Unconfirmed Data

[Badger 0]

I've just come across a death that may be my ancestor, but unconfirmed. What is the best way to mark the data in TMG as unconfirmed.

 

Sorry if this is a really stupid question but I've never needed to do this before.

 

Many thanks.

[Michael Hannah 0]

Hi Angela,

 

No, this is not a stupid question at all. You are actually being very smart to realize that it might not be your ancestor. Many would just assume it was without question. Uncertainty of conclusions is very common in genealogy, and should be something all genealogists consider and deal with appropriately.

 

Actually you raise two separate issues:

 

First, how do you make sure that any report or narrative you generate makes your uncertainty clear?

Second, how do you make your uncertainty obvious to yourself when you view that person's Details in TMG?

 

The methods to accomplish either or both can be as simple or complex as you desire. Fortunately TMG gives us lots of features to do this. I will offer a couple of suggestions I might use, other users are likely to offer their favorite methods.

 

First, I would add a Death tag to this person, but would probably enter the date as a "Say" date or a "Circa" date to reflect my uncertainty. Next I would ensure the tag's sentence makes my uncertainty clear, usually by putting something in the memo. Since I find this a common issue, I actually use a custom Death tag type with an appropriate sentence, but others may have a custom Role they have added to the standard Death tag type for such a sentence. I like my custom tag type because the tag Name on the Details screen reminds me that this is uncertain. I would also add a comment to the Citation of the source that explained why I was uncertain, both for others to see and to remind myself later why I was uncertain. I choose to use the Citation Memo for that purpose, and have customized my Source Output Templates to output that field appropriately, but you could just add a comment to the Citation Detail. Finally, I would use my mechanisms to add a "ToDo" research task to remind me to do further research to try to resolve my uncertainty. Many users find the Research Log appropriate for this. I use it, but also use a custom "ToDo" tag type for an even more obvious reminder for me.

 

It is not necessary to do all of these many methods, only what works for you.

 

Hope this gives you ideas,

[Badger 0]

Hi Michael

 

Many thanks for the suggestions and I think adding a custom death tag with sentence and also a note on the "to do" list is the way I'll proceed. However, (isn't there always a however) I now think that this person, being the 2nd wife of my great great grandfather may not be a second wife at all and a completely unrelated person. It has occurred to me that if I could highlight this person or even changing the font colour of her name on her main record, maybe in red, then the occurrence of her name on other records, for instance as the 2nd wife of my gt gt grandfather would be also be in red showing me instantly of the uncertainty of her place in the family.

Is this possible?

 

Again, many thanks

[Terry Reigel 0]

Angela,

 

You can make the name of people a different color in most screens with the Accent feature. There is an article on that on my website. I discuss there the use of an Accent for "unconnected" people, which is somewhat like your case. You could create a "questionable" flag and use it highlight this person and perhaps others to do what you want.

[Badger 0]

Oh...Excellent !!!

 

I've just set my lady's ID in accent to Red, so now she features in red on her own id record and automatically on my Gt Gt Grandfathers record. I can see how the flag thing would be a better way to set it and I need to study your website and see how I can set a flag for UCA (Unconfirmed Ancestor) and accent that flag as Red as I can see it being a great way to add, to TMG, those people that need further investigation.

 

Many thanks for taking the time to help.

 

Angela

[Terry Reigel 0]

You're welcome, Angela,

 

As long as you only have one person to accent, using the ID# is probably a fine way to go. I didn't suggest that because I'd forgotten you could use that filter in Accents.

 

But setting up the Flag is simple too. Just create a Flag with values of N,Y, then use the Y value for the Accent. My article tells you how to set up a Flag for a large number of people, such as the Connected Flag (when you don't already who they are) or a Related-by flag. If you are going to apply it, at least initially, to only one or a few people, you can easily do that manually.