Recording events in slave genealogy
Kdb...@aol.com
> I would like to know what specific items in software do you need for
> slave genealogy. I am currently working on a slave family.
>
> "L.L. Scott" <llsco...@bellsouth.net>
HI:
I want to see genealogy software that's capable of recording certain
events related to slavery.
For example, my 3rd great-grandfather was freed in 1838 in KY.
That's the 2nd time he appears in documents -- the deed of
emancipation recorded in the county court. He was willed to the
woman who freed him by her father in the early 1800s. He was in her
father's will.
I need to record these two events: the slave in a will, and the deed
of emancipation. And I need to record when he was freed, to
document where he lived. Next I have to find out if he stayed in
the area after he was freed.
I don't have a documented slave sale, but it's a way to trace the
location of a family member.
As you can see, I need to record the connection between the slave
and the slave owner. This is the way to trace my ancestors, even
the free ones, because their parents may have been slaves.
The slave owner's family isn't related to me but they are connected
to me, so it's required that I research the slave owning family
besides my own. This includes tax lists, wills, importation
records, etc. The two ways to free a slave were in a will or in a
court, so those events should be part of my research notes too.
As it is now I have to put any information I find in my notes with
the slave family. I have also created timelines for the ancestors
who I know were slaves.
Most programs provide ways to record immigration records, but none
have standing categories related specifically to slaves -- unless
someone here knows of one?
Kberry
bob gillis
I know that you have said that you do not want to change your
software.
However doing what you want in TMG is a piece of cake
> I want to see genealogy software that's capable of recording certain
> events related to slavery.
>
> For example, my 3rd great-grandfather was freed in 1838 in KY.
> That's the 2nd time he appears in documents -- the deed of
> emancipation recorded in the county court.
You can create a custom Tag say Deed of Emancipation with a sentence
such as P1 ( father ) filed a deed of Emancipation for [W] ( the
slave) [Date] [Location ]
> He was willed to the
> woman who freed him by her father in the early 1800s. He was in her
> father's will.
There is an existing Will Tag that you can easily modify to say that
P1 (the father/slave owner) left to P2 (his daughter)with a memo
Memo (his slave James)
> I need to record these two events: the slave in a will, and the deed
> of emancipation. And I need to record when he was freed, to
> document where he lived. Next I have to find out if he stayed in
> the area after he was freed.
That is not part of the the entry but you can search for him and
record him in deeds, Census church Records etc.
> I don't have a documented slave sale, but it's a way to trace the
> location of a family member.
You can make a custom Tag to handle that event.
> As you can see, I need to record the connection between the slave
> and the slave owner. This is the way to trace my ancestors, even
> the free ones, because their parents may have been slaves.
>
> The slave owner's family isn't related to me but they are connected
> to me, so it's required that I research the slave owning family
> besides my own. This includes tax lists, wills, importation
> records, etc.
Generally these would be sources for a Residence Tag.
> The two ways to free a slave were in a will or in a
> court, so those events should be part of my research notes too.
TMG has Tasks and a Task Log for that
> As it is now I have to put any information I find in my notes with
> the slave family. I have also created timelines for the ancestors
> who I know were slaves.
You can make timelines and have them show with the people.
> Most programs provide ways to record immigration records, but none
> have standing categories related specifically to slaves -- unless
> someone here knows of one?
I do not know but in TMG you can easily make Tags to handle you
events.
Again Immigration records are sources, About the only Event Tags
that are specific to a source are are Census Tags as they are so
important and useful. The Census is the source for the Tag.
bob gillis
bob gillis <robert...@verizon.net>
Debbie Freeman
> > I would like to know what specific items in software do you need
> > for slave genealogy. I am currently working on a slave family.
> >
> > "L.L. Scott"
>
> related to slavery.
>
> For example, my 3rd great-grandfather was freed in 1838 in KY.
> That's the 2nd time he appears in documents -- the deed of
> woman who freed him by her father in the early 1800s. He was in her
> father's will.
>
> of emancipation. And I need to record when he was freed, to
> document where he lived. Next I have to find out if he stayed in
> the area after he was freed.
