* Connect two people

[tdavislong]

Joey Smith, newborn, and Mary Baker, age 6, are listed in a newspaper article as siblings. Joey's parents are George and Sue Smith. The article does not say who Mary's parents are. I do not know if Sue has been married before. I want to connect the two kids. In TMG, I would set up a Misc tag and make them both principles with the source being the citation listing them as siblings. This 'tag' would then show up in both their information windows.
How can I connect them in FH?


Re recent replies; I don't want to connect a parent to Mary; is there any way to show a relationship between Joey Smith and Mary Baker. As an example, Mary could be a surrogate child from either of Joey's parents.
Is there a 'fact' that I can use that will make the two kids principles so I can tie them to each other without assigning parents to Mary?

[victor]

I would describe the children as half siblings. Mary Baker could be the illegimate child of Sue. If that be the case then Sue's maiden name will be Baker. A birth certificate for Mary or her baprism details will see is Sue had been married before or if she is illegitimate

[LornaCraig]

If you think that Sue Smith was previously Sue 'Baker', I would create two separate spouse/partners for her. Add the child Mary as a child of the first spouse/partner and the child Joey as a child of the second spouse/partner. As you don't know whether Sue had been married before, leave her surname blank because you don't know if Baker was her maiden name or a previous married surname. Create a source for the newspaper article and cite it as evidence for Mary Baker's birth as well as Joey Smith's birth. Add an explanatory note against Mary's birth fact.

[victor]

Leaving the surname blank won't help much as there could be many other blank surnames. Whether Sue had been married or not but the surname with brackets (Baker) that way you will find her if you find she had been married and know her maiden name or if Mary was found to be illegimate just remove the brackets

Victor

[LornaCraig]

Victor, yes there are many ways of dealing with people with unknown surnames. Different users have different techniques. Some people put a woman's married surname in brackets if they don't know her maiden name. But in this case, if using that method I would use '(Smith)' rather than '(Baker)'. We know she was married to a Smith, but we don't know whether she was married to a Baker because that might be her own maiden name. How to designate her surname is very much a matter of personal choice, but the general principle of creating two partners/spouses and adding one child to each partnership remains the same.

[victor]

The reason I put (Baker) is simply because she married a Smith and this would separate the two children assuming they both have different fathers. When more details are available then changes can be made

[mjashby]

The suggestions so far seem to be based on an assumption that, simply because, the two children have been described as 'siblings' in a newspaper article (time, date and place unknown) that one of the two known adults (parents?) has a direct genetic link to both children. This may be the case, but is not necessarily accurate as there are several other possibilities.

My own holding approach would also assume some form of 'parental' link/responsibility for both children existed but not necessarily a proven genetic relationship in either/both cases without further evidence. This is supported by the description 'siblings' providing a third party indication that both children were considered to have a brother <=> sister relationship. My holding approach, pending further research/evidence:

- list/attach both children to the presumed parents using the stated surnames of each child; and
- for a child who has a 'different' surname, or whose parentage is uncertain, use the 'Relationship' entry box on the main family screen (Relationship > Relationship to Parents > More options... > Specify relationship to each parent separately > 'De facto' in each case.

Mervyn

[tatewise]

If you really don't want to link Mary to either parent then there are a few other possibilities.

• Create a new Family record and add Joey and Mary as Children but no parents.
  Your Source Citations can apply to both Individual records and the Family record.
  When you select either child with respect to their no parent family then the Focus Window, Property Box, Diagram, Family Group Sheet, etc, will show they are siblings.
• On the All tab of both Joey and Mary right-click and use Add Miscellaneous > Add Associated Person to link them together with the Relationship of Sibling. FH does not support the Associated Person feature very well but can be customised into the Property Box, Diagrams & Reports, etc.
• Create a custom Relationship fact similar to the TMG Misc tag, with a Fact Witness Role of Sibling.
  Add that fact to Joey, and add Mary as a Fact Witness with the Role of Sibling.
  That will appear in both their Facts tabs and in their Narrative Reports and can have Citations.

[tdavislong]

Thank you. This is the type of information I was looking for.

[Gowermick]

You could try finding their GRO birth record. If done via GRO.GOV site, their mothers maiden name will be shown, and settle the argument of who their mother was.