Attributes - emilyhboyer/Signed-Sealed-Delivered GitHub Wiki
| Attribute Name | Description |
|---|---|
| body | Used after text to denote the main body of the encoded text |
| catchwords | Catchwords are words that appear at the bottom of a text, often on their own line. It is the same word that appears first on the next page. A catchwords attribute is followed by a pb attribute |
| div | Used to denote divisions within a body of text |
| head | Denotes a header within a body of text i.e. John Smith Will |
| lb | Follows the initial p attribute; denotes separate lines within a document (acting as a shift) |
| measure | Used to mark inheritable items within the text; accompanied by commodity, quantity, unit if applicable |
| name | Used to mark a name not belonging to a person; often cows and horses were given unique names to better identify them |
| p | Paragraph; is accompanied by an p/ tag to note the end of a paragraph |
| pb | Page break; if a probate is longer than one page. Can be used within a paragraph |
| persName | Used to identify name of an individual; only used once per individual within a given probate. Accompanied by type="" and xml: id |
| placename | Used every time a location/province/city are mentioned |
| surname | Used for every persName to denote a surname (if applicable) |
| text | Used at the beginning of a document to denote the start of the text; body immediately follows, then div, head, p, lb |
| unclear | Used to denote when a word, phrase, sentence is unclear due to damage to primary document, handwriting, etc. Is followed by reason="" |
| xml: id | Included within a perName attribute and within a measure attribute. Ex.: persName type="nephew" xml:id="JohnMunJr"...<measure commodity="livestock" unit="1" xml:id="JohnMunJr"; This helps to link individuals to the items in which they are inheriting |
After the p (paragraph) attribute is used, subsequent lines will receive the lb (line break) attribute. This appears as follows:
The measure attribute is used to mark inheritable items within the text; accompanied by commodity, quantity, unit if applicable. The following commodities appear after the measure attribute. An example of this is presented below. Not all commodities will have a quantity amount or a unit number, and thus those do not need to be included for all inheritable items.
| Commodity | Description |
|---|---|
| clothes | Used to describe items of clothing left to beneficiary |
| crop | Often tobacco (Maryland), crop is used to denote a crop left to a beneficiary. Followed by quantity (a whole number, i.e. 100, 150)...unit. Unit is usually lb (pounds) |
| horse | Used to describe horses, foles, mares. Horse are not included under livestock |
| houseware | Used to describe silverware, cups, plates, candle holders, pots, etc. |
| jewelry | Used to describe rings, necklaces; often mentioned when discussing a spouses personal collection of jewelry that is being bequeathed to children, beneficiaries |
| land | Used to describe acres of land that do not have a set name. Ex. "I bequeath John Smith 50 acres of land." The beneficiary inherits land, but the land is not labeled as an established plantation, manor, farm, etc. |
| linens | Used to describe sheets, bed linens, etc. |
| livestock | Used to describe all livestock animals (cattle, chickens, pigs) except horses, which has it's own category. |
| other | Sometimes there are items that do not fall under a specific category. An example of this is a rug, which some might say is furniture, a furnishing, or maybe a woven good or linen. Other should be used when the transcriber is not sure as to where an inheritable items fit within the established categories |
| papergoods | Used to describe books (Bibles, most commonly), papers, etc. |
| plantation | Used only when the word plantation appears in a probate record. Often land will simply appear as land and can be categorized as such. When the name of a farm or land is mentioned (ex. John Smith Farm), it will not be plantation unless stated as a plantation. Names of farms with receive the name attribute within the measure attribute |
| transportation | Used to denote boats, carts, etc. |
| weapon | Weapons often appears as gun or gunnn; swords are also classified under weapon |
A measure attribute appears as follows within an .xml document:
In some cases, the commodity being described, such as with the case of horses, may include a longer description of said commodity. I have chosen to include the entirety of a commodities description within the measure attribute as to add more context and detail to what is being discussed within the attribute. An example of this is as follows:
Here, the name of the cow has been included within the measure attribute to provide more detail about the inheritable commodity (livestock).
As seen in the Home section, not all individuals receive an xml: id.
"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."
Further, witnesses, often mentioned at the end of a probate record, do not receive an xml: id, unless their name appears earlier in the document and they are set in inherit an item from the author.
Authors, as mentioned above, do not receive an xml: id as they are not inheriting their own goods.
There are several types of relationships mentioned within the various probate records. Below are the most common:
| type="..." |
|---|
| author |
| beneficiary |
| brother |
| brother-in-law |
| daughter |
| eldestdaughter |
| eldestson |
| enslaved |
| executor |
| father-in-law |
| goddaughter |
| godson |
| sister |
| son |
| spouse |
| witness |
Each individual mentioned within a probate record only needs to be given (1) persName attribute and one xml: id per probate record. There are times in which the same individual may appear in multiple probate records (Luke Gardiner, Benjamin Rozer), and thus they receive the persName attribute once within those given documents. This is done so as to not accidentally create multiple xml: id's for one person, which would make the encoding cluttered and confusing for people to understand who is inheriting what commodity.
**It is important to note that while persName is used once per indiviual per probate record, their xml: id is used whenever they are said to have been inheriting an item. For example:
The surname attribute is included within the persName attribute, and appears as follows:
This attribute is important in looking at familiar connections within probate records, and is especially important in regard to women mentioned in these records. For example, if a daughter's father is named John Smith and her name is Emily Boyer, it can be surmised that she is married because her last name differs from that of her father's or brother's.
Unlike persName, every time a place is mentioned (Charles County, a name of a river, provenance of Maryland) receives a placename attribute. This decision was made so that encoders and readers a like could see the frequency of the places mentioned.