Options - Birth Settings

Options - Birth Settings

Birth Settings

Recording Method 1 or Recording Method 2

Method 1 is the default method in Ancestral Sources. With this method a separate source is created for each birth certificate.

A source title might be:

Birth Everton, Liverpool, Lancashire (15 High Road) 13 March 1891 Jane Smith

This is probably the best method to choose if you want to keep a transcript of each birth entry within your GEDCOM file as the source text can be used for this purpose. This is also probably the best method if you want to link an image of the original birth certificate to the entry.

Ancestral Sources will automatically create the source based on details entered by you. For the individual concerned it will create birth event and perhaps a residence event. For parents it may create occupation attributes and residence details, marriage information and even birth details. All of these facts will be linked back to the source using citations.

This method will result in you potentially having hundreds of sources in your GEDCOM file, one for each birth entry you find.

Using method 2 a source usually refers to a birth location. A source title might be:

Births Preston, Lancashire, UK

This is probably the best method if you don't want to record a transcript of each birth entry within your GEDCOM file or link a multimedia image. If you do want to do this then this method can still be used but will result in larger files as the transcript will appear multiple times within citations.

For the individual concerned it will create birth event and perhaps a residence event. For parents it may create occupation attributes and residence details, marriage information and even birth details. All of these facts will be linked back to the source using citations.

This method will usually result in you having very few sources in your GEDCOM file but a lot of repeated information in citations.

In the author's opinion if you want to record a transcript of each birth record and/or include links to images of the original birth pages then Method 1 is probably the best choice. If however you just wish to record the birth details without going to the trouble of including a transcription then use Method 2.

Please note that some users refer to Method 1 as 'Splitter Sources' and Method 2 as 'Lumper Sources'. This is because Method 1 users split their data across multiple sources, whereas Method 2 users lump lots of entries together under a single source.

Occupation and Residence Facts: When creating an occupation fact for parents, the address is not filled in as it is unlikely that the place where the individual lived was also the address of their work-place. However, there is a good chance that they worked in the same town/village. If the Record residence place in occupation option is selected then the place recorded as residence for the father or mother will be recorded in the occupation place too. Birth records sometimes include the age of parents and there is an option to Record individual age in residence facts if applicable. If Suggest Occupation is ticked then Ancestral Sources will attempt to suggest the occupation of the father and/or mother. If most of your birth records don't mention occupations then you may prefer not to use this option and just enter the occupation yourself. If either of the parents are deceased but have an occupation recorded in the birth record, then it may not make sense to record the date of the birth in the occupation fact. If Deceased: do not record date is ticked then the occupation date will be left blank in these circumstances. If this is unticked then the date will be recorded as being before the event date. The residence, occupation and other details recorded are likely to be relevant to the day the birth was registered, rather than necessarily the date that the birth occurred. The couple may have moved house between the birth and the registration. There is an option to use the registration date if given, rather than the birth date for occupation and residence details. If Duplicate birth place to residences is ticked then the place and/or address entered for the birth place will also populate the residence details for the child and their parents. These duplicated details can be edited if they don't match the birth place.

By default, the list of occupations will include those specified in the Occupation list defined on the Edit Lists screen. You can edit that list yourself or even specify a list of occupations that can differ from source to source by creating a new list and choosing the name of the list on this options page.

Source Types: The text entered here will be recorded in the Source Type tag for any birth sources created. The source type is a Family Historian extension to GEDCOM. By default the source type is Birth.

Citation Certainty: If this option is selected then the reliability assessment will be recorded with each citation created. See also the Assessment (FH7+) option below.

Use Citation Entry Date: If this option is selected then the birth date will be recorded in the GEDCOM entry date field in every birth citation. There is an option to use the birth registration date instead. Some users prefer to use this field to record the date that they entered the information into Ancestral Sources. This is not the intended use of this field as specified in the GEDCOM standard but the option is there for those users who choose to use it for this purpose.

Assessment (FH7+): Family Historian 7 introduced new citation assessment/certainty options. If your file is a Family Historian 7 (or later) file and any of these options are selected then these will be added to all citations created for birth sources. This will override the Citation Certainty option (see above). If none of the assessment options are ticked then the Citation Certainty option will apply instead.

Birth Facts: With the default settings, when saving a birth entry Ancestral Sources will give you the option to create or modify a GEDCOM birth fact if the age or date of birth of parents has been recorded. The create citation for existing births is default setting dictates whether the create citation for birth tickbox is ticked by default on the birth screen when opting to not change an existing birth event. See the help page for the Birth Events from Entry screen for more details.

Death Facts: With the default settings, when saving a birth entry where either of the parents are recorded as being deceased, you will be given the option to create or modify a GEDCOM death fact for the relevant parent or parents using the Death Events from Entry screen. The create citation for existing deaths is default setting dictates whether the create citation for deaths tickbox is ticked by default on the death screen when opting to not change an existing death event. See the help page for the Death Events from Entry screen for more details.

Informant: If the use witness role setting is ticked, then Ancestral Sources will use a Family Historian 'witness role' to link the informant to the death fact using the role name specified. Witness roles were introduced in Family Historian 6.

Associated Individuals: This will display the Associated Individual Types screen which will allow you to specify how other related individuals such as witnesses are recorded in your file.

Warnings when saving entries: It is possible to forget to enter all of the birth data. You can opt to have Ancestral Sources warn you if you forget to enter source text, select images, enter a reference ID, registration date, or select a repository.

