* Changing a person's name and father link

[elainemaul]

I am new to using FH and unsure how to change what I have already set up on FH. I'd be really grateful for help/advice on what to do!

My husband's great-grandparents are shown on their marriage certificate as John William DIXON and Mary PRICE. On the certificate, John William's father is also John William and Mary's is William Robert PRICE.

I have duly entered Mary PRICE with her father as William Robert PRICE.

However, I was unable to find Mary's birth even despite finding her on various censuses. Anyhow, after a lot of digging around, I'm happy that I've determined that William Robert PRICE married Mary VALANTINE (my husband's gg-grandmother) and that my husband's great-grandmother may have got married as Mary PRICE but she started life as the illegitimate daughter of Mary VALANTINE and so started life as Mary VALANTINE and assumed the surname of PRICE when her mother married. Hence, William Robert PRICE is her step-father.

How do I change what I've entered to reflect this ie

1. Should I change Mary PRICE to Mary VALANTINE and put Mary PRICE as an alternative name? Should I link this to her mother's marriage to William Robert PRICE so you can see PRICE was her name after this date (and how!)? Is there a way of setting this information so any resulting GEDCOM format file makes sense and both names are visible? Indeed, so both names are visible on the main screen, for which I'm wondering whether I need to make her main name VALANTINE/PRICE (if a slash is allowed?).

2. How to I alter the link between Mary 'PRICE'/VALANTINE and William Robert PRICE? I can see an 'unlink', but do I want to do this or is there a way of changing the link between the two from father to step father?

I have had a little look round to see if there are already any queries and have found some hints but I'm still not entirely sure what to do here.

Thank you for any help.
Elaine

[elainemaul]

Ahhh ...... I think by having another look at the beginners' section, I 'may' have determined the stepfather/father change! Just playing with it now and hoping I don't totally mess thing up!

[tatewise]

I guess you have found how_to:index#adjusting_family_relationships|> Adjusting Family Relationships and the first two entries about Recording Children... and also how_to:handle_people_with_multiple_names|> How to Handle People With Multiple Names.

Yes, the convention is to record everyone with their Primary Name set to their Birth Certificate name, Mary VALANTINE.
You could add an Alternate Name of Mary PRICE if you wish.

However, you cannot associate names with relationships. The Primary Name will always appear everywhere.
But you can link each name via Source Citations to appropriate certificates.
Both names are recorded in standard GEDCOM format.

It is possible to customise the Main tab of the Property Box to show as many Alternate Names as you like.
Do you need advice on how to achieve that?

If you have followed the above advice then Mary is probably linked to two sets of parents.
However, are you certain that William Robert PRICE is NOT her natural father, and married Mary after the illegitimate birth in order to legitimise it?
Assuming that is not the case, then looking at the Property Box for mother Mary VALANTINE, she has two Spouse: tabs.
The first is for the unknown natural father, and the second for William Robert PRICE.
Mary VALANTINE/PRICE is shown as their daughter on both tabs, and similarly in the Focus Window pane.
In both places their is Rel. box to record the relationship to her parents as mentioned in the [kb]|[/kb] articles.
Set one to illegitimate and the other to step with respect to the Father.

BTW: Did you spend some time studying how_to:key_features_for_newcomers|> Key Features for Newcomers, including AS, and the Family Historian Sample Project, and the Book: "Getting the Most From Family Historian"?

[elainemaul]

Hi Mike,
Thank you so much for your reply.

I have been reading through those links and I 'think' I'm on the right course, although I've got things mixed up a couple of times but I'm getting there I think!

Although I've been researching my own and my husband's trees for some time, I've not had Family Historian all that long. I had been using another program but decided it had limitations and decided to switch! In re-inputting into Family Historian, I'm also double-checking my earlier research; I can't believe (or perhaps I can!) how many silly mistakes I made when I was a novice (and perhaps I'm only just past novice still!). I'm also making sure I record sources and keep a log of what I've done!

