* Census update options

[trevithick]

Nick and others. I'm way behind the 8 Ball on Sources as I used Legacy Family Tree for years and have only managed to migrate to Family Historian this last year, forcing myself to learn the different thought processes and usage from before. Sources were available in Legacy, but not very easy to use.

Now after a year of Family Historian use and getting to know my way around thanks to many excellent folk, Mike Tate, ColeValleyGirl, and Vyger. Now I'm finally biting the bullet and beginning to use Ancestral Sources. I've read the initial Help file and the one for Census Templates and have begun. Only 13k people to go...

In my Copy of the FH file, I added Census information for two different Census for an entire family. I have learned to not use Replace existing as I have a lot more information in that Fact than AS provides.

For example this is the 1850 Census Record for one of the people in my Project.

I use the Online Genealogy site WikiTree https://www.wikitree.com which is a tremendous Single Family repository of likely millions of profiles. WikiTree has many "Tree Tools" available and one I used exclusively for easily finding Sources is the Browser Extension "WikiTree Sourcer" https://chromewebstore.google.com/detai ... poha?pli=1. It can search numerous repositories for Birth, Marriage, Death, Census data and then export it as text as seen in the screen shot at the end.

The easiest solution for me is to not use Delete existing Census. I can then copy that data Census by Census to the Census Fact created by AS, but that's an awful lot of work. I'm not suggesting that Nick incorporate a tool like WikiTree Sourcer and AS is not a browser based program. Perhaps one of those smart folk I mentioned earlier would have a query or other solution that could copy the notes from a non-AS based Census Fact and copy them to the AS Census Fact. How could it tell the difference? I'm not sure it can, but since it can/does search for a Census of the same year, it could see if the Note field is populated (non-empty), and copy that text to the new AS Census Fact before deleting the old.

1850 Census Record

image.png (82.03 KiB) Viewed 905 times

[tatewise]

I've started a new thread for this as it is not related to the AS Census Conversion feature.

The only way to merge/move fact Notes like that is with a custom plugin. It should be easy for me to help you.
Before writing the plugin it is useful to know exactly what criteria are involved to avoid too many rewrites.

My interpretation is that you want to move just the Note text from the old Census event to the new Census event.
Is it possible that the new Census event also has Note text and if so should the moved Note text be placed before or after the existing text?

How will the old Census event and new Census event be identified?
I suspect the Date field will be crucial in this case.
What forms of Date format are used by the two Census events?
I assume the new Census event will have a full date, e.g. for the 1850 Census it will be 1 June 1850.
Your screenshot shows the old Census event only has a Date year, e.g. 1850. Will that always be the case?
If that is so then the plugin can use that to differentiate old from new Census events.
If not then can we identify some other difference such as the old Census has no Citation?

Finally, will this plugin have to work for any Census year?
Would you expect to enter the Census year to limit the scope of the plugin?
Alternatively, every time the plugin is run it could search the entire Project for any Census events for any year.

[NickWalker]

I'm just not clear what you are trying to achieve with Ancestral Sources. From your screenshot, it appears that the information contained in the census fact for every individual is an amalgamation of (1) a summary of the person (in this case her age and where she lived). (2) a source reference code (3) a simplified transcription of the entire census source (although most columns are not shown).

If you were to enter this census data in AS (and assuming you're using the default 'method 1') then the age and census place would be recorded in the fact that AS generates, the reference code would be recorded somewhere (probably in a source template field if you're using source templates) and the transcription would be recorded in the source text for the source (rather than being duplicated multiple times in each persons census fact). So there wouldn't be any need for any of this data to be recorded in the census local note.

[trevithick]

I will respond to both Mike Tate and Nick Walker in a few days. I am preparing to travel, but wanted to let you know that I have read your posts. Hopefully I can delete this post when I do respond.

[trevithick]

Nick,

I am using Ancestral Sources method 1 as that seems to be the most popular and logical, and I have no issues with AS. It is behaving as written based on the Census information entered.

I have the the following Source Search and Citation Options. Search providers change based on the Country the person of interest was Born or Died or Buried in.

Source Search Providers

WikiTree Sourcer - Source Search Providers.png (80.46 KiB) Viewed 419 times

As to the Census Citation Note, the screenshot from the initial post appears as a conglomeration of three separate facts, but it is simply the output from "WikiTree Sourcer" browser extension based on the person selected in WikiTree which is browser based and my selection of Citation Options.

I usually prefer the "Build Narrative with Citation" option which provides the output from the data shown in the initial post.

I could simply choose a normal Source Citation, but choosing the more verbose option mentioned above provides a list of others of the family included in that Census. That helps me determine who else I need to add more detailed information on.

I do like the Census Year - Principle Role/Witness Role information entered by AS, so I think that to keep things simple, I'll just allow AS to create duplicate Census records and copy/paste the more detailed information provided by WikiTreeSourcer below the text that AS provides.

[tatewise]

Firstly, there seems to be a conflict in terminology.
You refer to the Census Citation Note shown in the screenshot from your initial post.
But that screenshot shows the Census Fact Local Note and not a Source Citation.

Secondly, as Nick suggested, that Fact Note would not add any information to that which should already be captured in the new Census Event and Source Citation created by AS.
Please explain with screenshots what that Note text would add that isn't already in the Census Event & Citation.
e.g.
Old Fact Note: In the 1850 census Elizabeth (age 40) was in Warren, Tennessee, United States.
New Sentence: She appeared in the census in 1850 in Warren, Tennessee, United States.

Old Fact Note: "'1850 Census'": "United States Census. 1850", ... Indexing batch: N01136-1, etc.
New Citation: References should include all that detail.

Old Fact Note: Elizabeth Nunly (4) in Warren, Tennessee, United States ... Jeremiah J Nunly M 1 Tennessee
New Citation: Text From Source tab should include all that detail for all 10 people in the household.

The majority of that information would be repeated unnecessarily in the Fact Note of the Census Event for each of the 10 people in that household, whereas the New Citation holds very similar information just once and is linked to the Census Event created by AS for each person..