>
> location of a family member.
>
> and the slave owner. This is the way to trace my ancestors, even
> the free ones, because their parents may have been slaves.
>
> The slave owner's family isn't related to me but they are connected
> to me, so it's required that I research the slave owning family
> besides my own. This includes tax lists, wills, importation
> court, so those events should be part of my research notes too.
>
> the slave family. I have also created timelines for the ancestors
> who I know were slaves.
>
> have standing categories related specifically to slaves -- unless
> someone here knows of one?
>
Hello Kberry & LL Scott,
I agree that it would be nice to have genealogy software incorporate
African American source items in a better way.
I do not know of a program that I would mention that incorporates
those sources without you making a user made source.
As for online options (public) you might look at WeRelate, which
does have African American sources.
I do use and am involved with WeRelate.
Good Luck,
Debbie Freeman
"Debbie Freeman" <free...@comcast.net>
L.L. Scott
> > I would like to know what specific items in software do you need for
> > slave genealogy. I am currently working on a slave family.
> >
Rootsmagic 3 allows you to make your own "Fact", how it will be
worded and you can link to "Source" which has a place for citation
and details.
I am working on a couple of slave families in FL and AL, but so far
not lucky enough to find all that much documentation. I live near
Pensacola and so many of the early inhabitants were Spanish/
Catholic, their records are wonderful to work with as they had their
slaves baptized.
"L.L. Scott" <llsco...@bellsouth.net>
turtlelover
> > I would like to know what specific items in software do you need for
> > slave genealogy. I am currently working on a slave family.
> >
> > "L.L. Scott" <llsco...@bellsouth.net>
>
> events related to slavery.
>
<snip>
>
> As it is now I have to put any information I find in my notes with
> the slave family. I have also created timelines for the ancestors
> who I know were slaves.
>
> Most programs provide ways to record immigration records, but none
> have standing categories related specifically to slaves -- unless
> someone here knows of one?
>
> Kberry <Kdb...@aol.com>
Hi, Kberry.
I don't have an answer to your question about software programs, but
have you seen this (particularly paragraph 9)?
http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2008/03/results-of-grou.html
I wonder if anyone has approached Oprah Winfrey about possibly
lending a financial hand in having software developed (whether just
African-specific or as an upgrade/adaptation to existing programs).
I'm not kidding; I'm serious. I remember seeing a program on TV
some time ago (forget which channel) about famous African Americans
(and Oprah was one of them) whose DNA was traced back to find their
ancestry. http://tinyurl.com/nujz9g is a link to a report about
this (although it doesn't mention how to document the findings, and
DNA testing *is* expensive).
I expect that if not enough people are willing to buy a software
program specific to this need, then the software companies won't
spend the money to develop it. Perhaps Ms. Winfrey, known for her
generosity, would lend a hand.
Best of luck,
Sharon (Turtlelover)
turtlelover <turtl...@DONOTenter.net>
Ian Goddard
> > I would like to know what specific items in software do you need for
> > slave genealogy. I am currently working on a slave family.
> >
> > "L.L. Scott" <llsco...@bellsouth.net>
>
I've long considered that genealogical S/W should be able to express
different kinds of relationship of which descent would be just one.
Such relationships might include employment, joint military service,
sporting and feudal. The last clearly has some similarities to your
requirement. In some cases it would provide the kind of indication
of where to look a genealogical relationship that you indicate. In
others it would be part of the records needed for a wider view of
family history than the purely genealogical - again something that
concerns you.
I use Gramps. I know from past experience that when I enter an
event I don't have to take Gramps list of event types as limiting -
rather than choose one from the pull-down list I can type in my own.
In the example you quote you'd be able to type in the event and then
enter the document -- deed of emancipation or will - as the source.
I wondered if it might be possible to override the relationship in
the same way. I set up a test database and then created an
individual. I then created a family and went to add a "child",
selecting the individual I'd just created and overtyped the default
relationship of "Birth" with "Slave" and found that this was
accepted. This may not be the ideal way of recording what you need
and a little experimentation might find others.
