* Quantify quality of relationships

[Gowermick]

How do others indicate the accuracy and reliability of the parentage of someone?

One can mark the quality of information of most things, names, date of birth etc, but what about relationships?

i.e. How do you indicate that the parentage you have for someone in your tree is100% accurate, and beyond reasonable doubt. (Genealogywise that is , we all know it is a wise man who knows his father!)

[tatewise]

Mike, I have moved this to General Usage as it is more to do with techniques of using FH than actual Research techniques.

There are a number of suggestions, although none are 'ideal'.

• See Knowledge Base > Family Historian Version 6.2.2 and look under Add Source Citations for Parent-Child Relationships as well as Spouse Relationships to see how to use Witness links with Source Citations to quantify relationships.
• In the Speculative Link (11966) thread it is proposed that the INDI.FAMC.NOTE2 field perhaps with a Source Citation can quantify the Parent-Child relationship. It is unique to each Parents family link and can be added to the Main tab of Property Box of the Child to make it more accessible.
• Individual record Flags could be used.
• See also FHUG Wish List Ref 17 Flag a relationship as Tentative.

All the above could be used to mark Diagrams, produce Queries, and include in Reports.

I have added Knowledge Base > Recording Credibility of Family Relationships as it is becoming a recurring theme.

[Gowermick]

Mike,
Whilst I don't object to you moving the post, this really has nothing to do with FH per se.

The problem arises regardless of which method you use to store your data, whether it be FH, FTM or spreadsheet.
There seems to be no recognised mechanism for rating the actual relationship between parent and child. The closest in FH is, as you say, to use a flag to indicate when parentage is correct.

But flags don't export into Gedcoms, so I was really wondering how others get round the problem.

[tatewise]

Some genealogy products such as TMG do allow Relationships to have Source Citations, but they do NOT export in Gedcom nor migrate into FH. I don't see why a spreadsheet cannot record relationship assessments. Some people use hand-drawn diagram techniques.

In Knowledge Base > Recording Credibility of Family Relationships I have suggested four techniques, not just Flags. I would not call Flags the closest because they apply to the whole person not their relationship, which is why I list them last.

They all export in Gedcom, but the Witnesses and Flags use custom tags, although the Export Gedcom File Plugin converts them to standard Gedcom. The Parents Family Note Citations and Associated Persons Citations use thoroughbred standard Gedcom features.

Checkout the Wish List reference for some observations from others. Perform a Forum search for surety and several other ideas and opinions are forthcoming. I have added these links to the KB article.

[Gowermick]

When I said flags were closest, I meant you could have a flag 'Parentage Certain', which, whilst associated with an Individual, actually refers to the relationship between the individual and their parents.

[tatewise]

Ah, I see what you mean, but I would suggest Parents Family Note Citations are even closer, because they attach directly to the Gedcom Parent-Child (INDI.FAMC) relationship, the Note can say whatever you want, the Citation Assessment can support that, and it is fully standard Gedcom compatible.

[Laurel]

Re Tenative relationships (? Wish List 17)
I have been using Family Historian for nearly 20 years but admit I tend to use mainly the basic tools. However, as I now regularly upload updated GEDCOMS onto various websites I am increasingly aware of the amount of rubbish trees now in the public domain which are quickly shared and adopted as proven links. Of course, once you get back to the 18th century those relationships can become much more tentative, yet still a reasonable possibility. At the moment all I can do is use Associate Person, or make the link but add a comment in my notes that more research is required to confirm the relationship. You may have had many discussions about this already (and I apologise if this is the case) but I would love a way for FH to draw a hypenated line in a tree between one individual and their possible parent, and of course for this `tentative parent' status to be easily identified in the focus window. To ensure that others out there don't adopt such tentative relationships as fact, FH could be set up so only the FH user sees these links, and that when you export a GEDCOM, or do a Split GEDCOM to prepare it for upload onto a website, that link is automatically broken, unless you specifically select otherwise. That way integrity of the research data would be much better maintained. Any thoughts?
Many thanks
Laurel

[tatewise]

Welcome to the FHUG Laurel.

Have you reviewed the options in Knowledge Base > Recording Credibility of Family Relationships under Parents & Children. It should be possible with a little ingenuity to exclude such details in exported GEDCOM files by using existing or new Plugins.

It is not currently possible to customise Diagram lines between boxes but it should be possible to add icons or customise boxes to indicate tentative relationships.

It is not currently possible to customise Focus Window relationships but it should be possible to customise fields into the Property Box to indicate tentative relationships.

[Laurel]

Thanks Mike I'll try this.