* Facts - adding values and attaching to more than one person

[ruthhenrietta]

I am researching individual's slavery compensation awards, and so have created several facts: the amount of the award, the number of slaves it was for and the award no. I have 3 questions:

1) I've created 3 separate 'attribute' facts because I can't work out how to create all the information in a single fact. Is it possible to do this?
2) I can't work out how to add a 'value' unless it's an attribute fact. Is it possible to put a value in an event fact and / or to have more than one value field in either an attribute or event fact?
3) I want to attach the fact to more than one person, as several people will have received compensation for slaves on the same estate, with the same award no. How can I do this if it's an 'attribute' fact?

I hope that's clear

[Jane]

Depending on what you what to do with the information, I would have been tempted to use a single fact with labelled text you can put a template in the fact definition and extract the data using the GetLabelledText function if you want to analyse the data.

You could use the Witness option to attach multiple people to a single fact. I don't have any knowledge of slavery records, but I do wonder if the awards are better treated as sources in the same way as you would for something like a Census record.

[tatewise]

Hi Ruth.
Did my answer help with your previous Lookup Missing Census Facts / BMD Records errors (14963)?

1) It is possible to put multiple data items in a single fact, but you have to use labelled Note fields.
See how_to:narrative_report_fact_sentence_templates#custom_fact_fields|> Custom Fact Fields that gives examples of what Jane said.

2) Only an Attribute fact can have a dedicated value field.
That is the only difference between and Attribute and an Event.
For additional values see 1) above.

3) You can add the same Attribute fact to as many Individual records as you like.
In the same way as you can add an Occupation Attribute or Possessions Attribute to anyone.
To couple those together with respect to one compensation award document use a Source record, and cite that Source from each Attribute fact. It is just the same as you cite one Census Source record against the Census Event of each member of the household.
With FH V6 another option is to have one key Individual and add all the others as Fact Witnesses, but they do not appear in any Diagrams or Reports except Narrative Reports.

[ruthhenrietta]

Thanks both - I'm going to see what I can do... and get back to you if I need more help

[E Wilcock]

I may have misunderstood the question and this is a response only to part of it.
I too have been entering a number of related facts to one person - My records concern residence, internment and deportation.

I enter these Events for one person together with the source and citation. Then in the Property box I use Control (to make a multiple selection) and Copy the multiple facts and then paste them into a further set of people. (You have to be careful not to copy anything else in the mean time.)

For my own convenience but going to extra trouble, I sometimes list the people by name in a Note field - either for the event or the citation. And I use the arrows in fh to move through the people I need. I give each -person their own event.

How are you reaching the individuals to whom you wish to apply the payments?
One of the great annoyances for me in fh is that the forward and back arrows change the person highlighted in the focus window - but not in the Property box - that requires a further click on the magnifying glass. Even tho the term Focus window might make you suppose it did. My experience is that in fh it is far easier to accidentally apply an event to the wrong person than in a database software.