* Recording colour as on US Censuses

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kevinmerrison
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Recording colour as on US Censuses

Post by kevinmerrison »

Hi, I've been using Ancestral Sources for a number of years to help record details from US censuses and now want to be able to see the color or race details entered under personal description, on FH7. Cannot find anywhere in FH7? Thanks
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Re: Recording colour as on US Censuses

Post by tatewise »

So you have the information captured in the Source Citation details but now wish to add Attribute facts to the Individuals.

The two standard Attributes you could use are:
Group/Caste Membership that GEDCOM defines as:
"A name assigned to a particular group that this person was associated with, such as a particular racial group, religious group, or a group with an inherited status."
Physical Description that GEDCOM defines as:
"An unstructured list of the attributes that describe the physical characteristics of a person, place, or object. Commas separate each attribute.
Example:
Hair Brown, Eyes Brown, Height 5 ft 8 in"

Otherwise, you would have to create a custom Attribute.
Mike Tate ~ researching the Tate and Scott family history ~ tatewise ancestry
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kevinmerrison
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Re: Recording colour as on US Censuses

Post by kevinmerrison »

Thanks Mike. I can see how this would enable me to enter the details, but I'm after something else. I thought that because I have already entered the details on Ancestral Sources (1000 of entries, from US Census 1900 to 1940) they were somewhere already in the FH7 data? Thanks. Kevin
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Re: Recording colour as on US Censuses

Post by tatewise »

They are in the FH7 data in the Sources record for each Census.

Select any appropriate US Census Event in the Facts tab of the Property Box.
Use the yellow Show Sources button to display the yellow Citation List Pane that has Sources For at the top.
That should list the US Census Source Citation record that you created with AS.
Double-left-click that US Census Source Citation entry in the list.
In the Citation window that appears click its Text from Source tab and the entire census grid of details should be shown in the lower pane.

Is that what you needed?
Mike Tate ~ researching the Tate and Scott family history ~ tatewise ancestry
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kevinmerrison
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Re: Recording colour as on US Censuses

Post by kevinmerrison »

ah ha. Yes I see it! The W, B, Mu or Neg is in the text for each of the censuses. So are these values transfered/captured also in FH7? For example when I take a line/entry from 1920 census:

Name,Relationship,Owned/Rented,Mortgage,Sex,Color,Age,Marital Condition,Year of immigration,Naturalization,Naturalization year,Attended school,Can read,Can write,Birthplace,Mother tongue,Father Birthplace,Father mother-tongue,Mother Birthplace,Mother mother-tongue,Speak English,Occupation,Industry, business or establishment,Employ Status
Bilbo, Dan,Head,R,,M,B,50,M,,,,,no,no,Mississippi State, Mississippi, USA,,Mississippi State,, Mississippi, USA,,Mississippi State,, Mississippi, USA,,,Laborer,Serpentine,W

Some fields (Name, Sex, Age, Occupation) make their way across to fields in FH7 that I can then search. But others (Owned/Rented, Mortgage, Color) appear not to?

I cannot really use the Find function for this.

I was hoping color would be a field in FH7 which I could add or remove from lists, and therefore could add to the columns in Individual records. This would assist me it identifying which individual I was looking at. e.g where I have several John Bilbo born within a few years all in Mississippi, having the color detail from the census visible is helpful.

While B will normally become Neg in later census and sometimes Mul or errors crop up as well, W normally stays W.

Regards

Kevin
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Re: Recording colour as on US Censuses

Post by tatewise »

I'm not sure what your reference to "captured in FH7" means.
The Census Source record created by AS has captured the details in FH7.

I think what you're requesting is Individual Facts so the details are shown in the Facts tab and more visible in Reports, etc.
So I will repeat what I said earlier...
The two standard Attributes you could use are:
Group/Caste Membership that GEDCOM defines as:
"A name assigned to a particular group that this person was associated with, such as a particular racial group, religious group, or a group with an inherited status."
Physical Description that GEDCOM defines as:
"An unstructured list of the attributes that describe the physical characteristics of a person, place, or object. Commas separate each attribute.
Example:
Hair Brown, Eyes Brown, Height 5 ft 8 in"

So in the Facts tab, click the Add Facts button lower left (green circle with white cross).
Choose More Fact Types... to open Fact Types where you can select Group/Caste Membership or Physical Description and Add to the Individual.
Type in a description of colour, etc, and enter the Date of the Census and add a Citation to the Census Source record.

