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C E M E T E R Y R E C O R D I N G P R O G R A M
VERSION 0.63
by Martin Zöllner and Stephen Hayes
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The Cemetery Recording Program (CEMREC) is designed for recording monu-
mental inscriptions with biographical and genealogical information.
These inscriptions are found on tombstones, war memorials and memorial
tablets in churches and other places. Though these inscriptions are
usually on durable material, such as stone or metal, many are threatened
with destruction by pollution, vandalism or redevelopment. Local and
family history societies and genealogical societies have been recording
the inscriptions in order to preserve the information they contain, and
to make it available to researchers. In many places the inscriptions
recorded in this way are stored on computers.
A data capture tool, not a research tool
The purpose of this program is data capture for monumental inscriptions.
It is primarily intended for the use of members of societies that have
undertaken, as a project, the recording of all the inscriptions in a
particular churchyard, cemetery or other burial place. The aim is to
make it easy to enter the information in a consistent format for com-
puter storage. Though the program does have some search and retrieval
functions, these are mainly to check the information, and not to analyse
the data. While the program might be useful to a genealogical
researcher, that is not its primary purpose.
A test version
This version of CEMREC is also a test version. It is being distributed
so that people who might be interested in using such a program can try
it out, and report on its usefulness to the authors, so that it can be
improved. This version of the program is almost certain to have bugs. It
should be used with test data only, to see if it is suitable for the
task. A bug report form is included with the documentation so that
reports can be made to the authors. Please do NOT use it for recording
cemetery data as part of an actual project.
The history of the program
In distributing this program for testing, we are asking for comments on
how it works as a program, and also on how it works as a tool for
recording monumental inscriptions. We don't only want the opinions of
computer experts. We also want the opinions of those who have had expe-
rience of recording cemetery data. It is impossible to foresee every
kind of situation that may arise in recording monumental inscriptions.
We may have overlooked something vital. We hope that it will be useful
to explain something of the background of the program.
Some years ago the Genealogical Society of South Africa supported a
cemetery recording project. The coordinator of the project was Peter
Holden, who encouraged individuals and branches of the Genealogical
Society to record the data in cemeteries, and to send him the results.
He typed these into a standard format, and passed them on to the South
Version 0.63 Released 1993-03-10 Page 1
African Archives, where the data were keyed into a mainframe computer
running the Stairs program. The information that has been entered in
this way may be consulted on computer terminals at the archives depots
in Pretoria, Cape Town, Bloemfontein and Pietermaritzburg. Bound
printouts may be consulted in many university and municipal libraries.
In September 1990 a conference was held to review the project. One of
the problems that became apparent was that there was a tremendous
duplication of effort in the transcription. In at least once instance
the data were transcribed by hand at a cemetery, entered into a computer
by the organisation that arranged the recording. A printout was sent to
Peter Holden, who retyped it in a standard format and sent it to the
archives, where the data were once again rekeyed into the mainframe com-
puter. In effect the same data were transcribed four times - thus multi-
plying the chances of errors creeping in quite apart from the quad-
riplication of effort. The conference asked a subcommittee including
members of the Computer Interest Group of the Genealogical Society to
try to devise a better system.
The first question to be decided was whether we wanted a transcription
or an index. There were many different opinions about the matter, but
eventually we decided to design a transcription program, rather than an
indexing one. An index can always be made from a transcription, but a
transcription cannot be made from an index. The program does, however,
provide for indexing as well as transcribing.
We also decided that there was no point in reinventing the wheel. We
therefore tried to make contact with people in different countries and
to find out how people in those places transcribed cemeteries. In 1991
the question was discussed at length on the genealogy data networks
between various countries, especially the International Genealogical
Conference on Fidonet, and the soc.roots newsgroup on Usenet. We went
through the same debates about transcriptions versus indexes, and col-
lected opinions from the UK, the Netherlands, Canada, Australia and New
Zealand. We moved to the genealogy software conference on Fidonet
(GENSOFT) for discussion of database fields and structures. In July 1991
the fields in four sets of tables were proposed and discussed. By Sep-
tember 1991 we had a working prototype in Paradox. More discussions and
meetings followed, including meetings with the South African archives,
which showed that the prototype would be able to store the information
on disk in such a way that it could be imported directly into the Stairs
program without retyping.
Paradox was fine for the prototype, but could not be used for the data
entry program, as it was far too expensive, and its fields could hold a
maximum of 255 characters - many tombstone inscriptions were bigger than
that. We decided to use Clipper for the data capture program, as it
could be compiled as a stand-alone program, which could be distributed
free of royalties.
Future developments
This data capture program is only part of a wider project. In addition
to capturing data, there will need to be a progam to merge data from
different sources, and there will need to be one to move the data to
other computers (such as the ones running the Stairs program in the
South African archives). Eventually it might be possible to distribute
the data on CD-ROM or similar optical media.
Version 0.63 Released 1993-03-10 Page 2
HOW TO USE THE PROGRAM
The program is started by typing CEMREC at the DOS command line. It
should preferably be run from a hard disk, though it should be possible
to run it from a floppy disk of at least 720k. The program and documen-
tation are in a compressed file, and should be uncompressed in the
directory from which the program will be run.
Adding records
There are four main "tables" or files in the database. The central one
is the Inscription table. This is where the actual tombstone inscription
is entered. But before entering data in the inscription table, the
Recorder and Cemetery tables need some information.
