The ƒh Help File introduces Sort DatesWhen an Event happened, or an Attrribute was true. as “Family Historian now supports sort dates, which are an optional mechanism for specifying how different dates should be sorted, relative to one another, where this is not determined by the date on its own or by other methods. Users are encouraged to use sort dates, where they offer a real benefit, but to appreciate that most of the time, you won’t need them.”
So – where would you use them? Below are some examples which show where they could be used.
Case 1
A soldier lost during a battle in which many were killed but a lot were captured. In this case, his Unit headquarters would record the loss but may not be able to record a specific date of death or capture. It may be many months before either side exchanged details of those captured or of those confirmed deceased. If it were subsequently confirmed that the soldier died during the battle, but the date were “Unknown”, then a sort date could be used.
Case 2
In the late 1900s, a man has left his wife but is unable to divorce due to the stigma and the costs. He has his own house and invites his new ‘Partner’ to join him living there and records her on the CensusCensus records are national collections of population statistics. They usually record details about members of a household on a particular date, and are typically collected every ten years. as his “Housekeeper”. They have several children and give them the fathers surname. As there are no Divorce or Marriage eventsEvents are things that happened to an Individual and Attributes are things that described them., sort dates could be used.
Case 3
Prior to 1837, Births, Marriages and Deaths were not record in the UK or Ireland. Births were not recorded at all, but churches recorded baptism and occasionally the priest recorded the DoB. Even so, Parish and other church records may not be as accurate as required, so again sort dates may be useful.
Case 4
I can remember an event which occurred on a school camping trip where I got upset with a teacher. I do not remember the school, date or placeAccording to GEDCOM, a Place should hold "The jurisdictional name of the place where the event took place…" other than it was in (West) Germany and Army tents etc were used. How do I record this without using a Sort Date ?
I hope these scenarios encourage the use of Sort Dates.