How do I add a grandchild when I don't know parent

pab233 · Post by **pab233** » 16 Mar 2006 23:09

Hi All,

Please forgive me if this question has been asked before, but I couldn't see anything when I searched.

Anyway, I am having a slight problem showing a complete line due to missing information. What I have are two individuals who are showing on 2 separate censuses as living with their grandparents, rather than parents. By the time of the 3rd census they have both moved out into their own homes.

As I have no definite indication of who their parents are, how can I show this in a Family Historian diagram? Is it possible to show an indvidual as a grandchild of somebody?

As things stand I have the grandparents, all of their children and the two grandchildren and what I need is to link the three lines together somehow.

I can guess which of the children is the probable parent, going by birthdates, but it is equally possible to be another couple, in which cases it would be understandable why the grandchildren were with grandparents.

Anyway, is there an easy answer?

Thanks in advance

Paul

ID:1445

YouTube · Post by **Jane** » 16 Mar 2006 23:19

All I would do is to add a unknown parent into the line, to tie the grandparents to the children. Adding lots of explaination in the notes as to the reason.

pab233 · Post by **pab233** » 16 Mar 2006 23:27

Thanks Jane,

Sounds like a reasonable idea to me, and I've added a Miscellaneous link to the grandparents too.

Paul

JohnP · Post by **JohnP** » 22 May 2007 17:09

I too have followed Jane's principals

CASE 1
A 21 year old daughter named Hannah PATTERSON is shown in the 1881 census. I the 1901 census a 19 year old granddaughter named Hannah PATTERSON is recorded. This grandaughter uses her grandfather's surname and there isn't any indication as to her father.

As yet I haven't sought a birth certificate but have assumed (Yes I shouldn't make assumptions) that daughter Hannah died unmarried between 1881 and 1901 and granddaughter Hannah was her child.

CASE 2
The grandchildren ELIZABETH and WILLIAM LAURENCE have a different surname to their grandparents who were named WWILLIAM and ELIZABETH BEST. These grandparents seemed to have had only the one son, JOSEPH BEST who is unlikely to be the children's father.
I may never discover what happened but Jane' method will work here also. However, in this is an instance I wish Family Historian had a 'granchild' tool for these sorts of circumstances which did not require any indication of parents.

RalfofAmber · Post by **RalfofAmber** » 22 May 2007 19:42

I too add a 'phantom' interim parent which I 'genderise' from the surname of the grandchild to decide if the link is son or daughter. I name them XXXX /grandfather surname/.

In most cases I have later merged them with the right child when I have found more references, though it is a bit hit and miss!

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