Devon Wills Project

Contents & Search

Because the aim is to produce a consolidated index from a variety of sources, through the efforts of a number of volunteers, it is important that transcripts are produced to as uniform a standard as possible, hence these (necessarily) rather detailed guidelines.

The accuracy and completeness of the results of the Devon Wills Project will depend critically on the care with which transcribers collect and transcribe information from the sources to create index entries, as the present intention is to rely mainly on individual transcribers to check their own work. Instead the plan is to do only sample checking at project level, rather than organise for all index entries to be independently checked, leave alone for all to be re-keyed and checked. (The accuracy of the project's results will of course be limited by that of the sources from which the project collects its information - the project is not in general in a position to correct or augment this information, or to compare and resolve inconsistencies in information, relating to a given will say, obtained from different sources.)

The two co-ordinators of the Project are:

Index entries are in general to be created by exact transcription of the relevant text found in each source document (catalogue, listing, index card, etc.) - with no attempt being made to "correct" apparently incorrect spelling or to spell out abbreviations of, e.g. place names or surnames. (The two exceptions to this are that obvious abbreviations of forenames are to be replaced by the full forename, and that certain information, such as the identfication of the county concerned, are to be recorded using standard codes, as detailed below.)

When a character is illegible, the character should be transcribed as a "period/full stop" symbol, and the word in which it occurs should be followed by a question mark in square brackets, e.g. "Bri..n[?] ..oysius[?] Ran....[?]"

Anything added to the index entry by the transcriber, such as a suggested identification of the parish in an entry that only names an estate or a village, or a standard spelling of a parish name, must be enclosed in square brackets, e.g. "Exon [Exeter]".

Index entries are to be entered into either an EXCEL-style spreadsheet (preferably) or a table in a WORD document, using the template provided. (In what follows, for convenience reference is made just to spreadsheets.) This template can be extended as necessary to accommodate additional entries. Ideally all the index entries from a given source will be entered into a single spreadsheet. However, if this would result in an excessively long spreadsheet, multiple spreadsheets can be used, though breaks between spreadsheets should match for example the end of a year, or the end of a microfiche. Completed spreadsheets should be sent to both coordinators, in files whose names start with the code given for the source used - see the main project page for a list of Source Codes. When multiple spreadsheets are created from a given source, the code should be followed by a sequence number (e.g BECK-1, BECK-2, etc.), and the file name should end with the transcriber's initials (e.g. BECK-2-BR)

Note: If employing WORD, please do not use its "Autocorrect" facility for automatically replacing straight quotes with so-called smart (or curly) quotes, three successive full stops with an ellipsis character, a hyphen (minus sign) by a short dash, etc.

The Template

A copy of the template can be downloaded by clicking on this template link.

The columns or rows of the spreadsheet can be enlarged if so desired. However lengthy text will wrap around onto another line automatically, so please do not use the return/enter key in order to fit something long into a spreadsheet cell - indeed such return/enter characters should not be used.

Where the entry in the source does not provide or imply information, e.g. concerning the occupation of the testator, the Probate Court involved, or an archive reference number, the corresponding cell should simply be left blank.

The spreadsheet's column headers, and hence the use of each column, are it is hoped largely self-explanatory. However they are described here, and a set of examples is given further below:

