* To enter or not to enter

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gwilym'smum
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To enter or not to enter

Post by gwilym'smum »

Hi,
I have been researching for 20 years. By now on several branches I am beyond 1837. For this era sources and proofs become thinner on the ground. I run FH along side my paper files. I have only ever had FH since it's early days. When I was certain (as one can be!) of my facts I enter them into FH. However in the pre 1837 period there is often just perhaps a baptism, for example, sometimes with only a father's name. Therefore this is only a "perhaps" and I don't always enter this into the program.

There was a person on an Ancestry Facebook page who was asking if she should make her Ancestry tree public because most was maybe. I would have said no to making it public on Ancestry because people come and take it as proved and perpetuate mistakes. I take a similar view to my FH. However, in my paper files I can put the "perhaps" on my sheets with a mark which is readily recognized and can lead to visible clues. In FH this is more difficult. I have a research tab in the property box where the information can be displayed but the people in that area are not displayed in the focus window and cannot act as an aide memoire. I am therefore finding that at this stage of these branches I am not using the program so much.

I was wondering how other members coped with this possible information. 90% of the time the information is correct but has often been located via family reconstruction (which does have sources, but needs a lot of explanation of the road taken to get there).
Looking forward to people's thoughts.
Ann
Researching Mayer, Parr/Parr, Simcock, Beech and all related families
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Jane
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Re: To enter or not to enter

Post by Jane »

Where I enter tentative information, I include notes explaining the reasons for including it. In some cases I use a possible parents fact with the Parents as "witnesses", so for example my 4xG Grandfather was buried in a village 7 miles from his residence. In the burial records there are two more Mullins of the age to be his parents buried on the same register. Mullins is not a common surname in the area and I can't find a baptism for him, but I can think of no other reason to drag a body 7 miles up the road in December 1831, than to bury him near relations.

The advantage with using a Witness rather than simply including them as parents is that it makes it obvious the link is tentative and in years to come no one will assume they are the parents from just looking at the Gedcom.
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tatewise
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Re: To enter or not to enter

Post by tatewise »

The Source Citation Assessment field can be used to identify the certainty of the facts derived from it.
The same Baptism source may be cited by the person's own Baptism Event and either parent's <whole record> or even the Family record, and each such Citation can have a different Assessment.

See the how_to:recording_credibility_of_family_relationships|> Recording Credibility of Family Relationships that offers several alternative techniques, including Jane's Fact Witness idea.

It also explains how to make certain fields visible in the Property Box Caption to highlight the uncertainty.
Mike Tate ~ researching the Tate and Scott family history ~ tatewise ancestry
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themoudie
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Re: To enter or not to enter

Post by themoudie »

Aye Ann,

I had similar thoughts, about my research and also when entering the results of my Mother's notes and research (all paper) into FH.

As Mike suggests, I use "The Source Citation Assessment field". I also use Jane's suggested option of " In some cases I use a possible parents fact with the Parents as "witnesses",.....". Finally, there is the 'Note' field for individual 'Sources' and a sentence in here can be sufficient to explain any ambiguity or uncertainty.

I have a death certificate that whilst appearing factually correct, was in fact completed by the Registrar, apparently unknowingly using the criminal alias of the dead person; the informer then signed the certificate with the same spurious alias, using just the initials and surname. I have used the 'Source', 'Note' field to explain this and my reasons for thinking the certificate entry to be incorrect. What others make of the records and your interpretation of them you cannot control. C'est la vie!

My regards, Bill
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gwilym'smum
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Re: To enter or not to enter

Post by gwilym'smum »

Hi
Thank you all for your thoughts. I will check the link Mike gave and experiment with the type of tentative information I wish to enter. Ideally I would like to enter it in say red and at a glance I can see if I am building on "rock" or "sand".
Thanks again, Ann
Researching Mayer, Parr/Parr, Simcock, Beech and all related families
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BillH
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Re: To enter or not to enter

Post by BillH »

Ann,

What I do is to add the "possible" persons to my database, but not link them to the "known" person. In your example, I'd add the two "possible" persons in the graveyard as unrelated individuals, then I would add a note to each of the three people saying why I think they might be related and how.

This allows me to add additional information to the "possible" persons as I find out more about them. If I ever prove that they are indeed related to the "known" person, I then link them together. This way I have everyone I am researching in my database so that I have them with me on my computer when I go researching somewhere. When I post a tree on Ancestry or anywhere else I only include relatives so these "possible" persons are excluded.
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gwilym'smum
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Re: To enter or not to enter

Post by gwilym'smum »

Thanks Bill,
I will take all ideas thankfully
Ann
Researching Mayer, Parr/Parr, Simcock, Beech and all related families
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gwilym'smum
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Re: To enter or not to enter

Post by gwilym'smum »

I did have a notion for people who work with diagrams which they could possibly use. I will possibly try it, I work with diagrams a lot on paper, although I don't work with diagrams on the computer much, as by the time I get it far enough reduced the names are illegible and I don't like the wizzing to and fro and up and down.
I watched a video last week about making people in a named list show in a different colour. If I made a named list, entitled "Possibilities" I could then put all the people who are only 'may be' into that list, enter them as normal, and make them a different colour, then before I start work bring up the diagram and see which ones I have to be careful of.
Will try it
Ann
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tatewise
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Re: To enter or not to enter

Post by tatewise »

Ann, another related technique is hinted at in how_to:recording_credibility_of_family_relationships|> Recording Credibility of Family Relationships.
If you choose to use one of the data structures suggested there, then they can be made more visible in Diagram Boxes or in a Records Window Column or tested in Queries by using similar expressions as proposed for Property Box Captions.

The advantage of that method is that you do NOT have to manage a Named List; remembering to add and remove people.
As soon as you add or remove the "Possibilities" data structure, the related displays change automatically.
See how_to:using_flags_and_icons_and_expressions|> Using Flags and Icons and Expressions for detailed advice.
Mike Tate ~ researching the Tate and Scott family history ~ tatewise ancestry
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gwilym'smum
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Re: To enter or not to enter

Post by gwilym'smum »

Hi Mike thank you. Will look into that also.
Ann
Researching Mayer, Parr/Parr, Simcock, Beech and all related families
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