In preparation for the MWI search engine's appearance on this site, we welcome all comers to contribute additional records to the database. Here's how.
The MWI database, to be hosted on this site, is stored in a MySQL database. The good news is that you don't have to know SQL to submit more data - although we won't complain if you do!
File formats
We can accept contributions in these forms:
- Comma-separated values (.CSV);
- MS Access (.MDB);
- Excel spreadsheet (.XLS);
- SQL (see later);
- OpenOffice/LibreOffice database or spreadsheet (.ODS, .SXW).
If you want to submit in a different format from these, please contact us to discuss it. We can probably work with more-or-less anything, provided we understand it.
The long and the short of it is: we can accept contributions in more-or-less any format, but it would be nice if you could help us by getting as close to ours as you can before submitting, as we've a lot of work ahead of us, and anything that can ease our burden is very, very welcome! With that in mind, please read the rest of this article before submitting, as it gives a lot of tips on how to provide us the data in the best possible format.
Database or spreadsheet structure
It will help us hugely if you can structure your database/spreadsheet to mirror ours. Because Ted Wildy's field names (SURNAME1, SURNAME2, and so on) were a bit opaque, we've used our own, more reader-friendly, ones.
You can download an Excel spreadsheet template that includes all the correct field names. You can submit Excel spreadsheets, made using this template, to us without having to worry about converting to CSV first.
If you're using our template, please use the value "0" for the "tag" field, and enter all dates in the format YYYY-MM-DD. Don't convert the "married" or "date_entry" fields to Excel's "date" format - that starts in 1900!
Here's the field structure that we use. It's written in SQL, but the same field names apply to spreadsheet submissions too:
CREATE TABLE ukwit97
();
witfirst VARCHAR(50), # Witness's personal name tag INTEGER, # Unknown - leave as 0 (zero) witsur VARCHAR(50), # Witness's surname/family name groomfirst VARCHAR(50), # Groom's personal name groomsur VARCHAR(50), # Groom's surname/family name bridefirst VARCHAR(50), # Bride's personal name bridesur VARCHAR(50), # Bridge's surname/family name married DATE, # Date of marriage, in YYYY-MM-DD form church VARCHAR(50), # Name of church or other wedding ceremony venue town VARCHAR(50), # Name of town where wedding ceremony held cty CHAR(3), # Three-letter abbreviation for county (or country or other location if outside UK) remarks VARCHAR(50), # Any relevant comments - ideally the origin of the entry data (e.g. source of marriage cert.) entered_by VARCHAR(255), # Contributor's name member_no VARCHAR(50), # Membership number of contributor in their genealogy society (optional) gensoc VARCHAR(50), # Contributor's genealogy society (optional) date_entry VARCHAR(50) # Date of creation of this entry
This should be fairly self-explanatory, but note that the "cty" field is for the county, not the city, and uses the three letter abbreviations for county given at the end of this article. For locations outside the UK, the "cty" field can represent the country or location within a country.
VARCHAR and CHAR mean text fields (the number's the maximum length). I have absolutely no idea what the "tag" field is for: it was in the original data with no explanation. The DATE format is "YYYY-MM-DD". If your software can't export a date in exactly that form, please try to get it as close as possible (numeric only, with obvious year, month and date) to make our conversion process easier.
Exporting in SQL
If your software can export in SQL, use the above schema, and create lines like this sample:
INSERT INTO ukwit97 (witfirst, tag, witsur, groomfirst, groomsur, bridefirst, bridesur, married, church, town, cty, remarks, entered_by, member_no, gensoc, date_entry) VALUES ("John","1","ABDALLA","Abraham","ABBOTT","Bridget","JORDAN","1857-05-26","Cathedral","Manchester","LAN",NULL,"CURRAN Bryan, 7 Liston Cres, Hillcrest, Hamilton, NZ","434","NZ","89060");
If you need to include double-quotes in the text itself, put a backslash before them. So, for example:
"This contains a \"double-quoted\" string."
Submitting your data
Please email us (at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )to let us know in advance that you want to send us a file - and tell us how large it is. Please don't send the file until we say you can, as our mailbox isn't infinitely elastic!
Whichever the original format of the file, we strongly recommend that you send it in a .ZIP attachment (we can also deal with .tar.gz, .tgz, .tar.bz2 and .tbz2), to save our mailbox space, and to ensure that the email process doesn't danage the file in transit. If you don't know how to create a .ZIP attachment, please ask!
When you get the go-ahead, please email the file to the same address.
Thank you for helping and contributing to this project!
