Family Historian User Group

Yes, it is a useful tool, see FHUG KB > Links > Services & Utilities > Gedcom Tools > Family Tree Analyzer.

I've just tried this and it's giving spurious errors. I've used Ancestral Sources to enter details from a 1948 electoral register which AS does using a census fact. FTA is saying 1948 isn't a supported census date.

jelv wrote: ↑

23 Nov 2022 17:19

I've just tried this and it's giving spurious errors. I've used Ancestral Sources to enter details from a 1948 electoral register which AS does using a census fact. FTA is saying 1948 isn't a supported census date.

Well, that's absolutely true -- it isn't a valid census date!

jelv wrote: ↑

23 Nov 2022 17:19

I've just tried this and it's giving spurious errors. I've used Ancestral Sources to enter details from a 1948 electoral register which AS does using a census fact. FTA is saying 1948 isn't a supported census date.

Actually AS does allow you to choose to you a different fact other than census, e.g. residence or a custom fact - you just need to specify this by editing the templates under tools->Census Templates,,, Personally, I probably wouldn't use a census fact for electoral registers (I'd probably use residence I think) but then I haven't really made use of them in family tree yet.

Cheers

Nick

I use a custom fact "Electoral Roll" as I don't feel that Residence is quite right. The main thing is to record the location and date. For the date I use the date the register was signed off by the returning officer - in the UK often the October prior to the year of the Register.

NickWalker wrote: ↑

23 Nov 2022 18:15

but then I haven't really made use of them in family tree yet.

Nor had I until recently. I had a male where I was trying to find his wife and had two candidates. Finding him with his wife in a 1948 electoral register gave me her given names and determined which one of the two was the wife which was why I recorded it.

Thanks for the pointer about changing the fact - I'll have a think about which to use - it is likely to be residence.

jelv wrote: ↑

23 Nov 2022 19:10

Nor had I until recently. I had a male where I was trying to find his wife and had two candidates. Finding him with his wife in a 1948 electoral register gave me her given names and determined which one of the two was the wife which was why I recorded it.

Yes indeed, I have found the Electoral Registers useful when members of the same family are listed with the same address.

David2416 wrote: ↑

24 Nov 2022 09:11

jelv wrote: ↑

23 Nov 2022 19:10

Nor had I until recently. I had a male where I was trying to find his wife and had two candidates. Finding him with his wife in a 1948 electoral register gave me her given names and determined which one of the two was the wife which was why I recorded it.

Yes indeed, I have found the Electoral Registers useful when members of the same family are listed with the same address.

I find them invaluable for “tracing forward” to modern-day cousins, which we’re probably doing a lot more of these days, thanks to DNA testing.

David2416 wrote: ↑

23 Nov 2022 18:49

I use a custom fact "Electoral Roll" as I don't feel that Residence is quite right. The main thing is to record the location and date. For the date I use the date the register was signed off by the returning officer - in the UK often the October prior to the year of the Register.

I believe that "Residence" is exactly right as the Fact here- The Electoral Roll is the Source from which this residence fact was derived.

If you are interested in where your ancestors lived, and how they moved about over their lifetimes, not recording "location and date" as a "Residence" fact makes creating a "Residence" timeline more difficult.

Little.auk wrote: ↑

25 Nov 2022 13:26

I believe that "Residence" is exactly right as the Fact here- The Electoral Roll is the Source from which this residence fact was derived.

A word of caution: If we are talking about England and Wales electoral registers you need to bear in mind that until 1918 the right to vote was closely linked to property ownership. Some people appeared in more than one electoral register, on the basis that one address was their own residence, and other(s) were properties owned by them, sometimes as a business address but often simply as a landlord . So an electoral roll might be the source for a residence fact or it might be a source for a business address or simply for a fact about property ownership.

LornaCraig wrote: ↑

25 Nov 2022 14:56

...
A word of caution: If we are talking about England and Wales electoral registers you need to bear in mind that until 1918 the right to vote was closely linked to property ownership. Some people appeared in more than one electoral register, on the basis that one address was their own residence, and other(s) were properties owned by them, sometimes as a business address but often simply as a landlord . ...

Indeed. Paraphrasing Jeremy Gibson's "Electoral Registers 1832-1948", voters who appeared in more than one register (e.g. students living away from home) originally had the ability to vote in more than one constituency. This right began to be curtailed by the 1918 Representation of the Peoples Act (RPA), after which someone could only vote under two of three headings: residence, business or university. The latter two were abolished in the 1948 RPA. (My emphasis).