Family Historian User Group

[[Moderator Note: This topic has been moved from the User Group Forum because it is related to Family Historian General Usage NOT the FHUG web site.]]

I have been watching Jane's video on YouTube for adding a birth certificate and have been trying to adapt this to a death certificate.

I'm not starting with a new person, but my great-grandmother who is already on my tree - I'm adding this retrospectively.

I get halfway through the process, then get very stuck.
I can create the source, open my scan of the death certificate etc.
Then I get stuck when I return to the Focus Window and have to open the automatic source citation and add details from the certificate, such as her being the widow of my great-grandfather (name) and the informant being my grandfather.

I really need to get to grips with multimedia etc. I have lots of photos and certificates I could add, if only I could do it properly. I don't think photos would be so problematic. I want to get it right with the certificates as they are so important.

I'm not familiar with Jane's video, so this may be no help whatsoever, but... I have the impression that one of your issues is - what to do with the data. If I'm right, then it's important to understand that you don't have to record absolutely everything, everywhere. Just what you think is useful.

The fact your GF is the informant, for instance, is what I'd call background information. (Usually). So I'd record that information in the note against the death event for G-GM.

The bit about her being the widow of your G-GF may or may not be useful. If you've already recorded their marriage, and you've already recorded his death earlier, then it's a statement of the obvious that if she dies later than him, then she's his widow, so frankly I wouldn't bother doing anything with that. On the other hand, if you didn't know that he'd died already, then that bit is useful - I'd go to him in the Focus Window, add the information that his date of death is "bef 1950" (or whatever G-GM's death date is) and double check to make sure I'd go the citation against that.

However, I could be misunderstanding what you're stuck on...

EHerts wrote:I want to get it right with the certificates as they are so important.

Are you familiar with ancestralsources:index|Ancestral Sources? This free add-on greatly simplifies the consistent processing of data from Census, Baptism, and Marriage paperwork, including linking to multimedia images. Later versions will also deal with Death, Burial, and Probate.

When you mention Jane's YouTube video do you mean the how_to:recording_details_from_a_birth_certificate|> Entering from a Birth Certificate that not only has the animation but also further textual explanation and links to other related pages.

It sounds as if you have created the Source Record and attached the Death Certificate to its Multimedia tab OK, but are struggling with entering some details such as Widow and Informant.

This is not surprising as these are NOT standard GEDCOM Facts so you may want to create Custom Facts for those and similar Events.

See the fhugdownloads:factsets|> Downloads & Links ~ Fact Sets for some found useful by other FHUG members.
In particular the following may help you:
fhugdownloads:contents:kinsfolk_facts_sources|> Fact Set ~ Kinsfolk Facts & Sources includes Death Informant.
fhugdownloads:contents:death_and_burial|> Fact Set ~ Death & Burial includes Death of Spouse that effectively identifies a Widow/Widower.

Many thanks for your replies, and sorry not to have replied sooner.
I'm returning to this today and will look at your suggestions. I'm very grateful for your help.