* Source Title for Census Entry query

[jbtapscott]

Question for Nick W:

Within Preferences for Census / Method 1, I have used for some years the Source Title set as:

{KEYPERSON.SN_GN.CAPS} - {YEAR} {COUNTRY} =IF[=EQUALS[{YEAR}%1939]%Register%Census]

I have noticed (and I am pretty sure this also applied in v6) that, where a married female is the first name in the grid, then the Source Title starts with the maiden Surname of the Individual (based, presumably, on the SN portion of the code above), although it is her married name showing on the Census schedule. This normally occurs when the woman is widowed or the husband is elsewhere.

The {CENSUSGRID} element in the Autotext shows her married name, as do the Source Titles for other data types where this could occur (e.g. Death record) so I am wondering if I am missing a setting / variable that can get that married name in to the Source Title on the Census record?. Failing that, would I need to use some =IF combination with {SPOUSE} or is it just a case of remembering to manually change the title?. Thanks

[NickWalker]

Hi Brent

As I'm sure you know, it's standard practice in Family History software to record people with their birth name but when creating transcriptions in source text you would record the name as it was on the document. AS helps you to create your transcriptions but trying to guess what their name might be recorded as at the time of the census entry. So it looks at their marriage details and makes an educated guess at what their surname might be at that time. There isn't a autotext keyword to access that information. I guess potentially I could include one for the occasions you've mentioned. You couldn't use the Spouse keywords because that doesn't apply to census entries. But as the convention is to record women with their maiden name, would this not potentially cause confusion to have their married name in the source title?

Nick

[jbtapscott]

Thanks Nick. I understand the convention re names but I have always followed the pattern, for Source Titles, of using the surname in the document / transcript as part of the Source Title in the same way that AS does for Death and Burial records. Fortunately, I don't get too many Census records where a married woman is the first name on the schedule so will carry on manually changing the Source Title on those record types.