering data. So the suggestion is that you enter the data with date, county margination (if any), plaintiff v. defendant(s) with full information for each; type of case, and procedural stage (if you can). This information is then followed by the AALT citation. You create a link to the case on the AALT (not to one of the AALT indices, but to the document itself) by using the code for a link: a single opening and closing bracket. On the AALT page for the case, copy the address bar, go back to your FamHist page and paste the address in between the two single brackets. When you save your FamHist page, the link will appear as a footnote, so users of your page can verify your information and perhaps see something you may have missed. Having entered the data, you may (hopefully will) want to add comments about what the data means. Note that WAALT pages can be edited by others, so your deductions may be altered or added to; and discussions are possible. Also, you may raise issues. I raise issues by indicating uncertainty. So, for instance, if there are four defendants, three of which are males with the same last name and the fourth is a female with a different name, there is a likelihood that they are all siblings, but some could be nephews or a niece. So you cannot state that they are siblings, but the likelihood might be useful. That likelihood could be indicated by: "Siblings?" Or, for another instance, a woman who serves as executrix for a male of the same name could equally be the widow or a daughter. She might also just have been a reliable friend. That all could be indicated as "Widow, daughter, or other?? For even less sure elements, I go to three question marks. Another researcher (or you later on) may be able to resolve the uncertainty from another source. The place for external resources allows you to direct readers to sources other than the AALT, published or not. The WAALT does not accommodate family tree graphics or pictures, just text.