• Column A: Surname: this can include variants when these are given, e.g. "Smith alias Jones". When - as is sometines the case with very early wills - no surname is given, but instead a "name" such as "Alice, widow of John", then the "Alice" should be treated as a surname and placed in Column A, and "widow of John" in Column B. With a name such as "Ferdinand de Lesseps", the surname should be transcribed as "de Lesseps".
• Column B: First name(s), followed by any prefix, in parentheses, e.g. "Roger (Sir)". Abbreviated forenames should be spelled out in full (e.g. "Wm." should be transcribed as "William") - however if there is any uncertainty, or a possibly confusing abbreviation was involved, eg. "Xfer" for "Christopher", an appropriate brief explanatory note can be added to Column L.
• Column C: Place (typically town or parish): this should be transcribed as given, though multi-word place names should use spaces not hyphens between words (e.g. "Rose Ash" rather than "Rose-Ash"). If a Devon placename is given in a non-standard form then the standard name should be added, enclosed in square brackets, e.g. after "Twyvordton" add "[Tiverton]". (For more details on standard place names see below.) If a testator is listed as being of several places, these placenames should be separated using semicolons.
• Column D: The county (or country) codes should be entered using the appropriate (three-letter) Chapman Code. If the source is essentially devoted just to Devon, then the name of the county may well not be given explicitly in each entry - in such circumstances "DEV" should nevertheless be inserted in Column D unless there is some reason to doubt that the particular entry is not in fact a Devon one. In other circumstances, it may be more appropriate to put a county code, perhaps followed by a question mark, surrounded by square brackets in this column.
• Column E: For any description of the testator (e.g. the elder, yeoman, butcher, widow) given in the title or at the head of the will. Lower case should be used. Lengthy descriptions should largely be left to Column L (Notes). For example, just the word "wife" of the text "wife of John Matthews, the elder, husbandman" should go in Column E, the rest in Column L - and similarly for "innkeeper of the New Inn".
• Column F: The date should be the year of the document, e.g. for a probate copy the year that the will was proved, not an earlier year when it was written. The entry in this column should always be a single year. If in a source this appears as e.g. 1734/5 - a mixture of the old and new dating styles used before 1752 - show just the earlier, old-style year, i.e. 1734. If a range of dates is shown in a source, e.g. 1828-36, show the later date, i.e. 1836.
• Column G: (Type) Must always be filled in, to indicate what sort of legal document the entry relates to, using the following codes:
• • "W" - will. If the source indicates that the will was accompanied, by say an administration, add a note to this effect in square brackets in column L.
  • "A" - administration. If the source indicates that the administration was accompanied, by say an inventory, add a note to this effect in square brackets in column L.
  • "I" - inventory. To be used only in cases where an inventory has survived (or been abstracted or transcribed) on its own, and there is no accompanying will or administration.
  • "O" - other. Used for items such as court pleadings, documents stemming from probate disputes, probate accounts, etc., (Indicate the sort of item by means of a note (within square brackets) in Column L.
    If there is any uncertainty as to the appropriate code, use the most likely code followed immediately by a question mark (e.g. "W?"), and draw attention to the fact than you have done this by means of a message to the co-ordinators in Column M.
• Column H: (Form) To be used to categorize the form of the document the entry relates to. Must always be filled in, using the following codes:
• • "or" - extant original will/administration/inventory (or photocopy/digital image) bearing the testator's signature or mark
  • "co" - extant contemporary copy (such as a draft or a probate copy) of a will/administration/inventory (or photocopy/digital image)
  • "ab" - abstract of (or extracts from) a will/administration/inventory
  • "tr" - transcript of a will/administration/inventory
  • "le" - list entry, used when a source, such as an index or a calendar, provides brief details (e.g. just name and date) of a will/administration/inventory, but no information about its contents or current whereabouts. (The principal use for this code is in connection with the Calendars, compiled beforehand, of Devon wills that were subsequently destroyed during World War 2.)
    However, if there is any uncertainty, use the most likely code followed immediately by a question mark (e.g. "ab?"), and draw attention to the fact than you have done this by means of a message to the co-ordinators in Column M.
• Column I: Should use the appropriate code from the listing of Probate Courts - to be left blank if the Court is not identified. If the attribution to a particular Court is highly likely, but not certain, append "?" to the Court code.
• Column J: Must always be filled in so as identify the actual source from which information is being extracted (e.g. which collection of transcripts), using the appropriate source code from the listing on the main Project Page. The Sources identified in this listing typically each contain information about a sizeable number of wills, etc.
• Column K: Can be used for any identifying information that the source provides, making use of the source code if appropriate. For example, an item from a record archive's catalogue could identify the archive and give the archive's reference number (e.g. DRO 1078/IRW/A/343); an item from a collection of abstracts or transcripts could identify the collection holding the original document, and its reference number if known (e.g. Fothergill 23).
  For entries using the source code "MISC" in column J, column K is used to identify the particular minor source used (e.g. Alcock) - see the project's list of Miscellaneous Minor Sources.
• Column L: Note column, intended to be retained in the final consolidated index so brevity is encouraged. For example, this might include additional brief details about persons or place names, or an explanation of why an item identified with somewhere outside Devon is included, e.g. "s. of John Cruwys of Cruwys Morchard", taken from the source being transcribed. (If such text has not been taken directly from the source being transcribed, but instead has been added by the transcriber, it must be enclosed in square brackets.) Multiple items within the Notes column should be separated by semicolons (e.g. "of John Bacon; [Tiverton]".
• Column M: Message column, for communication, e.g. questions from the transcriber to the project coordinators - maximum length 50 characters. Not to be retained in the published index.
• Column N: Transcriber's initials - solely for use by the coordinators, so not to be retained in the published indexes.
• Column O: This column is to be used only for entries taken from photographs on LDS-supplied DVDs - at present just the WCI and DDR2 Sources. The LDS are asking us, and other groups to whom they have loaned such material for transcription purposes, to include the relevant photograph number, e.g. a number such as "4484132_00006", in each spreadsheet line derived from the photograph. (This is to facilitate their plans for possible subsequent record-linking.) Since in general each photograph results in one spreadsheet entry and these numbers are consecutive, the Excel facility for coping the incremented contents of a numerical cell into the cell below it can make this a quick and easy task.

