The Minney Database

When I first started the Minney Index in 1990 I thought I could cope with a card index. I soon realised that this was not going to work. I then invested in a computer and jumped headlong into a powerful software database called dBase 3+. The reason I chose dBase was because there was no tailor made software for one-namers but plenty for 'normal' family historians (whatever they may be!). Also, I did not wish to embark on several years of transcribing records to find that the software was obsolete. In 1998 I transferred the index to Microsoft Access keeping its flatfile format.

The database consists of individual Minney entries (records), including the more common variant spellings, with normally one record for each particular event such as birth, marriage or death. Each record will have a number of fields such as firstname, secondname, event, place etc. A full list is given later. Obviously not all the fields will be used all of the time.

Each record was originally indexed on the prime name extracted from a record. For instance; when recording from a baptism in the IGI just one record is made with the baptised child as the prime name and the parents entered in the same database record. The parents will not have their own prime record. This saves time, computer space and duplication. Access has made the indexing obsolete but the principle remains.

Upon marriage a female taking the name Minney will not get a separate record.

Where I have information that a widowed Minney has remarried I will enter her as if she was a Minney and also give her maiden name if known and details of the groom. I will try to clarify this in the notes plus any other information such as date of death.

As a general rule, if a record mentions a deceased person for an event taking place after their death eg: wedding of surviving children or mentioned in surviving spouses obituary, then I would not put in the place of event.

Any query on the spelling or accuracy of the transcription will be further clarified in the Notes field. I will not attempt to make corrections to transcripts but where I feel there may have been an error then I will mention this in the Notes field.

No attempt is made to link any records.

Many events will be recorded more than once eg; a baptism record from an entry in the IGI will also have a separate record from the entry in the corresponding parish register and perhaps the same details from a submitted family tree.

Where a record (such as a census entry) includes a married girl whose maiden name is known to have been Minney then I have indexed under Minney and included spouse details in the non-Minney male fields. Other wise there is no other way of showing that individual in the index. Clarification will be given in the Notes field.

After much experimenting I have settled on the following fields for each record. Although Access allows for more fields to be shown on the screen I have kept to the following for ease of use. Access has also allowed the use of drop down combo boxes which expand where any abbreviations are used. This is a great time saver.

APPROXIMATE

Used where exact date is unclear. Drop down box shows if it is before, about or after.

AGE

Only used if given in the original source.

If source states "of age" or similar without a definite age or states less than a year old then I have ignored this field and mentioned this in the Notes field.

COUNTRY

I use standard abbreviations such as ENG, WLS, USA etc.

COUNTY/STATE

This will be the Chapman County Code for England, Wales, Scotland and Eire. I have used my own abbreviations for other countries such as the USA. USA counties will be included in PLACE field.

DATE

One of the drawbacks of dBase was that you could not use a partial date, a serious problem when recording details from a directory, GRO etc. Eventually I scrapped the date field and designed my own. There are now 3 fields - day, month and year. By having three separate fields for each date allows partial completion.

GRO entries now show as 3,6,9 or 12 month depending on which quarter the record comes from.

EVENT

I have designed my own codes for all the various events. I have kept to a simple formula using four letters eg; 'bapt' for baptism, 'marr' for marriage.

Some types of record entries can cause complications and I have listed below those that have given me a problem so far;

1841 census. If individual is over 15 years then the age was rounded down to nearest 5 years ie 19 shows as 15 etc.

Each person appearing in a census return is given a record.

Some relationships are calculated guesses.

I have shown the head of household as husband to wife or father/mother to daughters/sons and not used the term 'head' as this is ambiguous. Except in those cases where the head of the household is shown as a widow or widower then I have put as head, unless I know that the head is the father or mother of the other occupants. In the Notes field I have stated as widow or widower and listed other members of the household. Where there are no other Minney members of that household then I have shown the head as male, female, widow, widower in the Relationship field. I know this sounds confusing but it makes sense when you have to enter up some of the more complicated households (and in this respect the guilty families always appear in Yardley Hastings!)

If relationships are not clear for each individual to other members of household I have put 'u' (unknown) and where there is a relationship query I have listed the household members with their ages in notes to assist in cross checking.

If grandchildren are shown in the same household as their parents and grandparents I have shown as gs or gd to head (ie grandfather and grandmother) as stated in the census return. Probable parents are given in the Notes field.

If a Minney female is living with her family but has since married (or where the record indicates the maiden name as Minney) then I have indexed her as a Minney, put spouse details in non-Minney male field and clarified same in notes.

Some entries have been shortened using '+' by the transcriber. Unless full entry is obvious I have also used '+' as well.

I have put date as date of informing and in notes field added "in attendance at death on date"

I have entered first name(s) and surname as usual plus if son is getting wed then I have recorded the son and daughter-in-laws' first names and her maiden name in.

If a daughter is getting wed then I have put her first name in and put her husbands first name and surname in 'Not Minney Male' fields.

If Minney marries a Minney I have entered in notes field "Minney wed Minney".

If parent is shown as deceased I see little point in putting place details in.

If an event recorded in a newspaper such as an obituary and it gives the date of death then I would use the event code applicable such as 'died'. All other references such as wife of deceased would have event 'news'. The source will be NEWSPAPER and cuttings will be kept together. If I end up with hundreds of cuttings then I may have to organise them.