The recorder is the person who transcribed the data from the inscrip-
tions. The table should have the person's name, and the sponsoring
organisation if any (such as a local or family history society). There
is also a unique code for each recorder. We suggest that the person's
initials should be used, followed by a number made up of the year, month
and day of the recorder's birth - so Gavin Edward Jones who was born on
6 March 1945 would have a code of GEJ450306.
The cemetery information should give the cemetery a unique code (this
will be discussed later, then give the name and location of the
cemetery, and a description of the cemetery (is it a municipal cemetery,
or a farm cemetery, or in a church yard?)
The Inscription table begins with information from the Recorder and
Cemetery tables. These are the codes that will link the data to those
tables. Then there is a location field. This is not the location of the
cemetery (that was included in the Cemetery table). It is the location
of the grave WITHIN the cemetery. The way it is described will vary from
cemetery to cemetery. It may be a grave number, or a block and row num-
ber, or it may be something like "south of the church ten metres from
the fence".
Then comes the Inscription field. This is the most important field in
the database. The inscription on the tombstone should be entered IN FULL
AND VERBATIM. If the inscription is partly illegible, the gaps should be
indicated by underline characters. Do not abbreviate terms that are
given in full on the tombstone, and do not expand terms that are
abbreviated on the tombstone. If the tombstone says "Wm" or "Jno" do not
write "William" or "John". If the tombstone says "doctor" do not write
"Dr". Copy the wording as exactly as you can. If the tombstone says "In
loving memory", include it.
After the inscription comes another field for cross reference. Here you
can enter information from other sources - possibly a cemetery register
or church burial register, which might give more information about the
person. Note the information and the source.
Finally there is a remarks field. Here you can include any information
that might be relevant - such as an apparent relationship with the per-
son in the next grave, the style and condition of the tombstone etc. If
it appears that the person is not buried there, this could be noted (for
example a soldier serving overseas might have a memorial erected, even
Version 0.63 Released 1993-03-10 Page 3
though buried in another country).
When you have completed the entry for the inscription, you will be
offered the fields of the People table. This is the index to the
inscriptions. Initially one would put in the name of the person buried
and details such as the date and place of birth and death, if known.
Other people mentioned on the tombstone could be indexed in this way.
Editing records
The editing records section is similar to that of the adding records
section. One can edit the main tables - Cemetery, Inscription, Recorder
and People.
The main purpose of the editing section is so that one can index more
people for each inscription. If, for example, you use the program on a
laptop machine at the cemetery, your main object is to get as many
inscriptions recorded as possible. Indexing all the people mentioned on
the inscriptions can be done later at home. So you could edit the people
for each inscription.
Editing is also one of the areas where things can go most wrong in a
relational database. One of the important things is to maintain referen-
tial integrity between the tables. If you know anything about working
with databases, please test this out - there is one thing that the pro-
gram should NOT let you do - change, for example, the code for the
cemetery or recorder without also changing it in the Inscription table.
If it lets you do this in any circumstances, please report it. This can
cause the inscriptions to "forget" which cemetery they are in. Because
we want this to be tested by different people in different circum-
stances, we ask that you only use test data in this program. Don't enter
information that you don't have a copy of elsewhere.
Housekeeping
This is for deleting records, packing the database etc.
Printing
This will let you print reports based on the search criteria you enter
in the search section
Search
This is a "bonus" feature - not really necessary in a data capture pro-
gram, but included as a reward for those who give up their weekends to
fossick around in cemeteries recording all this stuff. It lets you
search for records using words you are interested in, and then print out
the results. Note that the results are not displayed on screen, but you
can print them.
Help
The help feature is more unfinished than a lot of the others. Some code
in the program has been reused from other projects, and so some of the
help screens may be way off. There is still a lot of work to be done
here.
Version 0.63 Released 1993-03-10 Page 4
FEEDBACK
At the end of this document you will find a bug report form. Please use
it for sending feedback to the authors of the program.
As we pointed out earlier, we don't only want feedback on the program
itself, but also on the methods used in the program.
For example, the Cemetery codes. These need to be unique for each
cemetery recorded. What is the best way of ensuring this? Should a
national genealogical society or other body keep a register of all
cemeteries, and assign a code to each of them?
Version 0.63 Released 1993-03-10 Page 5
USER REPORT
CEM-REC VERSION 0.63
If you have looked at this program at all, please complete this form and
return it to:
Martin Zöllner Steve Hayes
P.O. Box 36052 P.O. Box 7648
Menlo Park Pretoria
0102 South Africa 0001 South Africa
or to:
Fidonet: Steve Hayes of 5:7101/20@FidoNet
Martin Zoellner of 5:7101/20@Fidonet
Internet: Steve.Hayes@f20.n7101.z5.fidonet.org
Martin.Zoellner@f20.n7101.z5.fidonet.org
hayesstw@risc1.unisa.ac.za
---------------------------------
Name: ________________________________________________________
Postal Address: ________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Postal or Zip code: ___________ Country: _______________________________
E-mail address: ________________________________________________________
Affiliation: ________________________________________________________
(e.g. Family History or genealogical society you belong to)
Have you recorded cemetery inscriptions before? ________________________
(i.e. before you saw this program)
Where did you get a copy of this program? ______________________________
(e.g. give name of BBS you downloaded it from, user group, friend etc)
Would you be interested in participating in discussions on standards for
computer recording of genealogical data?
________________________________________________________________________
In the space below (or on a separate sheet of paper) please write your
impressions of the program - what you found good about it, what you
found bad about it, how you think it could be improved etc.
You may return this to one of the addresses above, either through the
post, or by electronic mail. You may also participate in continuing dis-
cussions about it in the GENSOFT conference on the Fidonet network or in
the soc.roots newsgroup on Usenet.
Version 0.63 Released 1993-03-10 Page 6