Offer to retain settings: If this is ticked the Retain Data screen will be shown after an entry is saved.

Subtype List: All source types other than Census have the option to display the subtype list on the main screen. For example this allows you to specify if a baptism record is a parish record or bishop's transcript, etc. The contents of these lists can be modified on the Edit Lists screen. For birth records this list is not shown by default. If it is enabled then there are options to specify the default value to show and whether to retain the previously selected list item each time.

Image Title Template: When linking images to a birth certificate using the Image Viewer there are options to name the multimedia record and optionally rename the image file to match. One of the options is to create a title based on the Image Title Template. You can type the title template into the box and select tags from the list to include within the template. So, for example, If the template was: {SOURCETYPE} {PLACE} {DATE} {KEYPERSON} ({IMAGEINFO}) then the {SOURCETYPE} would be replaced by either Birth, {PLACE} and {DATE} will be replaced by the values entered into the birth date and place text boxes. {KEYPERSON} would be the name of the individual whose birth has been recorded. When you add a new image there is an additional information box to optionally enter text to add to the image title replacing the {IMAGEINFO} tag. When adding multiple images to a source this could be used to distinguish between them. In the example above if the additional information textbox was left blank then Ancestral Sources will automatically remove the () brackets as they are unnecessary. Therefore the image might be given the name: Birth Preston, Lancashire 1 Jan 1800 Jane Smith. Note that having a template specified here does not imply that the template will definitely be used. It will only apply if the appropriate option is chosen when linking an image on the Image Viewer screen. The main tags: {ADDR} - Address field, {OTHER} - Other Information field, {DATE} - birth date, {YEAR} - birth year, {PLACE} - Place field, {SOURCETYPE} - Birth, {KEYPERSON} - the name of the individual in Forenames Surname format. There are other KEYPERSON sub-tags available to control the format in which the key person's name is displayed. See Template Keywords and Functions for further information.

Birth Settings - Method 1

These settings are available if birth recording method 1 has been chosen on the Birth Settings page.

Birth Method 1 Title Template: When using method 1 a source is created for each birth certificate, the name of this source is based on the template. You can type text into this template and select tags from the list to include within the template. These tags are then replaced with the appropriate values when the source is created. So, for example, If the template was: {SOURCETYPE} {PLACE} {DATE} {KEYPERSON} then the {SOURCETYPE} would be replaced by Birth, {PLACE} and {DATE} will be replaced by the values entered into the birth date and place text boxes. {KEYPERSON} would be the name of the individual. Therefore the source might be given the title: Birth Preston, Lancashire 1 Jan 1800 Jane Smith. The main tags: {ADDR} - Address field, {OTHER} - Other Information field, {DATE} - birth date, {YEAR} - birth year, {PLACE} - Place field, {SOURCETYPE} - Birth, {KEYPERSON} - the name of the individual in Forenames Surname format. There are other KEYPERSON sub-tags available to control the format in which the key person's name is displayed. See Template Keywords and Functions for further information.

Record birth reference: You can opt to record the reference id in the publication information field which is part of the source, or in the where in source field in every citation. Using the where in source option will result in the birth reference appearing in multiple places in the file which is not really recommended for method 1. So instead either use the publication information field or make sure you include the reference in the title template.

Record birth event details in source data: There is a feature of GEDCOM which even many experienced users of Family Historian will not be aware and it is unlikely that this option will be used often. It is possible to record the types of event that are recorded within the source, together with the date and place. If this option is selected then a birth event, together with date and place will be attached to the source when it is created.

Source Short Title: If this option is ticked, the main screen will allow you to create a short title for a source as well as the usual long title. Although not selected by default, some users like to record a different short title for their sources and you can specify a title template for this. If this option is ticked the Title label on the main screen will become a link which allows you to toggle between viewing or editing the long title or the short title.

Birth Settings - Method 2

These settings are available if birth recording method 2 has been chosen on the Birth Settings page.

Birth Method 2 Title Template: Usually method 2 entries link to an existing source which might be called Births Preston, Lancashire. However, if this source doesn't exist the main screen provides the option to create a new source, the title of which is based on this template. You can type text into this template and select tags from the list to include within the template. These tags are then replaced with the appropriate values when the source is created. For example if the template was: {SOURCETYPE}s {PLACE} then the source created might be Births Preston, Lancashire. Useful tags include: {ADDR} - Address field, {OTHER} - Other Information field, {PLACE} - Place field, {SOURCETYPE}. See Template Keywords and Functions for further information. It should be noted that it is unlikely that the {REF} or {KEYPERSON} keywords will be used in method 2 templates.

Images: If the option to link images to birth entries is ticked then the user can choose whether these images will be linked to the citation or to the fact itself. Technically there isn't really much difference between these two options. The user can also decide whether they want the multimedia image record to be just linked to the birth fact/citation or to every fact/citation that is created for the entry (e.g. residence, occupations, etc.).

Source Text: It is always recommended that method 1 should be used if transcriptions of the birth entries will be made. However, if a method 2 user wishes to record data in the source text field on the main screen then they can. The obvious option here might seem to be to record the data in the citation text field. However, an average birth entry will probably lead to several citations being created (for birth, occupation, residence, etc.) which would mean several separate copies of the source text being saved. Another option therefore is to create the source text within a note record and have a link to this note from each citation. This avoids the duplication of the source text. If the source text ever needed to be edited in the future it would only need to be edited in one place rather than in each of the citations.