Family Historian User Group

Hi All

First let me say how nice it is to start using a product (only had FH for a few days) which has an active support network.

I'm relatively new to genealogy but have 'inherited' a lot of information from my Mother.

The biggest headache I have at the moment is deciding what the best format is to for entering sources.

So first question (of many I'm sure!) is which pieces of information from for example a birth certificate would you put in which fields from the source window.

Hope that makes sense - I'm trying to adopt a standard approach that will be similar to that used by other genealogists.

Regards

Mark

ID:47

Hi Mark and Welcome,

On the subject of sources many people have different and conflicting ideas.

Personally I type the majority of the names into the actual text field of the source, because that way I can easily search for the information. There is an article on sources here on this site.  
If you type
Birth Certificate
in the search field it will be listed.

You may also like to look at the mailing list archive as there was an active and contradictary thread on the subject.

Hi Jane

Thanks for the welcome. I had a look at the article you mentioned and was very impressed.

What I was wondering though was whether users in general had a specific place they put information eg. who's the author of a birth certificate?

Anyway, I'll keep playing and see what feels right to me.

Thanks again

Mark

Jane (or anyone else who who wants to consider this)

Have you had any more thoughts on whether to keep to one source record per census, or one per folio?  I'm tempted to do the latter to allow linking to downloaded image file from the 1901 census website.

Is it possible to group source records (or any records for that matter) in the Records Window, so that I could have all the 1901 records within a 'census tree', by census year, then by family name?
Thanks,
Neal[confused]

Personally I have one source per Census Page, because as you say I can keep the image against the source.

I also have a Repository called 1901 Census which I attach to all 1901 Census Sources.  I can then query based on the repository of a source.

Hi Jane
Have just read Mark's article on entering source date. If its any consolation I have had FH for about 6 months and still have not entered much in the way of source's as I still do not fully understand what goes where and what auto citation is.
' A little slow or perhaps a little thick' maybe both.
Took be a time to understand inserting multimedia but after looking at the downloaded demo it helped a lot. Is there any chance of having the same sort of demo for entering source's and the date for them?
Pam

I [confused]

I'm fairly new to genealogy but am very impressed with FH so far, previously using Legacy 3 and decided to go for FH rather than upgrade.

However, sources still have me confused, is there anyway we could share sources/repositaries (UK especially) something like custom queries. So that us newbies could beenfit from all you experts out there? Is this on the wishlist?[smile]

I have just moved to Family Historian From Family Tree maker and am generally please.

Is it possible to enter a source ie census for the whole family.

I find the diagrams Confusing cant you add more dates ie birth marriage death[cool]

One of the great strengths of FH is that within the programme there is usually more than one way to do something and so it is with sources. There is no right or wrong way, FH allows you to choose how you wish to record your information. I record each census year as a source and create a census event for each individual on a particular census and then link the census event to a multimedia image of that page. Where I do not have a copy of the census but have seen it and copied its relevant contents, I type in the details as a 'note record' and link the census event to the note record. This is just my way of dealing with sources and probably no one else does it this way. In time I may change my ideas and perhaps use each census event as a source. FH allows me to do this.

Carrie,
With regard to diagram printing, it is possible to have whatever you want in a diagram box. When you are looking at a diagram the place to alter what appears in the box is found is DIAGRAMS _ OPTIONS_ TEXT. I suggest you work through the example given in chapter 7 of the User Manual which gives the basics of this process. I found this very helpful and have now created for myself a text scheme that I use on most of my diagrams. Come back if you are still in trouble.

pwe

Thankyou for you suggestions

I hope this comment belongs in this particular thread.

I've been using FH for a few months now and am delighted with it. On the other hand, like other genealogy programs I'm familiar with, its weakest point seems to be note-taking. Within a note it appears to be impossible to do even the most rudimentary formatting (e.g. italics), and the default font for notes is unreadably small to my aging eyes.

Or am I missing something in the manual?

Bill Peterson

Formating for notes is on the wish list, the main reason for lack of formating is because the gedcom standard does not support it. This means that any formating done in other programs is lost when gedcom is exported. For this reason FH does not currently have it as it uses gedcom to store all its data.

Sources have been my problem as well and possibly for new users some advice would be a big help. I started just using sources as a reminder to me as to where I received my information from. I never considered itemising each individual birth and marriage certificate and using it as an individual source. I can see how that is very useful. Any information from other users in the way they use this feature woud be useful.

Colin[confused]

Having went through Jane's article on sources I have found this facility much clearer, if you are confused with this area it is well worth a read and looking at some of the other posts it is obviously an area that confuses other people. Thanks again for the assistance Jane, good article.

Colin [grin]

Hi Everyone,
Being fairly new to family history and having purchased FH about 6 weeks ago. I have a question about sources. I have read Jane's article on Birth certificates and that is clear. However what do you do when there is no hard copy available to scan. I have a lot of information gained at my local Records Office about Baptisms Marriages and Burials. I have the church name and all the necessary details that can be gained from the registers but my question is do you create a separate source for each Baptism with the church then as the repository. Or if not how would you create sources for this info.
I have not created many sources as I must admit they totally confuse me!!!
Many thanks
Yasmin

The problem with sources is everyone has their own methods. Personally I have one source for each Baptisum for which I have a hard copy, using the ones without copies as a reminder than I need to get them.

Yasmin,
For the case you describe I create sources of 'xxxxx parish records' and 'yyyy parish records' etc. I then have the relevant County Record office as the repository.

pwe

Yasmin,
As you have seen on the mail list every one has there own ideas on how to store things, hope it is now clearer, for you.

Hello Everyone
Thanks for all the advice re sources. I think I shall do as most of you suggest and do whatever I am comfortable with.
Yasmin

Is there any specific way I should add scanned images to my sources or is it just the same as adding multimedia to an individual. The manual cover adding multimedia very well but does not state anything about adding it to a source.

Colin

I think I have answered this myself by inserting it like any other picture and clicking the source option and tagging it to the source, to view I just select the source option to view the certificate or item. If this is incorrect I look forward to any advice.

Col....

Useful thread here!

I've never got to grips with the source bit as yet - not enough time, not the complexity. This has been useful as a pointer on how to get started. Maybe I'll even reduce my ream of papers........

[grin]

I have found the advice here most helpful as I have now completed scanning in any old Birth Marriage and Deathe certificates I have and linking them to the sources, likewise I am linking the ones I do not have but have the details via Register House (Edinburgh) as documents to the sources. This idea was given to me by Jane in her article and has helped me organise my research as before I had just a huge mass of paper. It goes to prove how versatile the S/W is that so many users can use it in so many different ways, there is no right and wrong just what works for you.

I have a subscription to Ancestry.com thus giving me access to the 1891 images and its indexed counties. I underline Jane's idea of linking one source to each image, as a family *can* spread onto two pages, thus indexing by family would be wrong here. Indexing to each person would be too long-winded, too.
Phil.

Hi Yasmin,

I tend to create a word document and enter all the information in that and attach it to the source like an image. When I have the birth death or marriage information but no certificateI have just made up a standard table within word and record all the relevent information in each field.

Hope this helps.

Col...