jgr

I am using the modified census entry system that makes all family members witnesses to the entry for the head of household. I have an identical witness sentence for the 1920 census and the 1930 census except for the year: [W] appeared on the 1920 census of< [LCI],>< [LCN],> [LS]<, at [LD]><, enumerated [D]> in the household of [P] <and [PO]><, [WM]> <[M0]> [W] appeared on the 1930 census of< [LCI],>< [LCN],> [LS]<, at [LD]><, enumerated [D]> in the household of [P] <and [PO]><, [WM]> <[M0]> I know the sentences are identical because I copied and pasted the 1920 census sentence into the 1930 census sentence, changing only the year. Yet, repeatedly, the sentences produce different results: He appeared on the 1920 Federal Census of Haskell Twp., Tillman County, OK, enumerated 28 Feb 1920, in the household of his parents, Clay Rex Cottrell and Opal Robertson Cottrell. He appeared on the 1930 Federal Census of Midland, Midland County, TX, enumerated 17 Apr 1930. in the household of his parents, Clay Rex Cottrell and Opal Robertson Cottrell. Note the comma after the date in 1920 and the period after the date in 1930. I'm baffled. Any ideas? -- jgr

Follow-up: Operator error, of course. The witness statement I should have been looking at was the one for the "with parents" role, not the regular witness statement. The "with parents" role did have an errant period, which has now been removed.

Holly, I was waiting to see if anyone else chimed in who had experience with this. (I was hoping someone else had tried it!) It seems in theory like a perfectly sound concept, and you'll be able to test it thoroughly in the empty project before you try to merge the projects.The one hitch I can think of might be the format of the source reference from Ancestry versus the source format you're already using in your existing project.

You could try: Column 1: Prin1 Given Last Column 2: Prin2 Surname That'd give you FirstName MaidenName MarriedName, no?

I swear, writing sentences in TMG is going to drive me to drink. What I want to produce is: If both parents known: Person was the son of Father and Mother If only the father is known: Person was the son of Father If only the mother is known: Person was the son of Mother I'd love to be able to use PAR but that produces that #$%@ initial comma: Person was the, son of Father and Mother Is there any way to do this??? Thanks!

The problem is the comma at the start of the phrase produced by the variable [PAR]. I want to produce a simple sentence: John was the son of John Smith and Mary Jones. That apparently can't be done without roles, and that's a royal pain... There are often uses for a simple parentage statement without having it as a subordinate clause to some other fact (in other words, not set off by the comma). And that apparently can't be done without roles, and I'd hate to have to do that every time I want this statement.

I was afraid you were going to say that. Okay... where's the wishlist??? I'd like to add a request for a variable that doesn't add that #$%@# comma!!!

I suspect the problem here may be that you're talking in terms of citations, and TMG's terminology for that I think you mean is sources. If I gather correctly, you want to be able to add something new to cite -- a new source of information. That's called a source in TMG, and each time you cite it, that's called a citation. To add a source, drop down the Tools menu at the top, choose Master Source List, and you'll see a box open with a list of all your existing sources. Then choose Add to add one.

Is there a mail list for John Cardinal's TMG Utility? (I have a question -- how to use Add Events and in doing so add ONLY a sort date and not a date...)

Thanks. I'll remember to ask on TMG-L in the future. (I did just figure this out... what I was missing was how to indicate that the date field was blank but still supply a sort date field -- and if I'd just RTFM, I'd have seen before that I need to enter a tab...)

I have a single project I am working on that I'd like to fuss with on two computers. I thought the easiest way to do this would be to do a backup of the project on the main computer and transfer that and restore it on the secondary computer. And ditto in reverse: where changes are made on the secondary computer, do a backup and transfer that and restore it on the main computer. What has me a bit nervous about this is that the backup file size is always different -- and smaller -- on the secondary computer. I can't help but wonder if I'm losing something in the translation. Example: today I backed up the project on the main computer (a W2K Pro system) and the file size was 710,192 bytes. I transferred that to the secondary computer (a WinXP Pro system) and restored it there. Then I immediately backed it up using the exact same backup method (default backup project). The backup on the secondary system was 649,974 bytes. Is this merely a function of the different operating systems, or am I losing data somewhere? And is there a better or safer method of doing this?

Yup. Both are set to normal compression.

Nope. I literally did a full backup (customizations and all) on computer #1, telling it to backup EVERYTHING. Then I transferred that to computer #2 and did a full restore. In theory, the two should now be identical. So I did a full backup on computer #2, with the identical settings in every way to computer #1, and the size is still different. The only variable I can identify is that one is Win2K and the other is WinXP. Nope. The project was backed up on computer #1, restored immediately on computer #2 then backed up immediately on computer #2 using the exact same settings.

Nope. Just tested it again with absolutely identical full backup (project & customization) settings. Nope. Default cluster size on Win2K and WinXP is the same. Hokay. That's all I need to know. Thanks.

