Author Topic: Minimum information for Postems on FreeBMD  (Read 2194 times)

Offline rosie99

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Re: Minimum information for Postems on FreeBMD
« Reply #9 on: Saturday 03 March 18 16:10 GMT (UK) »
Rosie -  I certainly have my birth on free bmd but not my marriage yet........no doubt it will be added at some point in time.

Mine are both on there complete with my mothers maiden name  ::)  ;D

I tend to only post the sort of information on records in the 1900's that I would not mind having disclosed about my close family.  If I am not prepared to give similar information on my parents / siblings then I would not do it for those that are not immediate family.
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Offline SelDen

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Re: Minimum information for Postems on FreeBMD
« Reply #10 on: Sunday 04 March 18 03:22 GMT (UK) »
Yes, you can definitely do more than one postem per entry. I have done dozens for marriages with two postems each. Once or twice I have made an error so as you cannot edit existing postems I have had to add another. I like to put as full information as possible though I only use the essential words with commas as dividers.

Like other posters I do not leave postems for events if there is a possibility those involved may still be living. In the case of more recent deaths eg the last 40 years or so I don't leave postems because of privacy concerns for the living - even causes of death may upset living family members.

But thank you for taking the time to leave a postem. They are so helpful, not just for people researching that particular family but also for those trying to narrow down potential candidates. If we all left postems we would save each other a lot of time and sometimes money.

Offline Girl Guide

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Re: Minimum information for Postems on FreeBMD
« Reply #11 on: Sunday 04 March 18 08:23 GMT (UK) »
Hi Sel

Thank you for your comments.  With the one death that I have done so far I didn't put down the cause of death.  I' m taking the view that if the interested party really wants more information then they can obtain the certificate.

Good to know that I can do more than one postem.  Free bmd could solve that by providing more character space.  I was going to write to free bmd to ask if they could expand their character space but couldn't see any means of contacting them, unless I was looking in the wrong place.  ::)
Ashford: Somerset, London
England: Devon, London, New Zealand
Holdway: Wiltshire
Hooper: Bristol, Somerset
Knowling: Devon, London
Southcott: Devon, China
Strong: Wiltshire
Watson: Cambridgeshire
White: Bristol
Windo - Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire

Offline rosie99

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Re: Minimum information for Postems on FreeBMD
« Reply #12 on: Sunday 04 March 18 08:33 GMT (UK) »
Thank you for your comments.  With the one death that I have done so far I didn't put down the cause of death.  I' m taking the view that if the interested party really wants more information then they can obtain the certificate.

I agree with you here.  :)   I consider that a postem is a help to others in eliminating records or giving some information so they know it is the right certificate to purchase.  Really 250 characters should be enough to give sufficient info to do this.   :-\   
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Offline Girl Guide

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Re: Minimum information for Postems on FreeBMD
« Reply #13 on: Sunday 04 March 18 08:46 GMT (UK) »
Depends on how many names need to be entered.  My death one had three christian names. 

It was the marriage ones I was struggling a little with.  Perhaps I should leave something out?  But not sure what.  ???  Witnesses maybe?  I wanted to put occupations in as I felt that would be useful for finding people on the census records.

I've also realised from Sel's comments that i should have done the marriage ones twice, once for the bride and once for the groom. Will have to go back and do the other parties.  ::)
Ashford: Somerset, London
England: Devon, London, New Zealand
Holdway: Wiltshire
Hooper: Bristol, Somerset
Knowling: Devon, London
Southcott: Devon, China
Strong: Wiltshire
Watson: Cambridgeshire
White: Bristol
Windo - Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire

Offline KGarrad

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Re: Minimum information for Postems on FreeBMD
« Reply #14 on: Sunday 04 March 18 09:51 GMT (UK) »
Free bmd could solve that by providing more character space.  I was going to write to free bmd to ask if they could expand their character space but couldn't see any means of contacting them, unless I was looking in the wrong place.  ::)

In order to do that they would probably have to rewrite the entire database?!

I suspect that the answer to your question will be: NO!
Garrad (Suffolk, Essex, Somerset), Crocker (Somerset), Vanstone (Devon, Jersey), Sims (Wiltshire), Bridger (Kent)

Offline silvery

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Re: Minimum information for Postems on FreeBMD
« Reply #15 on: Sunday 04 March 18 09:53 GMT (UK) »
You should have more than enough room with 250 characters.    Use abbreviations for example, marriage=m -  death=d  -  born=b  -   died=d  .  date of birth = dob.   mothers maiden name= mmn.   Dates abbreviate. 
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Offline Girl Guide

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Re: Minimum information for Postems on FreeBMD
« Reply #16 on: Sunday 04 March 18 10:07 GMT (UK) »
Thank you for your comments KGarrad and Silvery.

Perhaps I should have a look at other postems to see what has been entered for those.  That should help me to decide what to enter for my postems.
Ashford: Somerset, London
England: Devon, London, New Zealand
Holdway: Wiltshire
Hooper: Bristol, Somerset
Knowling: Devon, London
Southcott: Devon, China
Strong: Wiltshire
Watson: Cambridgeshire
White: Bristol
Windo - Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire

Offline cuffie81

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Re: Minimum information for Postems on FreeBMD
« Reply #17 on: Sunday 04 March 18 15:41 GMT (UK) »
In general I use the guidelines used by the Scottish record office whether or not to add a postem, which is births older than 100 years, marriages older than 75 years and deaths older than 50 years.

https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/guides/birth-death-and-marriage-records/statutory-registers-of-births-deaths-and-marriages

When I add a postem I normally include all information and only omit/abbreviate/mask info if the people named were not born more than 100 years ago (or I'm unsure).

I try to use a single postem, which may mean abbreviating some bits of information, but I abbreviate the most common words and names first (eg labourer > lab, Great > Gt, Edward > Edw).

I do add postems for deaths less than 50 years old but only where the person was born over 100 years ago. For these I typically omit/abbreviate/mask some information for privacy reasons. I have wondered what issues this may cause for Free UK Genealogy in terms of the Data Protection Act, so I am a bit cautious.

And in case you're not aware, you can simply search postems and only need to enter the date range so you can effectively browse postems to see what info people are including.

https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/ShowPostems.pl


And few of of my own as examples:

Robert Gunn (BMD):
https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=8EHvNZryIVKigKgUrEiDiw&scan=1
https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=QN3hqvh1cwipHfS%2FPh9sRg&scan=1
https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=7Xfhxa4hgv%2F%2FWhb4Ze02UQ&scan=1

Mary Ann Gunn (nee Trundle) (D):
https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=JzalkkX4C%2F0Eh3rTXoW2cA&scan=1

You'll see on Robert's death I've omitted the cause, abbreviated the address' and only used the forename initials of the informant. Whereas on his mother's I've included the full details.
Anderson Banks Beard Brewer Caves Clarke Clinch Cooling Cuff Denton Gamble Gibson Gunn Hunt Mills Muncey Norris Notzke Reid Robinson Searle Smith Trundle Turner Weedon Wells Wilson