I'm working at the church today (Quit rolling your eyes, there haven't been any lightning strikes yet) and having a small temper tantrum. The latest project for me? Bring the Membership Roll into the computer age. Which is fine, and dandy, and a bunch of other adjectives, and sounds distressingly easy (nothing that Excel and I can't knock out before lunch, right?) until I actually saw the book. It's been updated by (I'm counting different handwriting styles) I think six people, and not one of them has written in it the same way. I have entries like this:
*SHUPER, Joanna Colleen nee Waterbucket nee Price see Price, see Waterbucket resident (nonresident) received date April 1/56 (yes, 1956, because I am working with stone age records here) how: Profession of Faith transferred from St. Juniper's Anglican Church, Mossgrove Comments: daughters Abagail, Courtney, and Bethany, husband(s) August Timothy Price (deceased, 1978) William Shuper (Jr) (deceased 2000) Removed by Death May 23rd, 2001
then the next entry is:
CROWSFOOT, W. and (3) family. Baptized. Dead.
Both of these families are from about the same time period, and shared almost equal social standing. It's just....sloppy reporting.
Every spreadsheet I work out looks incomplete, like I omitted information. Unlike everything else in my life, I am obsessive over paperwork. It should be STANDARD.
So - do I toss out Mrs. Shupers marital history, or piece together something for the Crowsfoots?
*names, dates, places - changed to comfort the relations and because it's just more fun that way.
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