* Can I use a Migration event as a template to create a voyage event

[rfj1001]

Before I posted this query I checked previous posts to see if there was any relevant advice that I could use. I The closest I found was an extended conversation on migration and deportation facts but, unfortunately, it got a bit too complex to the extent I was left with the dilemma of not knowing whether it was relevant or not.

So, forgive me, if I post a simple question that may or may not be related to the deportation post.

The background is I have a lot of ship voyage records on FH of relatives leaving from and arriving at a different foreign country. Although later facts sometimes indicate there was a migration, sometimes it definitely isn't. Indeed diplomatic postings, troop movements, holidays, business trips, cruises and crew members have all featured as the eventual likely reason for a person to feature on a Passenger List - rather than a migration.

So until there is factual migration evidence I would use "departed" and "arrived" - with its limitations of single place name recording, etc. .

So my question is "Is there any fairly straightforward way I can customise the Emigration and Immigration Events and save each under a different name "Departed From" and "Arrived at" having done a bit of editing of the sentence templates?"

If so I have two meaningful event descriptions with the two place fields I'm seeking (without the need for explanatory notes I currently have to provide). I'll then be a happy bunny.

Tx in advance

[ColeValleyGirl]

You can't create custom events with two places.

What I have done is re-purposed the Emigration event to make it a 'Travelled' event and hidden the Immigration event so that I don't inadvertently use it. I needed to edit the event type; you'd also need to edit the sentence template for the witness role if you use those (I don't). You can't prevent the event being called Emigration 'under the covers' but you can show it with the label 'Travelled' everywhere. I use the Note field to explain why the journey took place, including if it was a genuine emigration.

Note: if you export your data to another programme it will almost certainly show as an emigration event and lose the second place, so if data export is important to you, this may not be the way to go.

[tatewise]

There have been many discussions on similar topics about various forms of travel.

Unfortunately, there is no simple solution without various compromises.
It is difficult to offer the 'best' solution until you have considered and decided which compromises are the more acceptable.

As Helen says, the ONLY facts that can have two built-in Place names are Emigration and Immigration.
However you customise them, when exported to another product, they will always be Emigration and Immigration facts with one Place name. (Although it is possible to move the 2nd Place name to the Note using the Export Gedcom File Plugin.)

In FH V6 there is a predefined Extended Set of facts that has Arrival, Departure, Origin, Destination custom Attributes, or you can define your own custom facts, but all with a single Place name.
There is a recommended way of adding custom fields such as a 2nd Place name or a Ship name as described in how_to:narrative_report_fact_sentence_templates|> Narrative Report Fact Sentence Templates under Custom Fact Fields.
Such custom facts and custom meta-fields in the Note will export well to most other products.

Other discussions have suggested that a two Place Event is inconsistent with other standard Events, because such events typically occur on one day, whereas travel departure and arrival typically take place on different days, and other Events such as child Birth, or Marriage, or Death can occur in between.

[trevorrix]

My solution is simple. Link the passenger list source image to the people concerned. That image contains all of the information of the event. No need to get hung up on transcribing that information into facts etc.

[tatewise]

Trevor, when you say "Link the passenger list source image to the people concerned." where exactly?
If added to their Media tab, then it may appear as their photo in the Focus Window, Diagrams, and Reports unless you use the appropriate Exclude from Diagram/Report options.
To add them anywhere else needs associated Facts or Sources.
If it is not transcribed, then it does not appear in Reports where the image is often too small to read.

[trevorrix]

Warning - unconventional opinions.

Mike, I add the source images to the Media tab of the people concerned. I always exclude images from Diagrams and Reports so that is not an issue. I do not use Reports anyway.

I really don't see the need to spend hours transcribing information from images apart from the essential items of names and birth/baptism/marriage/death/burial/cremation dates and places.

I have customised my property box to include baptism, burial, cremation, will and probate dates and places. And for living people their current address, email, telephone, website, and GEDmatch IDs.

I make good use of flags and diagram icons to indicate at a glance what images I have linked to each person. If I need more information than is displayed in the diagrams and property box, I view the linked source image.

If I wish to share information, I email a diagram pdf and a link to the Dropbox folder where the relevant source images are saved.

This great hobby of family history is meant to be fun as well as being exciting - the thrill of the chase and all that. Not being a slave, getting hung up on the complexities of recording facts the 'proper' way, creating sentences that make sense etc. In my opinion, the need to create reports and do things the old fashioned emulating paper way is using up valuable time which would be better spent researching and verifying/proving information. We are in the 21st century, not the 20th century now.

[tatewise]

Understood, but different users of FH often have different objectives and methodologies.
Some do like images in Diagrams and full Narrative Reports that offer a complete biography.
So I believe it important to paint a complete picture, hence the need to put perfectly valid suggestions such as yours into perspective, by highlighting the need to exclude from Diagrams and Reports as appropriate. Adding source images to the Media tab clearly works for your methodology, but I felt needed caveats for more conventional use, as your solution is not as simple as you suggested in those cases.

[rfj1001]

Thanks all,

Helen's solution is the closest to what I was looking for; I'll take the risk I won't switch away from FH

[tatewise]

It is not a matter of switching away from FH, but whether you might want to export a tree to Ancestry, or FindMyPast, or MyHeritage, or any number of GEDCOM tools that can build websites, produce better reports than FH, analyse statistics, lookup DNA matches, etc, etc.

Helen's solution means you cannot record an Emigration Event.

[ColeValleyGirl]

Mike, of course I can record an Emigration event -- I just record a 'Travelled' event and in the Note field, document that it was for Emigration.

Re export to Ancestry etc. as they can't handle the second place field, I don't think that's a major issue -- my 'Travelled' event will appear as an Emigration (possibly with the note I created) with a single (Departure) Place. Which is true even if you don't re-purpose the Emigration event -- you lose the second place.

[tatewise]

That is sort of behind my point about compromises.
You either rename a standard Event, and have to clarify its purpose in the Note field.
Or you create a correctly named custom Event (or Events) and clarify the 2nd Place in the Note field.
Or there is third way, by creating a custom Attribute (or Attributes) and using its Value as the 2nd Place field.