Family Historian User Group

As often happens, through death or divorce, individuals marry more than once. FH allows the entry of multiple spouses without issue. However, I have a minor problem with te way they are then displayed when "One box per marriage" is selected and consistency of te display.

For example: I have a small tree where two individuals both married twice:


My mother married twice - initially to my father and then my step-father. The tree displays my mother and father in a single box with myself as the child. There is then a connection to a separate box of a different colour and titled (2) which references my step-father and below that my half-brother.

My cousin also married twice. In his case there is a line to his first wife in a box titled (1) and his children shown below, his second wife is referenced in the same box as him.

Why is there a difference in the way they are displayed? Surely, for consistency the first spouse should be in the same box and later spouses attached with connector line?



I am currently using FH V3 - soon to be V5 as I have an XP machine it needs to run on.

I think it depends on the relationship to the white box Diagram Root person rather than 1st, 2nd, 3rd spouse.

I presume in the case of your mother that you are the Diagram Root person.
So your mother & your father are blood relations of you the Diagram Root and thus appear in one box.
Your non-blood-related step-father is in a separate box.

In the case of your cousin, who is the white box Diagram Root person?
If I'm correct then your cousin's 2nd wife is a blood relation of the Diagram Root person, and his 1st wife is not.

I used my Grandfather as the Diagram Root and ask for all descendants with one box per marriage. He has 4 children. The two instances happen on the same diagram at the same time.

His first daughter, my Mother, is shown with my Father, her first husband, in the main box and my step-Father in the linked box with my half brother below. My Grandfather obviously has a blood link to my mother and not my father or step-father.

My Grandfathers son, has two children, a son and a daughter - those are my cousins and have a blood line to my Grandfather. One of those cousins divorced and remarried. His second wife is shown in the box with him, whereas his first wife and mother of his children is in the linked box.

OK, in that case the blood-line has no preference for 1st or 2nd wife, so it must be the Diagram Options that need adjusting.

The Spouse layout options are probably set to default of 2nd spouse on other side.
Try changing that to 2nd spouse on the right.

tatewise wrote:OK, in that case the blood-line has no preference for 1st or 2nd wife, so it must be the Diagram Options that need adjusting.

The Spouse layout options are probably set to default of 2nd spouse on other side.
Try changing that to 2nd spouse on the right.

That has sorted it ... the description however do not explain why, when 2nd spouse on other side is chosen the second spouse can be in the box and the first to the side!

I agree it is not obvious how those settings impact the One box per marriage setting.

Because the blood-line is not influencing which wife goes where, then I just experimented with the other Spouse layout options.

Another technique, regardless of the Spouse layout options, is to use the Diagram > Enable Moving/Resizing dialogue, which allows any Spouse box to be shifted left or right. That will swap the 1st and 2nd wife between the husband's box and a separate box.