Perform that process every time you capture a Census using AS and the details will build up.
The only way to update the details retrospectively would be to write a Plugin.

AS has automated processes for adding the details such as Name, Sex, Age, Occupation.
It can also automatically add Physical Description details, but you will need to change the Tools > Census Templates... definitions for columns such as Color or race from Generic to Physical Description.
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kevinmerrison
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Re: Recording colour as on US Censuses

Post by kevinmerrison »

Mike, you are a star! I followed the advice toward the end of your reply

AS has automated processes for adding the details such as Name, Sex, Age, Occupation.
It can also automatically add Physical Description details, but you will need to change the Tools > Census Templates... definitions for columns such as Color or race from Generic to Physical Description.

and applied to AS US census Templates 1850 to 1940. The value for the color field now shows along with the other census attributes in FH7 and I have added the Physical Description to the columns showing on the Individuals tab. Just what I was after. Thank you.

It leads me to ask some supplementaries:

Is it possible to go back to the US Census data in FH7 and draw out the 1850 to 1940 color value as a physical description, even just for 1900? Maybe this is the writing of a plug-in you mentioned earlier? I have the data entered for over 2500 individuals, so a long haul to recover by hand, if only I had known at the start!

of less importance, but maybe possible:

in FH7 Focus Window, can I get the physical attribute to sit between colums Sex and Birth?

in AS when I open a US census template, can the color (physical description) be auto populated, as with age, sex or occupation?

Happy of York
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kevinmerrison
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Re: Recording color as on US Censuses

Post by kevinmerrison »

Have been entering data now for a few weeks and it is proving quite helpful with identifying the family groups and individuals in the US. Unfortunately I have already entered 90% of the US census data for Bilbo onto FH7 using AS, so begs the question can I now draw that data from the FH7 Sources into an associated Physical Description?

Is this where 'writing' a plug-in becomes relevant? and if so how do I start? Is it one plug-in for all the census or maybe a different or amended plug in for each one? If I could do only one it would be for 1900, then maybe 1940 as the two would capture 85% of the individuals. I'm happy to try and write one, but maybe a little guidance so I don't make life too difficult and accidentily mess up my file. If I look at the text captured for Source entry for the 1900 US Census I'm looking to pull the B for Black into a Physical Description of each individual on the return. When I look at my FH Individual Bilbo Richard Record ID 8383, he has a census facts for 1900/10/20/30 and 40. The 1900 Census Fact is supported with a Citation Title Census 1900 Barnes Creek, Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, USA 3 22 2B which contains the text:

Census USA 1900
Place: Barnes Creek, Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, USA

Name,Relationship,Color,Sex,Month & year of birth,Age,Marital Condition,Years married,Children Born,Children Living,Birthplace,Father Birthplace,Mother Birthplace,Year of immigration,Years in US,Naturalization,Occupation,Months unemployed,Attended school,Can read,Can write,Speak English,Ownership of Home
Bilbo, Isaac,Head,B,M,1873,27,M,10,,,Louisiana State, Louisiana, USA,Louisiana State,, Louisiana, USA,Louisiana State,, Louisiana, USA,,,,Day Laborer,,no,no,yes,R,
Bilbo, Milvina,Wife,B,F,1872,28,M,10,5,5,Louisiana State, Louisiana, USA,Louisiana State,, Louisiana, USA,Louisiana State,, Louisiana, USA,,,,,,no,no,yes,,
Bilbo, George,Son,B,M,1891,9,S,,,,Louisiana State, Louisiana, USA,Louisiana State,, Louisiana, USA,Louisiana State,, Louisiana, USA,,,,at school,,no,no,yes,,
Bilbo, Richard,Son,B,M,1892,8,S,,,,Louisiana State, Louisiana, USA,Louisiana State,, Louisiana, USA,Louisiana State,, Louisiana, USA,,,,at school,,,,,,
Bilbo, Lyman,Son,B,M,1894,6,S,,,,Louisiana State, Louisiana, USA,Louisiana State,, Louisiana, USA,Louisiana State,, Louisiana, USA,,,,,,,,,,
Bilbo, Birt,Son,B,M,1896,4,S,,,,Louisiana State, Louisiana, USA,Louisiana State,, Louisiana, USA,Louisiana State,, Louisiana, USA,,,,,,,,,,
Bilbo, Infant,Son,B,M,Feb 1900,3m,S,,,,Louisiana State, Louisiana, USA,Louisiana State,, Louisiana, USA,Louisiana State,, Louisiana, USA,,,,,,,,,,
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Re: Recording colour as on US Censuses

Post by tatewise »

Hi Kevin, yes, a plugin is the only suitable method.