It's also worth bearing in mind that Gramps is open source so there
would be a possibility of working with developers to add features
which better represent the data you need. In the meantime it might
be of some use as it stands and, being free at
http://www.gramps-project.org/
it will only cost you the time to experiment with it.
--
Ian
Hotmail is for spammers. Real mail address is igoddard
at nildram co uk
Ian Goddard <godd...@hotmail.co.uk>
Ian Goddard
In the course of typing my previous reply I realised that Gramps
probably does have better ways of recording the relationship - I can
quite understand that you'd not like the idea of using the built-in
parent-child relationship.
So I just tried an alternative. I created two individuals. I
opened one individual's record, clicked on the "Association" tab.
This allowed me to set up an association with the other individual
and define it as "slave". This may suit you better.
Steve Hayes
> > I would like to know what specific items in software do you need for
> > slave genealogy. I am currently working on a slave family.
> >
> > "L.L. Scott" <llsco...@bellsouth.net>
>
I use Legacy, and in it you can create different categories of
events, though in this case I used the Court category, and the event
was a Deed of Manumission,
But this again indicates the need I have suggested in the
soc.genealogy.computing forum for an Event-type database, that
includes relationships other than family -- friends, colleagues,
employers, employeeds, slaves, owners, teachers, neighbours, you
name it.
--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk
Steve Hayes <haye...@hotmail.com>
Virginia Sandstedt
bob gillis wrote:
> I know that you have said that you do not want to change your
> software.
>
> However doing what you want in TMG is a piece of cake
>
> > I want to see genealogy software that's capable of recording certain
> > events related to slavery.
> >
> > For example, my 3rd great-grandfather was freed in 1838 in KY.
> > That's the 2nd time he appears in documents -- the deed of
> > emancipation recorded in the county court.
>
> You can create a custom Tag say Deed of Emancipation with a sentence
> such as P1 ( father ) filed a deed of Emancipation for [W] ( the
> slave) [Date] [Location ]
>
> > He was willed to the
> > woman who freed him by her father in the early 1800s. He was in her
> > father's will.
>
> There is an existing Will Tag that you can easily modify to say that
> P1 (the father/slave owner) left to P2 (his daughter)with a memo
> Memo (his slave James)
>
> > I need to record these two events: the slave in a will, and the deed
> > of emancipation. And I need to record when he was freed, to
> > document where he lived. Next I have to find out if he stayed in
> > the area after he was freed.
>
> That is not part of the the entry but you can search for him and
> record him in deeds, Census church Records etc.
>
> > I don't have a documented slave sale, but it's a way to trace the
> > location of a family member.
>
> You can make a custom Tag to handle that event.
>
> > As you can see, I need to record the connection between the slave
> > and the slave owner. This is the way to trace my ancestors, even
> > the free ones, because their parents may have been slaves.
> >
> > The slave owner's family isn't related to me but they are connected
> > to me, so it's required that I research the slave owning family
> > besides my own. This includes tax lists, wills, importation
> > records, etc.
>
> Generally these would be sources for a Residence Tag.
>
> > The two ways to free a slave were in a will or in a
> > court, so those events should be part of my research notes too.
>
> TMG has Tasks and a Task Log for that
>
> > As it is now I have to put any information I find in my notes with
> > the slave family. I have also created timelines for the ancestors
> > who I know were slaves.
>
> You can make timelines and have them show with the people.
>
> > Most programs provide ways to record immigration records, but none
> > have standing categories related specifically to slaves -- unless
> > someone here knows of one?
>
> I do not know but in TMG you can easily make Tags to handle you
> events.
>
> Again Immigration records are sources, About the only Event Tags
> that are specific to a source are are Census Tags as they are so
> important and useful. The Census is the source for the Tag.
>
> bob gillis <robert...@verizon.net>
Good job, bob. My first thought was "of course you can do all of
that with The Master Genealogist (TMG)" and you have said it well.
Ginny
Virginia Sandstedt
Arizona
Virginia Sandstedt <sands...@earthlink.net>
singhals
>>>I would like to know what specific items in software do you need for
>>>slave genealogy. I am currently working on a slave family.
