Saturday, May 24, 2014

SUCCESS! – FIND A GRAVE POSTED THE ENTRIES FROM MY SPREADSHEET


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View of the back of the Aboyne Parish church.  Isn't this a lovely place?

I said I would let you know how it went with my first submission of a spreadsheet to FindAGrave.

I went GREAT!  Their website said it could take a week for them to post the entries.  I’m figuring, if I hear back within a couple of weeks, I’d be happy.

THEY RESPONDED THE SAME EVENING THAT MY ENTRIES WERE SUBMITTED!

Talk about good turn-around time.  I checked my submissions by going to the FindAGrave website.  Every memorial was on the site.

However, I learned something about the marker transcriptions I submitted.  There were many headstones that had multiple names on them.  Such as this one.

                                         (Click on this image to enlarge it)
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When I entered the information on the spreadsheet on each individual name, I did not enter the entire headstone transcription.  As a result, for Elizabeth Smith (see her on the headstone above), her marker inscription read “Also his wife Elizabeth Smith died 28th Jan. 1938 aged 78 years.”

This did not read well, in my opinion, as it was a partial transcription.  Even though it referred specifically to her.  I went onto each individual memorial that I had submitted and made sure the entire headstone transcription was on each memorial.  It took me about 15 minutes to accomplish this and now I’m satisfied.  

I have no doubt that when you have more than 25 entries to add to a cemetery on FindAGrave, that using the spreadsheet submission is the quicker and more efficient way of doing so.  You can always go back later and double check your work and make any adjustments, as I have done.  I suspect that anyone making entries of 25 or more is doing so for mostly non-family members, as they photograph or transcribe a particular cemetery.  That being the case we would not have a lot of biographical text to enter.

So, that was my experience.  I have another 50 or so people to add to the Aboyne Kirkyard Cemetery on the FindAGrave site.  I’ll work on that tomorrow, using the spreadsheet.  Then once they are all on the site, I will add the headstone photos.  This is a form of “giving back” that I am really enjoying.  I have had a great number of FindAGrave volunteers take photos for me through the years, and I cannot thank them enough.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2014   Diane Gould Hall
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

2 comments:

  1. Diane,

    I want to let you know that two of your blog posts are listed in today's Fab Finds post at http://janasgenealogyandfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2014/05/follow-friday-fab-finds-for-may-30-2014.html

    Have a wonderful weekend!

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    1. Jana - 100 Fab Finds posts!!! That's great! Thank you for including my blog among those today (and two of them at that). I always appreciate the mention. And, again, congratulations. I look forward to your weekly finds.
      Diane

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I look forward to reading your comments. If you have any connection to the people mentioned in this blog, please let me know. I write about mine and my husband's ancestors and would welcome new information or meeting a new cousin or two. Thanks for visiting and come back soon.