Herding Cats Genealogy
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact
  • BLOG TOPICS

Leave a legacy...write down
the history of your family.

Picture
Picture
Picture

Transcribing Documents

9/12/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Photo by Chris Leggat on Unsplash
​With many conferences postponed or cancelled, I have been taking advantage of the online courses included when signed up for the National Genealogical Society Conference 2020.  One that I just finished focused on the importance of transcribing your genealogy documents.  Let’s look.
Julie Miller, CG®, CGLSM, FNGS presented an excellent course entitled “Transcribing Documents:  An Essential Skill for Genealogists” where she included information on best practices, tips, tools and ideas. The National Genealogical Society is offering a course “Transcribing, Extracting, And Abstracting Genealogical Documents” which Julie Miller has authored. It is available for both members and non-members to purchase.   
According to Julie Miller, when you transcribe an original record, you are making a complete exact copy of the document, from written to typed.  Since I started genealogy long before everyone had a laptop, much of my transcription work was focused on the facts within the document and often written by hand into my notebook until I could include the information into my family tree and eventually wrote and typed a family history book. Sound familiar? I realize now that I have missed opportunities to be more thorough and to create a handy document that I can reference without going back to the original each time.  I see more transcription of old research records ahead!
​
Like me, you have spent time thoroughly reading the information and ensuring that you understand the documents. By carefully transcribing a document, we might look at the information differently.  Perhaps a witness in a marriage document meant nothing to you when you first acquired the document but now after transcribing you realize that this is person might be the link to another branch of the family or a new way to attack a brick wall.

Have you struggled to transcribe a printed document while typing into your laptop?  Word allows you to pin documents side by side but that has not always worked the way I hoped when dealing with an image and a word document.  

Two tools for transcribing that you may find beneficial are:
1. Transcript which is free for personal use on windows.  If you are using to transcribe for a business or clients, there is a professional version available for purchase.
2. GenScriber According to the site GenScriber “is  a transcription editor for genealogical, historical and other records. Templates for church and civil index records are included.”

Other helpful tips regarding the transcribing of genealogical documents can be found at the FamilySearch Wiki: Transcribing Historic Documents (National Institute).

I hope that this has given you some ideas about how you want to approach transcribing your research finds.  Choose a couple of key documents to get started—discovering new information (that was there all the time) hopefully will entice you to tackle more.  Happy transcribing!
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    With a lifelong passion for genealogy and history, the author enjoys the opportunity to share genealogy tidbits, inspiring others to research and write their family story.

    Archives

    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Herding Cats GENEALOgY ©2018-2025
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact
  • BLOG TOPICS