Home - emilyhboyer/Signed-Sealed-Delivered GitHub Wiki
Welcome to the Signed-Sealed-Delivered wiki! This Wiki serves as a guide on how the Signed Sealed Delivered project has chosen to encode probate records using TEI.
This schema was created by using Roma Antiqua.
The following links can provide more guidance on the schema and elements used within this project:
The encoded probate records can be found on the Signed, Sealed, and Delivered home page, found here.
There are a few decisions that I (Emily Boyer) made that I grappled with and thoroughly explored. I recognize that some may disagree with my final decisions, and I welcome those critiques.
Because these probate records are from the 17th and 18th centuries, enslaved individuals, often not named, are treated and recognized by these courts as inheritable property to be give to the sons and daughters of those who have authored these wills. As explained in Attributes, all inheritable items (livestock, horses, clothes, crops, etc.) are given the attribute as well as the <xml: id> element so that 1. Inheritable objects are easy to spot and highlight within a text and 2. Beneficiaries within the text are better linked to the objects in which they are inheriting, which helps for researchers to better understand what objects/items are being inherited by which individuals.
Even though that 17th, 18th, and 19th century laws uphold the idea that enslaved individuals are categorized as inheritable property, I do not include enslaved individuals within the element. To denote that yes, this person was enslaved, when using the <perName type ""> element, and when their is an enslaved individual mentioned, it appears as follows: ...
An example of this can be found in the file "MD_CC_PRO_038_1669_Bayne". In this probate record, I have encoded the following: I give also unto my said son John one negro called Balloy.
Here, I do not have Balloy in a attribute. Because enslaved individuals are not beneficiaries and are not receiving any items in the will (typically) enslaved individuals do not need an xml: id.
Some probate records also mention servants. The word servant and the status of servants usually denotes an indentured servant who is under contract with the author of the probate. Servants, like enslaved individuals, do not receive an xml: id because they are usually not set to inherit anything.
There are times where I do not have all the answers. For example, on multiple documents, the name Benjamin Rozer appears at the bottom of a probate. It is not clear if he is the transcriber or a witness. Research shows that Col. Benjamin Rozer (1647-1681), a planter in Charles County, Maryland, was also at one point the "High Sheriffe of Charles County Dated the vxth of April 1667" [Source].
Because I do not know to what capacity he is acting in the case of these records, I have not included a type="" attribute under
These records have been transcribed by a human being (Emily Boyer). Because a human has been used at all points of this project, there are bound to be human errors such as formatting errors, spelling mistakes, and missed attributes. There is also the fact that the records that I am transcribing are copies of the original records (see Sources for more details). Because of this, the transcriber of the prerogative court records that I am transcribing may have misspelled words, left out sections, or transcribed the records out of order. I use these set of records because they have all been fully digitized and the handwriting on these copies had not faded to the degree that the originals have. I also do not think it is a good use of time to go back and compare the two sets of records word by word, as this time can and should be spent on transcribing and encoding more records.
I do my best to check my work, and at times will do additional research on individuals to ensure that their names are spelled correctly (when this is available to me).