This article was prompted by, among others, a query in Rootsweb.

“George is married to Anne and they have children. Anne dies and George then marries Jane. Jane already has two children but their father is unknown. George and Jane then have two children of their own. How do I show this in Family Historian?”

Enter George and Anne as per normal. The properties dialogue box should be showing your George married to Anne as Tab 1 and their children underneath.

Clink on the tab next to Anne and add Jane's details on Tab 2.

Click on Jane's tab (the chevron button to the right) to open her dialogue box.

Now enter Jane's previous husband/partner under 'spouse', simply leave it blank if unknown or a dummy entry such as “Male /(Unknown)/” dependant on your preferences.

Jane's box should now also show two tabs, one for her previous husband/partner and one for George. Ensuring that the tab open is Jane's and previous partner (or Jane alone) enter the children of that relationship.

They will not show up as George's.

The chronological order of the partners can be amended through use of the arrows at the right hand side above the spouses.

Finally, it may be that you do not wish to create records for non-blood relatives e.g. Jane's previous children in which case it might suit you to enter the children in a note field.