I've also just completed the free FutureLearn course on genealogy and, after doing that, I decided to start keeping a blog so I can put in English the logic steps I went through with each piece of research. I'm not doing it in the hope that anyone will read it (although eventually it would be nice if it was a means to link with other distant family), but primarily as a diary for me! So, rather than repeat what I've already written for myself, I've documented my logic in coming to this conclusion on the following posts:

William and Mary PRICE on the 1871 census at: http://familytreetwiglets.blogspot.co.u ... loser.html

My research continued on: http://familytreetwiglets.blogspot.co.u ... -else.html

Hopefully it makes sense! Although there is one child living with William and Mary PRICE on the 1871 census, another William, whose parentage I'm at a complete loss about
I've done a couple of blog posts about how I've tried to research him but he has me stumped at the moment!

Best wishes
Elaine

[elainemaul]

Hi,
I've tried to show Mary VALANTINE\Price as both the child of William WILCOCK and Mary VALANTINE (an unmarried couple but William put his name as father when Mary was baptised) but also link her to William Robert PRICE who her mother married in 1861. Mary took her step-father's name at this point so I've linked Mary as adopted daughter. I want to be able to visually show why I've put Mary's name as VALANTINE\PRICE.

The resulting chart looks as below. (I can see I am going to have to adjust my 'places' so that is already noted!). However, is this how you'd expect the chart to look for this kind of arrangement? I've never seen a chart with the white bubbly links before you see! However, is this just because it's showing they are the same couple but shown twice? Also, I was expecting the line drawn between Mary VALANTINE\PRICE and William Robert PRICE to look different in some way? Thank you

[davidm_uk]

In case you haven't already come across it the GRO (General Register Office) website https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/ enables you to search the official birth (1837 to 1916) and death (1837 to 1957) registrations, and for births you can optionally include the mother's maiden surname in the search fields, and it will also display that name in the results (where known).

I've found it invaluable when trying to find (or confirm) mother's maiden names when I've only got married surnames from a census, or to look for missing children where I know the maiden name (eg. where the 1911 census reports number of children who have died).

It's not without some errors or omissions, but I've found it pretty good. You do need to experiment with the search options to understand just what they do and don't do, but once you get the hang of it it's quite quick. Try it on a few where you already know the answer!

You have to register to use the website, but it's free and I've not received any junk email as a result of registering. I also buy all my certificates via that site, cheaper than many others. Using the site to confirm mother's maiden name has saved me quite a bit in buying the wrong certificates!

[tatewise]

There are a number of points to discuss.

1) Duplicated Boxes
"The white bubbly links" are known as coloured ribbons that link duplicated boxes for the same people.
Those are caused by relationships such as yours where a person is related in more than one way to others in the diagram.
Those coloured ribbons are governed by the Diagram > Options > General tab Check for duplicates and its Options button.

2) Illegitimacy Visual Clues
The linking lines between William WILCOCK and Mary VALANTINE are dotted to show their Status of Unmarried Couple.
If their daughter's Primary Name were Mary VALANTINE, plus those dotted lines, it clearly indicates the illegitimate birth.

3) Adoption Visual Clues
The a.k.a. Mary PRICE shows she changed her Name to match her adoptive father William Robert PRICE.
You can add an Adoption Event to her facts and that fact can appear in her diagram boxes.
It should also be possible to conditionally customise her box shape, background colour, border colour, text colour, etc, based on the Relationship of Adopted, but just for the box linked to William Robert PRICE. It is also possible to display her main Name as Mary PRICE and the a.k.a. as Mary VALANTINE.

4) Order of Partners
The tiny number 1 top left of the box of William Robert PRICE indicates his entry is out of order.
Check the Property Box of mother Mary VALANTINE and inspect the Spouse tabs.
I suspect William Robert PRICE is 1st on left and William WILCOCK is 2nd which is the wrong chronological order.
So click the small black arrow to the right to reverse the order.
See how_to:sorting_children|> Sort Children into Birth Order for general advice on sorting methods.

[elainemaul]

Hi,
Apologies for the delay in replying.

David ...... thank you for the hint about the GRO website. I have already found your suggestion and it's helped avoid the need to buy unwanted certificates!!

Tatewise ..... thank you so much for all that information on how Family Historian works. It is gradually all becoming clearer! Slowly!

[ A discussion on GRO Index searching continues in GRO Index Searches (15271). ]