* Christening & Birth Dates

[Johnyeates]

In the past I have entered an approximate Birth Date when I only had a Christening Date.
The parents Facts Window then showed the birth of a child.
As I was entering un-proven birth data I decided to only enter the known Christening Date I have now lost the notification of the birth of a child in the parents Facts Window.
Is it usual practice to assume a birth Month/Year when only a Christening is known.
How else can I get a child's birth notification in the Parents Facts Window?

ID:6461

[Cambiz]

Hi John,

WL#254 has been raised for just this thing:

http://www.fhug.org.uk/wishlist/wldispl ... lwlref=254

Personally I estimate the birth year but am aware that the christening/baptism can be anything from a minute to a number of years after the birth

[Johnyeates]

Thank You for the wish list link, this essential item was raised six years ago and there is still no action on it. I wouldn't have thought that it would be a difficult code change.

[Cambiz]

The wish list is just that - changes that what the FHUG community would like to see.

Its up to Simon, the designer and developer of the software, as to what goes into the release, as he owns the programme.

I'm guessing  
he's deliberately not coding for this one or
that he's forgotten about it or
that when he compiles the list of changes, this one does not have the priority of others.

There are older wishes. See https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc ... n_US#gid=0

[tatewise]

There are several types of Source from which Birth Date may be estimated/calculated.
Christening Record, Baptism Record, Census Return and Death Certificate/Record are the most common.

In each case I would enter the Birth Fact with a Date that is Estimated or Calculated, and a Source Citation to the associated Source Record perhaps with an Assessment of Secondary evidence or Questionable.
It may also be possible to enter tentative Place and or Address details.
As more such Source records come to light, the more accurate the Birth Date becomes.

Some users create a separate unconfirmed Birth Fact for each such Source.

Even if FH were to show Christening/Baptism Facts in the Parent's Property Box it would not cater for the other scenarios above.

[Johnyeates]

Tatewise,
that is what I have been doing, except that I have been entering the Month & Year with App as the qualifier plus the Source Citation. Perhaps I should use the Estimated qualifier.
Thank you everyone for the advice, as I was going to go through all my records and remove the estimated birth date and leave it to the Christening, I have been saved lots of work.

[tatewise]

Exactly what form of Date to use depends on the information provided by the Source Record.

Whether you enter just the Year, or the Month & Year, or a Date Range is a personal choice based on your interpretation of the Source Record details.

The FH Help under the Date Entry Assistant Dialog for Qualifiers says:

Approximate means the date is not exact.
Calculated means the date has been calculated mathematically - for example, from an event date and age.
Estimated means that the date has been estimated based on an algorithm, using some other event date.

In some cases a Date Range is a better choice than a single Date.
So for the case of Christening/Baptism you could enter the Birth Date as Before which is definitely true, or perhaps Between and .

Similar strategies will apply to other Source Records such as Census and Death.

[NickWalker]

If you use Ancestral Sources to enter your baptism records then there are options for it to estimate a birth date and create a baptism fact and estimated birth fact linked to a source.

[AdrianBruce]

For what it's worth, if all I have is a baptism date, then I enter the birth date as before the value of the baptism date (inserting the necessary values), with a source of the record for the baptism (set to being a secondary source). (One of Tatewise's options). This then results in the child's 'birth' details appearing in the parents' fact tab with 'bef date'.

I've always resisted the temptation to approximate the birth date as I have seen so many late baptisms that I can never justify such an approximation.

[Cambiz]

WL#254 does not ask for the birth date to be added, it asks for the baptism (or christening) to appear in the facts for the parents.

I too estimate birth date which really is a workaround.

[AdrianBruce]

ChrisM said:
... I too estimate birth date which really is a workaround.

Indeed so. Though as I tend to always enter a fact for the birth date as soon as I get any vague info about it, it's not a work-round that I notice as extra work - or even think of as a work-round. I know some people get quite uptight about entering a birth fact for which there is no direct evidence, wishing to keep the facts to those for which there is direct evidence, but I've always viewed 'facts' as being current conclusions, so am happy to use indirect evidence. Also I think that the fact that someone is baptised is usually a good indicator that they've been born beforehand. [wink]

More seriously I just wanted to highlight that it's probably a better idea not to estimate or approximate the birth date but just to record it is being before the baptism.