Index for the Pella Chronicle and other Pella newspapers, 1855-2020

Here are the steps to work on this project. Thanks so much for contributing. If you want to see the end results, here are the indices that are currently posted. If you have any issues with the steps I am giving, please ask me for help. (Use the link in the footer to provide the email.) These are new instructions, and there may be mistakes or assumptions that I am making.

1. First, take a look at what has already been done. Review one of the links on this page: http://iagenweb.org/marion/otherRecords/obituaries/ChronicleIndex/. Look at what is being recorded and what years and months have been done.
2. You may choose to work on this project because you want to include some of your relatives or perhaps just to help others. If you wish to work on this project, please email the coordinator (see footer) and let him know which year you will work on or what your goal is.
3. Next, you will need a spreadsheet to record your data. You have the choice ofa blank Excel spreadsheet or a Google Sheet approach. These have the same headers as what you viewed in the link above.
4. Go to http://pella.advantage-preservation.com to find the digital online newspapers associated with Pella. If you are looking for particular names, enter them in the first search field and specify the dates within which you expect this person. If you wish to just work on a specific year, click on the decade in the Browse By Year section. This should bring up a pop-up window where you choose the year within that decade. [Note that this website sometimes changes its user interface, and the following instructions may not be quite right. This also assumes that you are working systematically on a particular year. If you are working sporadically, adapt accordingly.] Start with January and proceed forward. When you pick a month, you can then also choose the date of issue. The obituaries tend to be near weddings and on pages 5, 6, 7, or 8. However, in some earlier years, there may have been other patterns (or no pattern). Note that sometimes there is a table of contents on page 1. Sometimes, page one also has other deaths, if it was an unusual event, so it is a good idea to start on page one. Once on a page, there are arrows at the top to move forward or backwards (also on the side of the window) or a drop-down menu to choose a particular page. Note that there is also a search facility on this site. Check the "retain current filters" checkbox if you have drilled down to just one date and have not yet found the page with the obituaries. Then search for the following words: (in this order): die (handles died and dies), death, cemetery, funeral, passed away, obituary, obituaries. Very likely, you will find the page containing the obituaries. Eventually, you will find the first obituary for that issue.
5. At this step, I assume that you have found an obituary in the newspaper that you chose to start with. While it doesn't hurt to have an entry in the index twice, you also might not want to waste your time. To check to see if your name is already in the index, go to http://iagenweb.org/marion/otherRecords/obituaries/ChronicleIndex/ and choose either the listing by last name or by date, whichever works best for you. As you are there, also review some of the entries so that you can see how you will format your data, assuming your person is not already there.
6. Open up the spreadsheet of choice (Excel or Google) and enter in the following, going column by column. Compare against the data already done for clarity of the format.
   • Newspaper - enter the name of the newspaper
   • Pub p c - what is the page where the obit can be found (use format of p5) and what column (counting from the left), using c2, or c2-3, or c2-4 if a single column or multiple columns. So a typical entry here is p4c5
   • D - enter the day number when this newspaper was published
   • M - enter the 3-character name abbreviation when this newspaper was published
   • Y - enter the year (4 digits) when this newspaper was published
   • Name - enter the name of the person in the format last_name, first_name. Add the middle name if given and the maiden name for females if given or ascertained by a brother's last name, putting the maiden name in (parentheses)
   • Death - if given explicitly (or implicitly by giving day of the week and knowing the publication date), enter this in the format dd MMM YYYY. For example, 12 Jul 1945. You may include a 0 for single digits, but it is not needed. Follow this with a space and then a hyphen. Follow this with the city, ST for the place of death, if given. It is possible only one of these two may be given or both but include the hyphen if at least one is given. Note that the county may be given instead of the city, or perhaps just the state. Do what makes sense but look at other work for comparison.
   • Age - if given, enter the age (in years). If given in month, append m, as in 8m for 8 months. If you are given something like 78 years, 4 months, and 3 days, just enter in 78 but check to see if a birthdate is given. If not, in the notes column you can add "age = 78Y4M3D"
   • Birth - If given, enter in format as publication date. Example: 4 Jan 1921
   • FAG - This is the Find a Grave ID number. Don't worry about it unless you know it.
   • Surnames - You can enter other surnames that are given, such as mother's maiden name or children's last names and so on
   • Notes - enter anything else that may be important
   • Contrib. - enter your name, first_name last_name
7. If you are only entering data into the obituary index, then you are done with this person, and you can go on to the next person in the current newspaper publication. If you have also chosen to add the text (transcription) of obituaries into the Obituary Board, then proceed with that. Instructions are here.
8. When you have entered between 20 and 30 obituaries into your spreadsheet, then email me the spreadsheet that holds your data or the URL for the Google Sheet (after making a copy of it)
9. If you find that you need clarifications here, please let me know, and I will add them here as well.