>>>
>>>"L.L. Scott" <llsco...@bellsouth.net>
>>
>>events related to slavery.
> I've long considered that genealogical S/W should be able to express
> different kinds of relationship of which descent would be just one.
> Such relationships might include employment, joint military service,
> sporting and feudal. The last clearly has some similarities to your
> requirement. In some cases it would provide the kind of indication
> of where to look a genealogical relationship that you indicate. In
> others it would be part of the records needed for a wider view of
> family history than the purely genealogical - again something that
> concerns you.
>
> Ian Goddard
Are we now talking about creating a program that would do both
lineage-linked and event-linked genealogy?
How would that work? Where along the line would you have to make a
choice? At the database level (meaning the entire database is
either/or), at the person level (meaning each person would be in
either the lineage or the event), or at each datapoint (a person
could be in the lineage at the birth level but in the event at the
birthplace level)?
Or, would the program automatically tag each datapoint (name, event
date, event place) each way?
Would such a program improve on the advanced focus/filter in PAF,
Legacy, or Ultimate Family Tree? One can (although I tend not to)
tag things in all three of those, and (one assumes) in most modern
(post Y2K) programs.
Cheryl
singhals <sing...@erols.com>
Ian Goddard
To deal with the last point first - don't know. Of those 3 I've
used PAF and that only briefly - download a load of data from IGI,
merge, merge, merge, merge, oops, corrupted database - repeat
several times, give up. I use Gramps. Being on Linux it's easier
although some of the others might or might not run under Wine.
To revert to the previous query: I suspect you're thinking inside
the Gedcom box which I'm not, for instance tagging would be a
foreign concept. There would be some similarities with the Gentech
model carefully separating evidence from conclusions, just as I was
taught to do as a good little scientist all those years ago. The
end point of the evidence side would be names having roles pointing
back into the evidential record. For instance the evidential record
might say "Amon son of John Dearnley of Holm bapt 26 Nov 1785 at
Holmfirth chapel" which would give rise to records for John Dearnley
with role of father and Amon Dearnley with role of son. We might
then have a further evidential record for the marriage of Hammond
Dearnally to Ellen Crosland, both OTP at Almondbury 8 Sep 1811.
This would give rise to, inter alia, name record for Hammond
Dearnally as groom and another for his signature because he spelled
his name "Hamond" (off the top of my head I can't remember how he
spelled his surname). There would also be other records for him as
father at the baptisms & occasional burials of his numerous children
with all the other variations of spelling with which his name was
written.
On the conclusion side there would be a separate record type (in
database terms a separate table or in OO terms a separate class)
which would correspond to the Persona entity in Gentech. There
would be a single entry here with a standardised spelling, maybe
Hamond Dearnley, to which all the name records would link. A record
of this type would, in effect, be a hub for all the data which we
believe refers to the same person. It would carry little data in
itself other than the standardised spelling, a gender and an ID.
Note that we haven't merged anything. One consequence of this is
that if we decide that we've made a mistake we can easily untangle
things. For instance we might have linked the Ellen Crosland hub to
the name record for Ellen Crosland bapt 18 Jun 1777 and then
realised that this Ellen would be far too young but all we have to
do is delete the link and replace it with one to the name record for
Ellen Crosland bapt 13 Sep 1760.
Moving on with the reconstruction we would have a class for
relationships. This would have a sub-class (note that we've quietly
moved over to being OO!) of family. The hub records would be linked
to relationships by roles. For instance a family could have a link
to no more than one hub of a male in role of father, ditto female
for mother and any number as children. But we could also have
another subclass of relationship for military unit, feudal
relationship or whatever. Note that the linkages on this side are
governed by rules. Rules don't need to be hard-coded, they can be
held separate from but interpreted by the executable and added to as
required.
Is it lineage or event linked? I'm not sure you'd say it's either.
It's driven by *evidence* rather than events. The events happened a
long time ago. A record of an event isn't an event, it's a record.
The name of a person in a record isn't a person, it's a name. And
the lineages are the end result.
I'm not sure if this helps. So far it exists only as a fairly high
UML design. Sometime...