GenMassachusetts-L Archives

From: Dale H Cook <>
Subject: Re: [GM-L] Genealogies of the Families of Braintree, MA
Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2003 12:06:37 -0500

On Sun, 16 Mar 2003 11:18:47 -0500 "Diane L. Badger"
<> writes:

> Has any one purchased the above CD from NEHGS? I have a copy that I
> have been using for some research and I am wondering if this is a
> scan of a book as opposed to a photocopy of a book.

Diane -

Sprague was never a book. His data was kept on over 6,000 hand-written
index cards. I do not yet own the CD but have worked with images of
Sprague's original cards. If the CD contains a transcription, rather than
images of the cards, it is likely that the transcriber worked from the
NEHGS microfilm of the cards.

> It appears that
> several times during the listing that Braintree VR shows up as
> Braintree, VT and that strange characters appear in front of some of
> the names in the family listings. I have seen these types of
> characters before when I have scanned documents for work. If
> someone did scan this book they did a lousey job editing.

Since the cards were hand-written it is most unlikely that scanning and
OCR software were used. Sprague did use some symbols in front of names,
such as "+" which, I believe, he used in the conventional sense of
indicating that an individual had issue. As far as the quality of editing
goes, keep in mind that the source material was written by Sprague in his
own hand in cursive script, and can, in places, be rather difficult to
transcribe.

Strictly speaking there is no such thing as "Braintree VRs" unless the
original record books of the Town Clerk are meant. Instead the "VT" might
indicate Samuel A. Bates, "Records of the Town of Braintree, 1640-1793"
(Randolph MA, 1886). "VT" is probably a transcription error for "VR",
meaning Bates. In my database I indicate Bates as "Braintree TRs."

Dale H. Cook
Member, NEHGS
USGenWeb Plymouth County MA Towns Host:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~macbrock/sites.html

This thread:

• [GM-L] Genealogies of the Families of Braintree, MA by "Diane L. Badger" <>
  • RE: [GM-L] Genealogies of the Families of Braintree, MA by "Karen Sullivan" <>
  • RE: [GM-L] Genealogies of the Families of Braintree, MA by "Jim Bullock" <>

  • Re: [GM-L] Genealogies of the Families of Braintree, MA by Dale H Cook <>

  • Re: [GM-L] Genealogies of the Families of Braintree, MA by Dale H Cook <>
  • [GM-L] Genealogies of the Families of Braintree, MA by
  • Re: [GM-L] Genealogies of the Families of Braintree, MA by "ROB WHITE" <>
    • Re: [GM-L] Genealogies of the Families of Braintree, MA by "Regena Lally" <>