* spouse incorrrect name in census autotext

[johnmorrisoniom]

I had this problem in gedcom census as well as AS 1 and now AS2.
Entering a Census where the husband is not present, the auto text gives the spouse the maiden surname, not married surname, although picks up the marriage correctly.

I think this mainly occurs when no marriage fact has been entered for the couple.

ID:5359

[tatewise]

This topic was considered as part of the AS Beta testing.
You are correct in assuming it is to do with the Marriage Event.
Even though there is a Family Record for the couple, if there is no Marriage Event or it has no Date, there is no way that AS knows whether the Census occurs before or after the couple Married (assuming they ever did marry).
For example a woman may be living at home or elsewhere prior to her marriage.
Therefore, AS assumes the Individual is Single in the Marriage Condition column and uses their unmarried Name.
You should always carefully review the Auto-text in any case to ensure it is an accurate transcript of the Census Form.

[johnmorrisoniom]

I have also had the reverse happen, where I have known the marriage date, and am working backwards through census. AS has flagged a person as married even though the census date was before the marriage date. I have also had my problem where the marriage date has been entered, it just happens more often when it is not.

[tatewise]

I have revisited what was discussed when A.S. V2 Beta testing raised this issue, and it is a bit different than my recollection above.
I believe that what was agreed is as follows:

if Individual is a Spouse in a Family Record then
{
   if theFamily Record has a Marriage Event with a Date then
   {
       if that Marriage Date <= Census Date then Marriage Condition is Married
   }
   else ( with no Marriage Event or no Date )
   {
       if A.S. automatically sets Relation to Head or Wife or Husband then Marriage Condition is Married
   }
}
otherwise Marriage Condition is Single

If Married the wife will have her Married surname in the Auto-text.
If Single the wife will have her Maiden surname in the Auto-text.

In summary:

If there is a Marriage Date in your GEDCOM database for the couple, then A.S. V2 should always get their Marriage Condition correct with respect to the Census Date.
There was a problem with this in Gedcom Census and A.S. V1 if the Marriage Date was after the Census Date then the Wife/Husband was recorded as Married.

If there is NO Marriage Date in your GEDCOM database, but the couple are Head &/or Wife/Husband in the Census then A.S. V2 assumes they are Married.
There was a problem with this in Gedcom Census and A.S. V1 where they were usually assumed to be Single.

If you have circumstances where the above is not the case then please post the specific details here.

[NickWalker]

During beta testing some issues with the marriage status were corrected so some of the problems you mention in your last post may be from an earlier version of A.S?

However, there is still room for improvement but it will never definitely get it right so it is important to check as Mike suggests.

Cheers

Nick

[tatewise]

I have just been doing some intensive checking with these scenarios.

First, in the 'else ( with no Marriage Event or no Date )' case above, if the Individual is NOT Head or Wife or Husband then the following conditions also apply:
If the Individual is aged 20 or older then they are entered as Married - which is OK.
If their Spouse is already in the grid when they are added, then they are entered as Married - which I think is an error if the Spouse is entered as Single.

Second, the whole situation may be muddied if the Individual is a Spouse in more than one Family Record.
Basically, A.S. only inspects the first Family Record for each Individual and this can lead to the Marriage Condition being entered wrongly.
e.g.
If the Husband is married in 1840, widowed in 1855, and remarried in 1865, then in the 1861 Census he is Widowed but A.S. will record him as Married.

Thus in all cases it is important to check the auto-entered data.

[NickWalker]

As I said it isn't perfect, I just don't have time to get everything right!

[tatewise]

In the cases of doubt, when there is no Marriage Event Date, and the couple are not Head and Spouse of the household, then perhaps the Marriage Condition should be left blank, in the same way the Age is left blank when there is no Birth Event Date.
Then the user would be more inclined to check and fill in an appropriate value.