* Entering data from a Birth Certificate

[Jane]

This is my way to enter the data,  I don't know if it is the right way as the flexibility of FH makes it tricky. To save my typing BC=Birth Certificate, not Before Christ.

I have just input my father in laws birth certificate. This is how I did it.  I always work in the record window, using the right click to add data to individuals.

[li] scan birth certificate at 150dpi and save in documents folder of my family history directory.
[li]Create new media object for BC.
[li]Create new source BC Robert Henry Taubman.
[li]Into the note field enter all information from BC
[li]Turn on Auto-Source from the Tools menu and select the new BC record.  Now we can start to enter data.
[li]First I go to Robert Henry and right click to add an address to his birth record.
[li]Next I right click on him to add family as child.
[li]Add Mother and Father as shown on the BC.
[li]Add an occupation with date to the father.
[li]Turn of Auto Source

If I return to the source I see I now have 5 links to the new source. Two for each parent and one for Robert himself.

If you need to add sources once the element exists, for example add a source to an Occupation, simply select the occupation, right click, select add existing source and select the one you want from the list.

If you are sure Father is with Mother you can either create a note and attach it all three people, or add a custom event. Personally I would use the custom event, but as the source contains all the details and that is already attached I might not bother.

With Locations and addresses, I am moving towards putting in a short location and putting the full address in an address field.  It makes charts and reports easier to read.

Jane.

[jmbb]

Just a comment about scanning.
When I scanned my mother's birth certificate and saved it as a 'tif' file I found that FH couldn't display it even although other 'tif' files were displayed. The problem is that there are several sub-types of 'tif' file so make sure that you save your scan as 'tif' Version '4.2' Compression Type 'Fax Group 4' and it should display correctly.

John Borthwick

[colin58]

This makes a lot of sense, prior to this I was confused about how to use sources. Reading through the Forums it is also confusing for others as well. Once again thanks for the assistance.

Colin.