9.1 Church records as civil record substitutes
“I am bound to them though I cannot look into their eyes or hear their voices. I honor their history. I cherish their lives. I will tell their story. I will remember them for I am the result of the very love, struggle, sacrifice and journey of thousands.”1 –Unknown
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Gain experience utilizing church records as vital record substitutes.
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Understand the role of paleography and begin building skills reading older records.
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Identify language tools to help extract data from foreign documents.
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Continue to explore image-only collections.
Church records and immigration/emigration records are excellent substitutes for determining birth, marriage, and death (BMD) information. They may also be great census substitutes in parts of the world where a census has not been taken or where those records are not accessible to researchers.