County abbreviations
The "cty" field needs a three-letter county abbreviation. These are the valid values:
Abbreviation County (or country) ABD Aberdeenshire, Scotland AGY Anglesey, Wales ALD Alderney, Channel Islands ANS Angus, Scotland ANT Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland ARL Argyllshire, Scotland ARM Co. Armagh, Northern Ireland AVN Avon, England AYR Ayrshire, Scotland BAN Banffshire, Scotland BDF Bedfordshire, England BEW Berwickshire, Scotland BKM Buckinghamshire, England BOR Borders, Scotland BRE Breconshire, Wales BRK Berkshire, England BUT Bute, Scotland CAE Caernarvonshire, Wales CAI Caithness, Scotland CAM Cambridgeshire, England CAR Co. Carlow, Ireland CAV Co. Cavan, Ireland CEN Central, Scotland CGN Cardiganshire, Wales CHS Cheshire, England CLA Co. Clare, Ireland CLK Clackmannanshire, Scotland CLV Cleveland, England CMA Cumbria, England CMN Carmarthenshire, Wales CON Cornwall, England COR Co. Cork, Ireland CUL Cumberland, England CWD Clwyd, Wales DBY Derbyshire, England DEN Denbighshire, Wales DEV Devon, England DFD Dyfed, Wales DFS Dumfries-shire, Scotland DGY Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland DNB Dunbartonshire, Scotland DON Co. Donegal, Ireland DOR Dorset, England DOW Co. Down, Northern Ireland DUB Co. Dublin, Ireland DUR Co. Durham, England ELN East Lothian, Scotland ENG England ERY East Riding of Yorkshire, England ESS Essex, England FER Co. Fermanagh, Northern Ireland FIF Fife, Scotland FLN Flintshire, Wales GAL Co. Galway, Ireland GLA Glamorgan, Wales GLS Gloucestershire, England GMP Grampian, Scotland GNT Gwent, Wales GSY Guernsey, Channel Islands GTM Greater Manchester, England GWN Gwynedd, Wales HAM Hampshire, England HEF Herefordshire, England HLD Highland, Scotland HRT Hertfordshire, England HUM Humberside, England HUN Huntingdonshire, England HWR Hereford and Worcester, England INV Inverness-shire, Scotland IOM Isle of Man IOW Isle of Wight, England IRL Ireland JSY Jersey, Channel Islands KCD Kincardineshire, Scotland KEN Kent, England KER Co. Kerry, Ireland KID Co. Kildare, Ireland KIK Co. Kilkenny, Ireland KKD Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland KRS Kinross-shire, Scotland LAN Lancashire, England LDY Co. Londonderry, Northern Ireland LEI Leicestershire, England LET Co. Leitrim, Ireland LEX Co. Laois, Ireland LIM Co. Limerick, Ireland LIN Lincolnshire, England LKS Lanarkshire, Scotland LND London, England LOG Co. Longford, Ireland LOU Co. Louth, Ireland LTN Lothian, Scotland MAY Co. Mayo, Ireland MDX Middlesex, England MEA Co. Meath, Ireland MER Merionethshire, Wales MGM Mid Glamorgan, Wales MGY Montgomeryshire, Wales MLN Midlothian, Scotland MOG Co. Monaghan, Ireland MON Monmouthshire, Wales MOR Morayshire, Scotland MSY Merseyside, England NAI Nairn, Scotland NBL Northumberland, England NFK Norfolk, England NIR Northern Ireland NRY North Riding of Yorkshire, England NTH Northamptonshire, England NTT Nottinghamshire, England NYK North Yorkshire, England OFF Co. Offaly, Ireland OKI Orkney, Scotland OXF Oxfordshire, England PEE Peebles-shire, Scotland PEM Pembrokeshire, Wales PER Perth, Scotland POW Powys, Wales RAD Radnorshire, Wales RFW Renfrewshire, Scotland ROC Ross and Cromarty, Scotland ROS Co. Roscommon, Ireland ROX Roxburghshire, Scotland RUT Rutland, England SAL Shropshire, England SCT Scotland SEL Selkirkshire, Scotland SFK Suffolk, England SGM South Glamorgan, Wales SHI Shetland, Scotland SLI Co. Sligo, Ireland SOM Somerset, England SRK Sark, Channel Islands SRY Surrey, England SSX Sussex, England STD Strathclyde, Scotland STI Stirlingshire, Scotland STS Staffordshire, England SUT Sutherland, Scotland SXE East Sussex, England SXW West Sussex, England SYK South Yorkshire, England TAY Tayside, Scotland TIP Co. Tipperary, Ireland TWR Tyne and Wear, England TYR Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland WAL Wales WAR Warwickshire, England WAT Co. Waterford, Ireland WEM Co. Westmeath, Ireland WES Westmorland, England WEX Co. Wexford, Ireland WGM West Glamorgan, Wales WIC Co. Wicklow, Ireland WIG Wigtownshire, Scotland WIL Wiltshire, England WIS Western Isles, Scotland WLN West Lothian, Scotland WMD West Midlands, England WOR Worcestershire, England WRY West Riding of Yorkshire, England WYK West Yorkshire, England YKS Yorkshire, England IND India
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