* Automatically add Census date to Census Facts?

[NickiP]

I'm trying to help a relative in Australia migrate from FTM2012 to FH5. The tree was originally created in FTM2006 which treats Census facts similarly to FH, ie. Census fact with year for date and then details. Unfortunately, she has since upgraded to FTM2012 and the conversion process has changed the Census fact to a specific year census fact, eg. 1911 Census, and there is now no date field. While I appreciate that these could be changed to residence facts automatically using the Change Fact Tag plugin, the problem with the lack of date remains. Is there anyway of automatically adding the full date of the Census to the date field because at present the Census facts aren't, not surprisingly, showing in the correct order in reports.

Although very IT literate, coding isn't my strong point and I wouldn't know where to start trying to create a plugin that could check for a specific Census fact and then add the corresponding date to the date field (or whatever its called) on the census fact.

Is anyone possibly able to help please?

I can tidy up most of her very large file using the Change any Fact Tag and then she can sort out any duplicate facts (she's created extra facts for births, etc, which would have been better as notes but that was her way of doing things). At the moment she's refusing to migrate over even though she purchased the software almost two years ago because of the problems with the custom fact she's created herself in FTM2006 (ie they aren't available to select she's simply typed in the name and its allowed her to use it). I know I will have to export any final file using the plugin as she is using an earlier version of FH than me (unless I can persuade her to upgrade which isn't likely at the moment).

Thanks

Nicola

[tatewise]

Hi, Nicola.
Rather than change <year> Census facts into Residence facts with a Date, I suggest they are changed into Census facts with a Date.

I suspect the <year> Census facts are Custom Facts, but if you could post a snippet of the Gedcom file with some samples of those <year> Census facts, I will be able to write a Plugin to convert them.

Could you also confirm which Country those Census facts apply to, or does each one have a Place field that identifies the Country? With that information the Plugin can insert the specific Census Date for the Year.

[NickiP]

Hi Mike

Yes, judging by some of her "detail" on the census facts, which are actually in the PLAC field, they would be better staying as census facts rather than residence facts.

All the census, as far as I am aware at the moment, are for England & Wales. I don't think she has any overseas census information but at present I've been working from some old files she sent me a few years back. She's been reluctant to send me the whole file up until now (not sure why as we've been swapping information for over 16 years) but I've just read her the riot act so to speak that she will have to fix the problem at some point because FTM2014 (which I have) doesn't like her custom facts imported from FTM2012 so not doing anything isn't going to suffice and that she will have to upgrade to something else at some point. She's never liked FTM2012 reports anyway which is why she was interested in FH after I migrated to it.

Some examples of the census facts are as follows:

1 EVEN
2 TYPE Census 1881
2 PLAC Aged 5, living with parents at Bank St, St George Tombland, Norwich

1 EVEN
2 TYPE Census 1891
2 PLAC Aged 15, Scholar, listed as "Anthony H", living with parents at Bank Street, St George Tombland, Norwich

1 EVEN
2 TYPE Census 1901
2 PLAC Not found

1 EVEN
2 TYPE Census 1911
2 PLAC Aged 36, Electrical Engineer (own account from house), living with wife Laura and children, Reginald, Margaret and Valentine, at 63 Prince of Wales Road, Norwich. Seven rooms listed in dwelling.

Ironically, with the detail in the PLAC, they do actually read OK in reports.

There are also some census facts as per below:

1 EVEN
2 TYPE Census 1891
2 PLAC Aged 28, Machinist, living with husband Walter at 42 Marlborough Rd, St Paul, Norwich. Alice, Esther, Bessie and AliceCrowe also Esther Penn lodging here.
1 FAMC @F9@
1 FAMS @F19@

Does the FAMC and FAMS relate to the census entry above or the fact below it? I didn't think you could created shared census facts in FTM2006 but I may be wrong.

Any help appreciated.

Nicola

[tatewise]

OK, thank you, that gives me some data to work on.

As far as you can tell, do all the PLACe fields follow that format?
i.e.
"Aged <age>, <optional occupation>, living with <relations> at <address>. <optional details>."

If so, I could:
Move the "<age>" to CENSus AGE field.
Move "<address>" to CENSus ADDR field.
Move "living with <relations>" plus "<optional details>." to CENSus NOTE field.
Keep only last comma separated part of "<address>" in CENSus PLAC field.
(or some variant of the above?)

Also could create an OCCUpation fact from "<optional occupation>".

FYI: FAMC and FAMS are nothing to do with any facts. They define the Family Records the Individual belongs to as a Child (i.e. the Parent family) and as a Spouse.

[NickiP]

Thanks Mike.

As I have just posted in my other thread, I'm awaiting a copy of the full gedcom file and will see whether there is any consistency in the sentence structure in the PLAC field. I know some aren't as per one of the examples above, but it may be she has used the same format when she has included full details. I won't know for definite until I see the full file as I only have parts relating to family we share.

I'll post a reply when I have seen the file, but that probably won't be until the end of next week as she says she won't be able to export to gedcom until then due to visitors.

Thanks again.

Nicola

[tatewise]

OK, I have a prototype Plugin working on the data as supplied so far.
If you want to give it a try on the Gedcom you have, then say the word.

[NickiP]

Thanks Mike. Why not, I've a copy of a partial tree with 146 individuals, not particularly large but there are a lot of census entries on it so worth a test.

Thanks

Nicola

[tatewise]

Before running the Plugin make sure you have a Backup of your Gedcom.
i.e. use File > Backup/Restore > Small Backup

The attached Plugin should create a Census Event and possibly an Occupation Attribute for each custom Census Year event.
It will produce a Result Set of both the old and new Facts and their details, but the old Census Year facts will have been deleted.

Just double-click on the Attachment below to install the Plugin.
[ EDIT: Attachment deleted. ]

[NickiP]

Thanks Mike, I'll have a play. I'm working on a copy of the original gedcom file emailed to me anyway, I've still got the original email. Depending on how the occupation attribute shows in FH, it may not be required because of a preference for single Facts for Census rather than the multiple that usually get created.

Nicola

[tatewise]

OK, but if you don't have an Occupation Attribute where will the Occupation be stored in the Census Event?

This two fact approach is the usual method employed (sic) when dealing with Census records, and the one used by default with Ancestral Sources.

Which reminds me, do any of these custom Census facts have Source Citations?
None of your snippets did, but maybe others do.
Currently the Plugin would delete them along with the custom fact, but could easily retain them.

BTW: A quick way to get back to original Gedcom after running the Plugin is to use Edit > Undo Plugin Updates before closing FH.