Methodological Notes
Detailed field comments (Under-development)
  • Person Data : Core Biographic Information


    • Name Related Information
      First name
      • middle names, and middle initials can be included in the first name field (e.g. Mary Ellen )
      • variants of names are included in the first name field separated by the mostly likely normal first name by a backslash (.e.g. Rochel / Rose )
      • well known nicknames can be included in the first name field separated by from the normal first name by quotation marks(.e.g. Henry "Hank" )
      • If a woman's name is "Mrs [husband's name], enter the [husband's name] followed by (Mrs). (eg. Maurice (Mrs); this permits better name indexing "
      • If the first name is not known
        • create a temporary first name that reflects what is known and enclose it in square brackets (e.g [MotherOfSamAndSarah])
        • if this is not possible, create a temporary first name of FirstNameNotKnown and enclose it in square bracets (e.g. [FirstNameNotKnown])
      • when there a duplicate record is identified , the first name field is modified to contain the first name followed by in paranthesis "now" and the correct personid number (e.g (now 999999) )

      Last name
      • alternative spelling of a family name can be recorded
        • in the Last Name field with a backslash ('/') between the spellings OR
        • can be recorded in the Other Family Names field
      • If the last name is not known
        • create a temporary last name that reflects what is known and enclose it in square brackets (e.g for someone who might be called Cohen [Cohen])
        • if this is not possible, create a temporary last name of LastNameNotKnown and enclose it in square bracets (e.g. [LastNameNotKnown])

      Name titles - formal titles (e.g. Rabbi or Dr) (no punctuation);
      • "Mrs" (no punctuation) should be used only where the name of husband is not known (e.g. "Mrs" is only a marker for a marriage)
      • "Miss" (no punctuation) should be used only to signify that at the time of listing there is no knowledge of a marriage (e.g. "Miss" is only a marker that no marriage has occurred )

      Source - (Name) Initial source(s) of the name : used to indicate the likely precision and accuracy of the data

      Other family names - Birth names or earlier Old World names should be recorded in the Other family names field

      Hebrew Name - transliterated version of the Hebrew name


    • Birth-Related Information
      Birth dates and location - Hebrew birth dates should be recorded in the notes field. Birth location should use, if possible, current geographical names, particularly for East European places

      Sources - birth - All sources used for birth dates and place. When information is added to the file, DOMJ adds on-line names as the source of the new material.

    • Parents and Spouse-Related Information
      Mother's and Father's names - Multiple entries (adoption, re-marriage) should be recorded in the notes field.

      Spouse's name and date of marriage - Multiple entries (adoption, re-marriage) should be recorded in the notes field. "Never Married" is a valid entry


    • Death-Related Information
      Date of Death - English date of death, spelling out the month. Information provided by cemetery documents often records the date of internment ,which is generally one or two days after actual death date. If the data of death is not available, the display shows date of internment.

      Date and Place of Death - English date of death, spelling out the month. Information provided by cemetery documents often records the date of internment ,which is generally one or two days after actual death date. If the data of death is not available, the display shows date of internment.

      Hebrew Date of Death - Hebrew date of death in translation

      Sources - death information - All sources used for date dates and place. When information is added to the file, DOMJ adds on-line names as the source of the new material.


    • Place-Related Information
      Reg1, reg2, and reg3 fields Each person can be assigned to three geographic regions
      • Region codes within Maine
      • Region codes for pre-immigration areas : the old country (TOC)
        • codes start with 'TOC' followed by a dash '-' and the name of the immigrant area
        • if immigrant area is not known, use 'TOC' alone
        • it is preferable to use current names for immigrant areas, not the name at the time of immigration
      • Region codes for areas outside of Maine in North America : from-away places (FW)
        • codes start with 'FW' followed by a dash '-' and the two letter postal code for the state or the Canadian province


    • Supplemental Information
      Notes field - Inconsistencies in the data from different sources have been preserved in the notes field. Please add to the notes field any references or on-line links to other family histories.

  • Person Data : Relationship Table

    Relationship Table records the normal way one would describe the relationship between the named person and the second person (e.g. "daughter of", "mother of', "wife of"), the relationship between the named person and an organization (e.g. occupation, community service) OR between a named person and a crucial fact in their lives (e.g. 'lived in [city]', 'immigrated in [year] from [place]')



    Family Relationships (except for parents and spouse) - The relationship recorded should be the normal way one would describe the relationship between the named person and the second person (e.g. "daughter of", "mother of', "wife of"). This removes the ambiguity introduced when someone records simply "mother" followed by a female name.

    Lived in Maine - If a person doesn't have a Maine reference in the birth or death location, it would be important to indicate their principle place or places of residence (are they "Mainers" or not? ) . Even if the person does have a Maine connection in the birth place or death location fields, it would be helpful to record their principal place or places of residence in Maine.

    Occupation and History - the person's occupation(s) or relevant historical information (e.g. "immigrated from", "got MD at")

    Community Service - the name of the organization, the role of the person in this organization (e.g. "early member", "vice-president", "machor" ), the time period (e.g. years or decades) and a comment.

  • Person Data : Cemetery Table

    Cemetery Information - Place of burial and plot location is generally provided by the cemetery associations or the official death records from the City of Portland. For burials in the small Smith St cemetery, there are no plot numbers. For burials in Beth EI Memorial Park, Mt. Carmel, and Mt. Sinai, the plot numbers were taken from the relevant maps or records.

    Cemetery Notes - Information from the headstone or about the location of the headstone.

  • Organisational Data : Core Table

    Name of Organisation - full formal name of organisation
    Short name of organisation - name(s) as commonly used in the area for the organisation

  • Organisational Data : Relationship Table

    The relationship table records the 'family tree' information for the organisation (what organisations it is connected with, what were its predecessor organisations, etc) and what is its organisational history (e.g. operated from [location] in [years]). Information on founding and ending dates are in the core organisational table.


  • References : Master Reference Table

    Although you may not see all the sources, there are references for all the material presented. When information is added on-line , DOMJ adds the name of the registered users as the source of the new material.


    full name of source - full source reference in standardized footnote format
    short name of source
    • name used in all reference and source fields for convenience
    • it is also the name used in conjunction with 'Relationship table : source2' to determine a link to a document, photograph, or oral recollection

    location - physical location of the original hardcopy document or photograph
    Researcher(s) - names of person(s) who have contributed the data
    SCode and SCodeNew type of document (e.g. census, photograph) and code for type of document; used principally to organize the display of the data
    status of work indicates whether source has been reviewed, is partly reviewed or is still pending review
    url link used to provide url link to external or internal resource
    • internal references are principally to the directories 'pj/images' or 'pj/docs'

Last Updated : Aug 25, 2008

Page Displayed : / Tuesday May 21, 2013