Family Historian User Group

I have been using FH since version 4 and recently upgraded to 6.0.4. I have only recently started following the discussions on the forum and now have a question to ask.

The issue appears to be that in some cases names of new individuals are shown as alternative and not primary names. I have not noticed this issue using versions 4 or 5.

I am adding numerous individuals to my Hiccox Family Tree project after finding links to an online tree covering part of my project.

A Gedcom file is not available to merge so I am adding new names individually via the focus window and 'add child'

Once the record for a new individual is created, focus remains with whichever parent I had originally set the focus to, but the property box shown is that for the newly created child record. I use this property box for the child to add any additional facts/events that I am aware of - using the fact tab and 'add fact' icon.

Frequently one such event is the marriage of the 'child' and my actions are as follows.

Using the fact tab and 'add fact' icon I select 'Marriage' and a button is displayed showing 'Other spouse'.
I select this and from the dialogue box that follows I create a new record for the spouse.
I am then presented with a box informing me that an individual record has been created for the spouse and also a family record.
The property box for the original child still remains displayed.
I then either add more facts for the original child or change focus to the record of the new spouse and add any appropriate facts/events via that property box.

At this point there seems to be a problem, either with FH or with the actions I have taken. As far as I can tell the problem is with new male spouses only.
If I change focus to the record for the new spouse, there is no name in the name field of the property box.
In a diagram the new spouse name is shown as "aka XXX" .
When I follow the property box 'Name.... more' link to see names and titles for the new spouse - the name is only shown in the alternate name box.

The issue is simply resolved by making the name in the alternative name box a primary name, but I would like to know if I am doing something wrong in the first place.

Peter Lawton

Hello Peter,

This is a strange problem, and one I cannot reproduce. (I am currentlly using pre-release version 6.1.4 so admittedly I am not on exactly the same version as you.)

When you get the message saying a new individual record and family record will be created, does the name of the new spouse show correctly in that message? For example does it say 'A new Individual record will be created for John Smith, as well as a new Family record', where John Smith is the required primary name?

When a name is created it is automatically treated as the primary name unless another name already exists. As far as I know the only way to achieve a blank primary name and a non-blank alternate name is to create both names and then delete the primary name. Can you think of anything else you might have done which could have resulted in the name being duplicated, and then when you realised you deleted the contents of the first name field?

Thanks for your response Lorna.

I think I may have found the cause of the error. In the course of formulating a detailed reply to your note,I found a number of similar records and after successfully recreating the issue in my project I eventually managed to recreate the issue in the FH Sample Project.

The cause appears to be the one item that I did not mention in my original post and is that Automatic Source Citation is enabled. It only seems to affect new spouse (male or female) records created in the manner described. Records created in other ways do not appear to be affected.

Should I notify Calico Pie of my findings?

Peter

Hi Peter,
You are quite right it does add person with Alternate Name instead of Actual Name, although have never added records that way before and seems a much more convoluted method than I normally use. But definitely should not be doing what it is.

How curious! Yes, you should report this to Calico Pie. At least now that you know the cause of the problem it will be easy to avoid it.