Using RDF — part II
This is the second part of my experiment into Using RDF for genealogy. The first part discussed the process of writing a clear RDF document containing my starting premises. In summary these were:
- that my paternal grandfather's name was Lionel Vane Smith;
- that he was born on 9 Aug 1903 and died sometime in 1980;
- and that this information came from my father.
His unusual middle name means that this should be enough to be starting with, and so now the genealogical process proper can begin.
Death registration
A natural first step is for me to look up the registration of his death. I could try to do this with FreeBMD database, but its coverage in the late 20th century is currently poor. If there happened to be two people with similar names who died at around the same time, only one might be in the FreeBMD index, and I pick the wrong one while thinking the name was unique. However, I can consulate the General Register Office indexes, either in person or on a fee-paying website such as Ancestry.co.uk. A quick search finds the registration of my grandfather's death on page 753 of the third volume (covering July–August–September) of deaths in 1980, and no similar entries elsewhere in 1980.
SMITH
LIONEL VANE 09 AU 1903 SOUTHAMPTON 9 0500
What does this actually tell me? It says that in Q3 1980, the death of someone with surname Smith and first names “Lionel Vane” was registered. The death was registered in the Southampton registration district. His date of birth was recorded as 1903-08-09. The death certificate can be ordered by quoting volume 9, page 0500. It's worth noting that this doesn't say that he died in Q3 1980. It could have been that he died at the end of June, and that his death wasn't registered until the start of July; and in situations where an inquest had to place, the delay could be rather longer. Nevertheless, it is evidence that he died no later than Q3 1980.
We already know how to encode the name and date of birth in RDF as I did it in part I.