You cite it exactly as you would with data viewed at the National Archives (with the roll number etc.), except that you would add a line something to the effect "as viewed online at Ancestry.com" to make it clear where you viewed the record. To view the roll number, look at the results page for the individual (see attached image for an example).

That's all you would normally expect to find in an Index. To get the rest of the available info, you need to order an actual copy of the pension file from the National Archives and Records Administration. For more info, try this explanation at Ancestry.com.

Okay. This is driving me bonkers. I cannot for the LIFE of me figure out the punctuation rules here. What I'm trying to do is create a source definition that works both for TMG and for Second Site, and I have it all figured out EXCEPT the TMG punctuation rule. An example is the Social Security Death Index. For the first reference in TMG, I'd want the long footnote: [TITLE], online <, [CD]><. Hereinafter cited as SSDI Online>. which prints as: Social Security Death Index, online http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com/. Hereinafter cited as SSDI Online. For the second and subsequent reference in TMG, I'd want it simply to read: SSDI Online. In Second Site, I want that SSDI Online to be a hotlink. So I'm using the Supplemental area of the Source Definition field, and I have it as: [HID:][sS:]<a href="http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com/">[:SS][:HID] SSDI Online[HID:][sS:]</a>[:SS][:HID] Then I have the Output Forum for the Short Title as: [COMMENTS]<, [CD]> In Second Site, it's perfect. It appears as SSDI Online://http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com/...m/"]SSDI Online. But in TMG it appears with a second period: SSDI Online.. I have tried everything I can think of, but can't make that second !%@*& period go away and leave me alone. So I'm begging: (1) How do I drive a stake through the heart of that second period? (2) Is there a primer somewhere on TMG punctuation? Bless you...

I will ask John, but am reasonably sure I have to use the hidden codes to get this to appear the way I want it to appear, as a hotlink with the words I want and not simply as a URL. In other words, I want it to say: SSDI Online and not SSDI Online, http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com/

Would that it would be so simple, great beautiful guru. Fact is, even if I DELETE the CD field entirely, I still get the double period. I have tried the following: [COMMENTS] [COMMENTS]. [COMMENTS]<, [CD]> [COMMENTS]<, [CD]>. [COMMENTS]<. [CD]> [COMMENTS]<. [CD]>. The output in every case is: SSDI Online.. This is a brand-new project created specifically to test this, with a brand-new database consisting of precisely two people, in the latest TMG v. 6.12, so I doubt it's a database error. In addition, if you'll note, I have the comma inside the angle brackets for the Full Footnote form, and it works exactly as I would expect it to. I'm doomed...

I'll second that. I'm also fundamentally and inherently lazy when it comes to that sort of thing!

In a census entry using Terry's wonderful system, the children in an 1880 census report are listed out of age order (and I'd prefer to have them in age order). I'm sure I entered them in the wrong order, but I was hoping that if I moved the oldest child from second place to first place in the witness list, it would bring her to the front of the order. (See attached for what I mean.) That's not working. Is there a way to do this without deleting and re-entering the children in the right order? The relevant part of the sentence is: [P] <|and [PO]> appeared on the 1880 Federal Census of< [LCI],>< [LCN],> [LS]<, at [LD]><, enumerated [D]>. <Their children [RG:with Parents] were listed as living with them.> Thanks.

Fortunately, there weren't all that many witnesses on this census, and I'll be a LOT more careful on the others! Thanks for reporting it as a bug.

Nope. I've moved Mary Isabella into the top position, but she still stays as #2 in the report output. See attached.

Is it possible to write a memo so that it includes HTML codes for use with Second Site but excludes those codes for TMG reports? Example: A [html:]<a href="http://www.rootsweb.com/~msattala/register.html">Descriptive Register</a>[:HTML] of adult men was prepared for Attala County, MS, in 1864-65. The exact purpose is not clear but may well have been part of the conditions of amnesty at the end of Civil War. What I want in Second Site is for the words Descriptive Register to be a hotlink to the online version of that Register. What I want in a TMG report is for the sentence to simply read: "A Descriptive Register of adult men was prepared for Attala County, MS, in 1864-65. The exact purpose is not clear but may well have been part of the conditions of amnesty at the end of Civil War." Doable??? Thanks!

Nevermind. There is an answer, and it's part of Second Site (my apologies for not looking there first). The solution is to combine the [HID] codes of TMG with the [sS] codes of Second Site, which overrides the [HID] code for Second Site. So my sentence works in both just the way I want if I write it as: A [HID:][sS:]<a href="http://www.rootsweb.com/~msattala/register.html">[:SS][:HID]Descriptive Register[HID:][sS:]</a>[:SS][:HID] of adult men was prepared for Attala County, MS, in 1864-65. The material inside the HID codes does NOT print for TMG, but since it's inside SS codes, it DOES work for Second Site.