Start with the FHUG Knowledge Base Getting Started Writing Plugins.

Run your prototype plugin on a copy of your Project to avoid any catastrophes.

The general strategy for the plugin will be as follows:
  1. Loop through each Individual record and remember its Name.
  2. For each Individual, loop through the Facts to find Census events with a Date for desired USA Census years.
  3. For each suitable Census event, find the linked Census Source Citation details.
  4. Search the Text From Source field line by line to find the Name that matches the Individual record.
    This may be difficult as the Name in the Text From Source will often not be identical to the Name in the record.
    That is always true for married women who will have their husband's surname in the Text From Source.
  5. On the matching line find the column entry for Color by using the comma separators.
  6. Add a Physical Description fact with the Color details and the same Date as the Census event.
As long as the Census column for Color is known for each Census year then one plugin should cope with all the years.
Mike Tate ~ researching the Tate and Scott family history ~ tatewise ancestry
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kevinmerrison
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Re: Recording colour as on US Censuses

Post by kevinmerrison »

Hi, so some good news, can amend the new 1950 census template in AS to capture the race field in FH as physical description, via tools..census templates.. (select USA 1950), click on race, amend coulumn type to PhysicalDescription. Thank you for previous guidance to enable to this.
The bad news, I've failed (and please believe me I've given it a good try) to write a plugin to draw/amend the race data previously entered for the other US censuses to show as a Physical Description. Is there someone I can approach to maybe write a plugin? Appreciate it will take time which should be appropriately rewarded. Thank you.
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Re: Recording colour as on US Censuses

Post by tatewise »

Kevin, maybe you are very close to a plugin solution and don't realise it or just need a little guidance to get there.
What have you achieved and what are the stumbling blocks?
If you can post the script of what you have created so far and why you have failed then a solution may soon be achievable.
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kevinmerrison
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Re: Recording colour as on US Censuses

Post by kevinmerrison »

Sure, broke down into sections as you suggested, then tried to make loop?

Code: Select all

--[[
@Title: Color records from US Census 1900
@Author:
@LastUdated: July 2021
@Description: Finds Color data in FH Project for individuals on US Census 1900 and creates a Physical Description
]]

--Loop through each Individual record and remember its Name.
tblNames = {}     -- Define array for Names
pi = fhNewItemPtr()  -- declare pointer
pi:MoveToFirstRecord("INDI")    -- point to the first Individual record
while not pi:IsNull() do
	-- For each Person Add the Name to the list
	strName = fhIndGetName
	if (tblNames[strName] == nil) then
           tblNames[strName] = 1
        else
           tblNames[strName] = tblNames[strName] + 1
	end
	pi:MoveNext()
end
-- Build Tables for the result set columns for Name
tblName = {}
ii = 0  -- line counter for result tables
for strName, iQty in pairs(tblNames) do
   ii = ii + 1
   tblName[ii]  = strName
end
fhOutputResultSetColumn('Name', 'text',tblName,ii,80,'align_left',2,true)
--For each Individual, loop through the Facts to find Census events with a Date for desired USA Census years.
--For each suitable Census event, find the linked Census Source Citation details.
--Search the Text From Source field line by line to find the Name that matches the Individual record. For some Projects this may be difficult as the Name in the Text From Source will often not be identical to the Name in the record, but for this Project AS has drawn the name fron FH, so there should be many matching records, even for married women.
--On the matching line find the column entry for Color by using the comma separators.
--Add a Physical Description fact with the Color details and the same Date as the Census event.
Last edited by tatewise on 17 Sep 2022 19:34, edited 1 time in total.
Kevin Merrison - bonkers for Bilbo* https://bilbow.one-name.net/
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