I have given relationship of main person named in index to the person(s) granted probate or letters of administration (only if known and that person is a Minney of course). There is a separate record for each Minney mentioned. In addition I have given a separate record for the main person if a date of death is stated. In Notes field I have added any useful comments that are given in the extract eg; amount left etc. The place of death may be given if different to the normal place of abode. If so, the place of death will be given in the 'died' record only. Date of probate/admin will be the used date for 'Will' and 'Exor' records. Place of event for 'Exor' record will be the abode address for the deceased. If a copy of a will is obtained and legatees (ie beneficiaries of a will) are Minney then they will have a code 'legt'.

If to a male Minney wedding then I have used fields for husband, wife and wife's maiden name. If for a female Minney wedding then I have used wife firstname only, I have not entered her maiden name as Minney (left blank) and I have entered 'not Minney' male firstname and surname.

If a witness to a wedding that is not Minney then I have just entered details of the groom and added details of the wife in Notes field.

Any queries on events are clarified in the Notes field. Unless relationship is definitely known I have put 'u' and used a gencode the same as the persons getting married.

FEMALE RELATIVE

Used for wife, mother, daughter or head of household to the prime name.

FIRST NAME

Spellings taken as given.

GENCODE

Generation codes are a useful way of 'dating' persons and placing them in their correct place in the index when age or date of birth are unknown. For example, in most family trees there are gaps in dates, the names are known but not their dates of birth. In cases like this you take a starting point where a date is known such as that person's grandson who was born in 1813. This would give the grandson a generation code 'O'. His father would then be given a generation code of 'N' and likewise the grandfather a code 'M'. Overlapping can occur so I always check one further generation when searching the index.

I have used the code devised by Frank Leeson. as follows;

A 1380-1409 B 1410-1439 C 1440-1469 D 1470-1499 E 1500-1529
F 1530-1559 G 1560-1589 H 1590-1619 I 1620-1649 J 1650-1679
K 1680-1709 L 1710-1739 M 1740-1769 N 1770-1799 O 1800-1829
P 1830-1859 Q 1860-1889 R 1890-1919 S 1920-1949 T 1950-1979
U 1980-2009

Any entries prior to 1380 then I would use -Z and work backwards.

A burial without a given age would be labelled two gencodes previous and a wedding one previous gencode before the date of the event.

If a parent is shown on the marriage certificate then I have allocated a generation code of two before the event date (ie one before son/daughter getting married). This may cause variations in generation codes used for the same person.

If the event is a burial of a child then I have used a code for that year, likewise if entry just states son or daughter then I have assumed it was a child death.

MAIDEN NAME

Used for wife or mother's maiden name when given.

MALE RELATIVE

Used for male relation to prime name.

NON MINNEY MALE and HIS SURNAME

Spouse to a Minney female. Used when female marrying out of Minney or a Minney witness to a non Minney wedding. On the rare occasions where two Minneys have married I have put the husband in this field and the field above as it made sense if I had to search all records of female Minneys and their marriages.

NOTES

This will include details of addresses, witnesses and anything else to clarify entries particularly census returns where relationships are not clear when more than one family/generation are recorded at one address.

OCCUPATION

I have made up my own four letter codes, which are listed in the drop down box.

ORIGIN

A field to cater for records that state a place of residence, birth etc which is different to where the event is taking place or where area of village is given. For example; where a baptism is taking place in Flamstead and the parents' address is given as Friars Wash, Flamstead. A code for Friars Wash will be entered on the origin field.

Only applies to the prime name on the record. For example if a female married a Minney and came from a different parish to the wedding the only place this would be mentioned is in the Notes field.

If a detailed address is given such as a house number and street then I have added this to the Notes field.

This is a three letter code which can be expanded in the drop down box.

PLACE

This will be the town or village of the event. Does include Church if space permits as this allows for easier indexing and searches. If there is no room then I have included further details in the Notes field. This is for the place of event and not for a detailed address given in say, a baptism. For example; if a baptism takes place in Flamstead and the parents address is given as Friars Wash, Flamstead then Flamstead will be put in Place field and Friars Wash will be given a code and placed in Origin field. See Origin field above.

REL/SEX

This field records the relationship between the prime name and others recorded at the event. The most obvious use is at a baptism - son or daughter to parents (male_rel & female_rel fields). Where no relationship is given I have put 'u' (unknown) or where no other person is named at source then 'm', 'f' or 'u' (male, female and unknown).

When copying from a record such as a family tree where a person's relationship changes eg; a wife to a widow then I have tried to remember to do this when entering the burial record.

A one or two letter code.

SECOND NAME

If there is a third name then I have include it here.

SOURCE

Refers to type of source eg; IGI, PR, PRTR (transcript), GRO (St Catherines House), TREE (family tree) LETTER etc. Individual trees and letters will be numbered. Where letters are received and they include information from various sources eg; census and parish registers then I have given the source as 'Letter___?' as opposed to a census or pr reference. This is purely for ease of filing of the original document

These codes are listed in the drop down box.

SURNAME

I have recorded all the various spellings of Minney and Minnell and have not attempted to correct them.