Ted Delaney asked:
>I'm curious what the prevailing opinion is about the reliability and
consistency of given name abbreviations in 18th- and 19th-century Virginia
documents.
>For example, does "Jas" always mean "James"?
>Can "Jos" mean anything other than "Joseph"?
>If we are transcribing names from a primary source of that period, is it
wrong to record "Geo" as "George"?  Are there professional or ethical
standards about this?


The last question should be answered first. Transcription standards require
us to transcribe the document precisely. If a name in a document seems to
read "Jos.", we violate standards if we alter that to read "Joseph." If we
are absolutely certain that the individual called "Jos." was indeed Joseph,
then we may offer our clarification by doing two things: (1) write the name
exactly as it appears; (2) add our clarification in square editorial
brackets. Example

     Witnesses:
     Jos. [Joseph] Jones
     Jno. [John] Smith

Most genealogists have endless "horror stories" about "helpful" transcribers
who read a name as "Jos." and silently changed it to "Joseph" when, in
reality, the "o" was a poorly formed "a" and the individual was "Jas."
[James]. Those silent alterations cause genealogical problems for
generations thereafter, as researchers continue to consult the erroneous
transcriptions and abstracts.

While "Jos" might have typically been "Joseph,"  it was also used for other
names such as "Josiah." Conversely, "Josiah" might have been written as
"Jos" followed by a superscript "h" (which can't be rendered here in ASCII),
but that "Jos"-plus-superscript-"h" was also used for Joseph. Similarly,
Jno. often appears for Jonathan.

Transcription standards in genealogy are codified in two publications that
are now standard textbooks in our field:

1. _BCG Genealogical Standards Manual_ (Provo: Ancestry Publishers, 2000).

2. Mary McCampbell Bell, "Transcripts and Abstracts," and Christine Rose,
"Family Histories" (chapters 16 and 23) _Professional Genealogy: A Manual
for Researcher's Writers Editors, Lecturers, and Librarians_ (Baltimore:
Genealogical Publishing Company, 2001).


Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGL, FASG
Course Coordinator and Faculty
Samford University Institute of Genealogy & Historical Research

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