The above transcription rules all concerned what might be termed "information entries" - there are also what we term "reference entries". These correspond to "See" or "See also" in a source (e.g. in the form of additional cards in the DRO's Wills Card Index), used to refer a reader from one version of a surname to some other version of that surname, where further information is to be found, e.g. "Smith - see Jones". Such an item should be transcribed by giving "Smith" in Column A (Surname), and "See Jones" in Column L (Note), and by also filling in Column J, to identify the source, and Column N with the transcriber's initials. If the reference entry includes the person's first name(s) this should be transcribed into Column B, but all other columns should be left blank.

Standard placenames

It is important to try to add standard names (enclosed in square brackets) for Devon towns and parishes to the placename column whenever necessary, i.e. when the source being transcribed uses a non-standard name, or only names a house or a hamlet, say, rather than a town or parish. This is because we plan to provide a version of the consolidated index ordered alphabetically by place name, as well as one based on testator name.

The set of standard names to be used is given in this GENUKI listing, which is based on Wilcox's National Index of Parish Registers, Volume 8, Part 5: Devon, and Peskett's Guide to the Parish and Non-Parochial Registers of Devon and Cornmall 1538-1837. The listing should be followed exactly - since even such matters as using "St." rather that "St" in, say, "St Budeaux", or "Exeter: St Pauls" rather than "Exeter St Paul", would affect the alphabetisation and hence the utility of the placename index.

The Online GENUKI/Devon Gazetteer, and its Guide to the Manors of Devon, will often help locate an unknown place or identify bizarrely-spelled town or parish name, as indeed will Google. A further useful resource is the set of place name indexes in A Descriptive Catalogue of Ancient Deeds.

If there are any doubts about the identification of the inserted standard placename, then the chosen standard name should be shown followed by a question mark, e.g. "[Tiverton?]".

Sources to be harvested

The list on the main project page gives the code to be used in column J of the template to identify the source. When a source is not say, a particular record office (whose catalogue could be used to find the given document), but rather a publication or a named collection, e.g. of transcripts in some archive, an indication of the location(s) at which this source can be found is given in parentheses in the list below.

Some Sources are available online, e.g. as scanned images. In some cases a microfilmed copy of a source is available at LDS Family History Centers, in other cases it will be necessary to visit the relevant archive. Alternatively it may prove possible for the project to obtain and provide digital photographs for transcribers to use.

The MISC code is to be used for odd will transcripts, etc., that are found for example in published books and journal articles. A listing of these Miscellaneous Minor Sources is being built up - index entries using the MISC code should include a reference to the appropriate item in this list.

Courts

Wherever the information is readily available from the source being harvested, the Probate Court at which a will was proved, or an administration granted, should be included in the index entry, using the the code from the List of Courts. However, if there is some uncertainty, use the most likely code followed immediately by a question mark (e.g. "EXE?"), otherwise leave this column blank - in either case draw attention to the fact than you have done this by means of a message to the co-ordinators in Column M.

Some Examples of Encoding

Last updated: 22 Nov 2010 - Brian Randell

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