We assume that if you send us your family history you're interested in having potential cousins contact you, so we'll normally include your name and addresses (postal and email) with your family tree if we put it on-line - though no such details about the submitters of information are included with entries in the on-line search indexes. If you do not wish your name and address(es) to be published in this way please be sure to say so in a covering letter or email, and instead we'll give your family tree a unique identifier code which will allow us to connect it with you and your address(es) so as to put potential cousins in touch with you only in response to specific enquiries directed to us.
An electronic submission should be in the form of a GEDCOM file - most modern genealogical software allows for the creation of GEDCOM files for swapping information, but if yours doesn't then please send us a print-out instead (or create a separate Paper Submission). Your GEDCOM file may be sent as an attachment to an email if the file size is below 1MB (the Clan Centre does not have a broadband connection and larger files take so long to download they may jam up the system), or on a disk of some sort (floppy, zip, CD or DVD).
You can help us a lot, and ensure that your data goes on-line a great deal quicker than it might otherwise do, by formatting your electronic submission in the following way - particularly in relation to those of your ancestors who bore a clan surname and who will therefore appear in the on-line search indexes:
1. Please make sure that all dates have the month given by name or three-letter abbreviation (i.e. January or Jan) not by number, since the order in which the day and the month are given in the UK and the USA differ - which can lead to considerable confusion.
2. Always use the standard spelling of the clan or sept surname to be found in the PM Search Indices (which in the case of Macmillan/McMullen etc. is M'millan). You can if you wish add the recorded form of surname for each individual in "Notes".
3. Make sure you give at least a
year of birth/baptism for every individual, and if that date
is not exact and proven (i.e. based on a contemporary church or civil
register entry) please be sure to show that it is either an approximate
date - usually indicated by the prefix abt for "about"
(or perhaps c. for the Latin "circa") - or an estimated
date (for which precede it with est).
Approximate dates are usually based on ages given in census entries,
on gravestones, or in oral family histories; but estimated ages are
calculations based either on the knowledge that an individual was alive at
some time - though his/her age at that, or any other time is unknown - or
on the year of birth/baptism of that person's eldest child (which in
Scotland before the 20th century is likely on average to be 30 to 35 years
after the father's birth/baptism, but for emigrants is often more like 20
to 25 years).
It's very important to know if a date is only slightly approximate (i.e.
based on some specific information so probably no more than ten years out
either way) or very approximate (i.e. based on a calculation that may be
little more than a guess and thus maybe half a century out). So, if your
genealogy software does not allow dates to be qualified as est.
(estimated) and only allows abt., please use that and then be sure
to put in the "Notes" for that individual that the date is
estimated, and say on what basis the estimate was made (even when Abt. is
appropriate, it's as well to put in a note giving the information the
approximate date is based on).
This may be complicated, but please don't let that put you off
including a date of birth/baptism - even if it is just a year - for every
individual in your submission. Remember your "John M'millan" is
going to be one of hundreds (indeed thousands) of John M'millans in the
Search Indices, and a date of birth/baptism, even if it is only estimated,
is the first and most important way to distinguish your ancestor from the
many others bearing the same name.
4. Always enter a Place of Birth, even if it is just the country. If possible also include the state/province etc. - qualified by a question mark if you're not sure - and the parish, town or city (but only one of these last so as not to make the entry too long - more exact details can be included in "Notes"). This is almost as important as the date of birth/baptism when it comes to distinguishing your ancestor from others bearing the same name.
5. Enter dates and places of death and marriage in the same way as for birth/baptism.
6. Enter the spouse with his or her own surname (i.e. do not give wives the married surname unless that was also their maiden surname).
7. If your software allows for a field called Mis or Miscellaneous please use it to provide a short piece of information that will help distinguish each individual from others bearing the same name: i.e. a title, a nickname, an occupation, a residence etc. This is the information that will appear in the Search Indices as "Add(itional) Info". If no such field exists in your software then include such info in "Notes".
8. Use the "Notes" on individuals to include, amongst other things, the name and address of the people from whom the information on them came - which may be you if it's your own family submission - and say how he or she is related to the individual against whom it is noted. This is to allow cousins discovering their ancestor or relation in the PM Master File to be put in touch.
PAPER SUBMISSIONS:
If you don't have any genealogy software we'll be happy to receive your
information on paper. It would be helpful if Paper Submissions also stuck
to the guidelines given above for electronic submissions; but we'll accept
them in any form, and with as much detail as you wish. We would ask
however, if you want your ancestors to appear in the MAOL Search Indices,
that you also include a separate summary of just your clan or sept name
ancestors that we can quickly type into the Indices. This should be drawn
up strictly in accordance with the above guidelines and preferably in the
form provided at Project MAOL Summary
Submission.
If you have any questions about the above instructions please email us and we'll try to clarify them for you.
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