Problems connecting children to parents

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SparkMan

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May 22, 2012, 12:49:42 PM5/22/12
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I am adding information to a number of individuals using GEDitCOM II,
Marriages, etc. The problem comes up when the new spouse indicates
they are a child of parents who have been previously entered as the
parents of another child and the second entry does not pick up the
family number from the previous entry but adds a new number. i.e.
previously entered John DUNN and Margaret DUDLEY as parents of Albert
DUNN (FAMS @F42@, FAMC @F41@). Next entered Augustus DUNN and used
the Father dropdown to link him to John DUNN and Mother dropdown to
link him to Margaret DUDLEY (FAMS @F65@, FAMC @F520@). Shouldn't the
second Father/Mother link have added the FAMS of Father/Mother as the
FAMC?

Sparkgapper

John Nairn

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May 25, 2012, 8:20:14 PM5/25/12
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I am a little confused. After entering Augustus DUNN, it sounds like you want him as child of John DUNN and Margaret DUDLEY. I don't know what you mean by "Father" dropdown and "Mother" dropdown - that is not how you link children to parents in existing families. The child linking options are:

1. Open the John DUNN/Margaret DUDLEY family record and attach a child - picking Augustus DUNN if he is created already or creating on the fly if you want.
2. Open the John DUNN/Margaret DUDLEY family record and drag Augustus DUNN from index window to the family window (he will be dropped as a child)

You would NOT want to open Augustus DUNN, choose menu command Tree->Attach->As Child in New Family... (or click button "Link as Child in New Family") and then attach John DUNN and Margaret DUDLEY to this family as parents, because the operative work here is "in New Family" - this action is creating a second family record for John DUNN and Margaret DUDLEY. You do not want that if you already created one when linking to Albert DUNN.

I recommend one of the following:

1. Create all children and parent individual records first
2. Create family record and link father and mother
3. Use attach child option to attach each child (or drag them from index window)

I usually do it on the fly:

1. Create family
2. Click "Attach Husband", use "New Male", open male and enter name and other details then go back to family
3. Repeat with "Attach Wife" for spouse (or menu command Tree->Attach->Male Partner... for same sex couple if needed)
4. For each child, click "+" icon in "Children" section and then click "Create Son" for son or hold down option key and click "Create Daughter" for daughter. After they are attached open their records with links in family records and enter name and details. After editing each one, go back to family and attach next child.

John

William G. Bates

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May 25, 2012, 9:29:00 PM5/25/12
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It would be nice to be able to do as you recommend but I am working from a downloaded Generational listing in PDF format so creating all the children and parents would be quite a tasks.

What I am doing is starting from the predecedent going down the page adding spouse and information then adding their children then going to the next generation and going down the page with choosing the individual, adding their spouse with information and their children then continue to next individual on the list. Where the attachment problem comes in is when a child shows a spouse whose parents have already been added. On the second spouse, I click on "Link as child of new Family" which brings up a family card with blank Husband and Wife. Click on Attach Husband brings up a dropdown labeled "Select male to attach as husband" with a "search" bar entry to the right. I scroll down to the father for the individual and select him and click OK. I then do the same with wife/mother which then adds them to the new family card as the child of those parents. I then have to merge the two family cards to get both children together.

Like you, I am working "on the fly" so guess I will just have to access the father to show the family, click on add child button (Plus Sign) and scroll down to add the child I just created. Thankfully, this is a small (not too many multiplicity of the same name) file otherwise I would have to use the search field.

I plan later to merge it into my primary database then just have to remember that there are three individual/families that will need to be reconciled by hand since it takes so long (abt 2400 Bates Individuals) for the find and merge macro to work that makes it all but impossible to use that thing effectively, Doing just the BATES' took almost six hours.

Mine seems the best workaround in my situation.

Tks for an excellent explanation but this is something to think about for the future.

Sparkgapper

p.s The only thing I have found with "Fill PLAC name" is all the extraneous notes that others have entered into the Place field is really mind boggling.

John Nairn

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May 27, 2012, 2:45:20 PM5/27/12
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On May 25, 2012, at 6:29 PM, William G. Bates wrote:

> What I am doing is starting from the predecedent going down the page adding spouse and information then adding their children then going to the next generation and going down the page with choosing the individual, adding their spouse with information and their children then continue to next individual on the list. Where the attachment problem comes in is when a child shows a spouse whose parents have already been added. On the second spouse, I click on "Link as child of new Family" which brings up a family card with blank Husband and Wife. Click on Attach Husband brings up a dropdown labeled "Select male to attach as husband" with a "search" bar entry to the right. I scroll down to the father for the individual and select him and click OK. I then do the same with wife/mother which then adds them to the new family card as the child of those parents. I then have to merge the two family cards to get both children together.

Yes, when you click "Link as child of new Family" you are creating a new family that duplicates one already there. You want to avoid that (although merging the two families later works.)

Insetad of clicking "Link as child of new Family" (where "new" is keyword), try clicking on the "Family" icon to the left of that button and choose the familiy with the parents who are already added in the list.

> Like you, I am working "on the fly" so guess I will just have to access the father to show the family, click on add child button (Plus Sign) and scroll down to add the child I just created. Thankfully, this is a small (not too many multiplicity of the same name) file otherwise I would have to use the search field.

The button above (which I forgot before) should work better and maybe a menu command should be visible to do the same as well.

> I plan later to merge it into my primary database then just have to remember that there are three individual/families that will need to be reconciled by hand since it takes so long (abt 2400 Bates Individuals) for the find and merge macro to work that makes it all but impossible to use that thing effectively, Doing just the BATES' took almost six hours.

If there are only a few overlaps, the manual method is much better. The merging scripting checks all possible merges, which is very large for a large file.

John

------------
John Nairn
http://www.geditcom.com
Genealogy Software for the Mac

William G. Bates

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May 27, 2012, 3:07:04 PM5/27/12
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Thanks John - that was exactly what I was looking for since I had not understood what that icon stood for, thought it was just an extension of the "Create Family" space.

Sparkgapper
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