General:

Source - Our Heritage, Our Mission: 1850-2000, St. John United Church of Christ, Emma, Mo. Emma, Mo.: the church, 2000.

Pages of the source were scanned and converted using Optical Character Recognition software.  While manually proofed, there may still be some conversion errors.

Typical problems are changing 'nn' to 'rm', 'm' to 'rn', 'rn' to 'm', 'hn' to 'lm', 'run' to 'um' or 'nm', 'n' to 'rr', 'e' to 'c'.  Other occasional dropped or stray characters may exist.

Spelling in the source document was retained although there may be typographical errors.

Names left blank or with '?" are entered as 'UNK'.

The day and month of dates that were not indicated or recorded as '?' are left blank but with the year entered corresponding to the block in which the event is recorded.

Baptisms:

Most entries include both the date of birth and the date of baptism, although some may only have one or the other date,

The maiden name of the mother is included in the parents field for most entries.

A few entries list the adopted parents rather than the birth parents.

Confirmations:

Most of the entries in this list include the date of birth for the confirmand.

Marriages:

In cases that appear to be second marriages, the surname entered for the female is assumed to be that of the previous marriage.  The maiden name is entered as 'nee …' in the given name field.

Deaths:

The last name entered for married females is assumed to be the surname at the time of death.

Maiden names of females are entered when indicated by 'nee' in the source document..

A number of entries include the name of the spouse in the comments field.

Child funeral entries include the parents name in the comments field, many with the maiden name of the mother.

Dates listed are the date of death unless indicated otherwise.

Children with no name or age listed in the source document are assumed to be stillborn,

Stillborn babies, i.e. with no given name, are entered as '(Stillborn)' when indicated.