Protocols: Lester and Eleanor Davis Genealogy

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SET-UP
Lester B Davis performs most of the research and maintains the written records and photos. He is responsible for that part of the venture. Our son, Glen, is responsible for the technical aspects of the operation. We use Legacy Family Tree desktop program for data entry and we output the data into a GEDCOM file that is up-loaded to the web site. This site is powered by The Next Generation of Genealogy Sitebuilding written by Darrin Lythgoe. Thus, bear in mind that if you provide information to us that we plan to use, it could sit on my desk for a couple of days before it actually appears on the site. We also maintain a separate "test" site on which we test many administrative and other tasks.
GENERAL
1. When we use contributed data, photos or other items of interest on our web-page it is our intent, always, to give full credit to the contributor. That attribution is shown on the page for the individual to whom the information applies. We also have listed a blanket reference to site contributors on our home page on the left hand side with a button titled Credits. If we fail to do so, please contact us immediately and point out our oversight. We always welcome your input and contributions which are a valuable part of our efforts in developing and maintaining this web-site.
2. We will not knowingly add any information that is not valid and that has not been thoroughly researched. We attempt to show the source of all information on each individual’s page. Sometimes, data that appears, in all respects, to be valid will be placed on the live site and appropriate disclaimers will be included as a note.
3. We have upwards of 50,000 names in several of our collateral lines that we are working on regularly prior to including them on our site. It is a formidable task to review that many names and edit them to adhere to the protocols that we have established for our site. It is not, and will not be, our intent to add names just for the sake of having a lot of names on the site. As that work is done you will see the results on the live site.
4. Every attempt is being made to make our web-site, not only a valuable tool for researchers, now and in the future; but, to make it interesting to the casual reader with sprightly anecdotes about our ancestors showing their contributions to the world in which we live.
5. The material on our web-page is not copyrighted and, as such, is available for anyone to use. We only ask that, if you choose to use our data, that you properly attribute it to, either, Lester B and Eleanor D. Davis or credit the Davis and Deyoe website. You may reproduce the data only in its entirity and with accuracy and properly sourced.
6. Information about living persons is not available, except for name and sex, to casual readers. If you are a family member and we deem you worthy of having unlimited access to view information, including that of living persons, and you request it, we will issue a username and password to you. We only ask that you use care as to whom you show the information. If we suspect inappropriate use of that access, we will withdraw the privilege and issue new passwords. Currently there are approximately thirty-eight cousins, in various degrees of relationship, with whom we maintain fairly regular contact.
7. Administrative rights, including the ability to make changes, remain only in the hands of the site administrators.
PLACES
1. If we only know the county/shire (no city, town etc.), we have directed the Google map to pinpoint the County Seat. In most all cases, vital records will be found at the County Seat. For example, if we only knew of an event that occurred in Waldo County, Maine, USA, the Google map would pinpoint Belfast, Waldo County, Maine, USA which is the County Seat.
2. If we have a Township (Pennsylvania, Illinois and others), the Google map will pinpoint the most significant village, town, borough, city etc. in the Township. Sometimes there is a town with the same name as the Township in which case the Google map would pinpoint that town. For example, Halifax is shown as the significant town in Halifax Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, USA.
3. In most cases, we show the current name of the place. Many places have had locations changed over the years; i.e. new counties get carved out of one, or more, original counties. Townships are found in two, or, even, more, counties as the county boundaries are changed. Also names actually change and we have attempted to standardize to today’s nomenclature. We find these name changes quite often in the United Kingdom and we have used the most accurate descriptions that we can find. When we have information about location name changes, we attempt to display that under notes with locations.
4. We use the National Association of Counties web-site to determine locations within states in the United States.
5. We use the Gazetteer of British Place Names to determine locations within the United Kingdom.
6. Places in the United States are shown as, for example, Palermo, Waldo County, Maine, USA.
7. Places in the United Kingdom are shown as, for example, Henlow, Bedfordshire County, England, United Kingdom. We have appended the word County (in all cases) even when the word shire is part of the name.
8. Some states in the United States, such as New York and Virginia, have created cities at the county level. For instance, Roanoke, Virginia, USA is shown in our Places as Roanoke, Roanoke City County, Virginia, USA. Again, we have appended the word County.
9. In order to be able to drill down to the most accurate level with the pins on Google Maps, we have identified places in New York City as follows: Brooklyn, New York City County, New York, USA. Again, we have appended the word County.
NAMES
1. Are always shown in the format: Dr. John A. Doe, Jr., Rev. John A. Doe, General John A. Doe or John Albert Doe.
2. If there is an AKA that fact is shown in General Notes.
3. If the surname is not known it appears as (UNKNOWN).
4. If the given name is not known it appears as Unknown.
DATES
1. Are always shown in the format: 28 Jun 2009.
2. Dates are as accurate as the source information. We show approximately (app), before (bef) or after (aft) when these descriptors are appropriate.
3. When there are conflicting dates a note will appear in Birth Notes, Christening Notes, Marriage Notes, Death Notes and/or Burial Notes indicating the conflict.
NOTES
1. Sometimes we have bits of information that are not of sufficient importance to include as a History. In those cases we include the note as a piece of interesting data that we would like to share with the viewer.
2. There are general notes as well as notes specific to an individual’s birth, christening, marriage, death and burial. While a burial might have occurred in a particular location, we show the name and location of the cemetery as a burial note when that data is available.
HEADSTONES
1. Photographs of headstones include a geocode in those cases that we have been able to travel to and find the location of the headstone. We take two readings of each headstone and average the two values. There are many headstones for which we do not have a geocode and we will welcome that information if you have it or if you can obtain it.
GEOCODES
1. Geocodes are always shown in decimal format. There are conversion programs available to view in degree format.
PHOTOS
1. When we put photos up on the live site, they are attached to the ancestor with whom they are related. As much descriptive information is included as is possible.
OBITUARIES
1. Obituaries are either scanned into the live site or a narrative copy is included. When possible, the source of the publication in which the obituary was included will be shown.

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Ver: 7.1.2 - date: 14 October 2009