List of people in cemeteries

[martielee 0]

I know how to create a report with a list of all of the cemeteries/burial places in my database. Is there a way to get the list of people in those cemeteries? I haven't been able to find a setting for this.

 

Thanks for help.

[martielee 0]

Ah! I think I finally figured it out.

[martielee 0]

OK, this is driving me crazy. I have 8 names on the report that do not include any burial information (but does include the death date). I have checked and rechecked their information – all appears to be correct, including “Burial” marked as a Primary tag (I had to correct some and that worked for them).

 

This is the Filter I’m using for List of People:

Burial

Any Place Field

Is not empty

END

 

I have the Output Columns set to list

Burial Group* Tag; Place Detail 1

Burial Group* Tag; County

Burial Group* Tag; State

Death Group* Tag; Date

Name Group* Tag; Last, Given Name

 

I get the information EXCEPT for 8 people. Ugh. I can’t see anything wrong.

 

Any suggestions as to what I’m overlooking?

 

Thanks.

[Michael Hannah 0]

Is it correct that these 8 people appear in your report but with no place data? I can think of two possible issues. First you only output three of the ten place fields, but the filter is for any field non-empty. Could there be data only in one of the other fields? Second could there be some unprintable characters in these fields, often caused by copy/paste from another source?

 

Hope this gives you ideas.

[martielee 0]

Yes, these 8 people appear in the report with no place data, even though they have information in at least one place field (sometimes just the state). Everyone else with information in at least one place field (e.g., state only) printed correctly.

 

Thanks for some ideas. I've checked everything for one of them (my dad) and can't find anything wrong. In fact, I deleted his burial information completely to make sure there was nothing weird in there; then added Burial again and reentered the correct information without copy/paste. Everything (except date) is exactly like my mom's (same cemetery, city, county, state, country), but his doesn't work (hers does). I only get his death date and name on the report.

[Michael Hannah 0]

Doesn't make sense to me either, martielee. It has to be something about those specific 8 Burial tags, possibly in combination with the Report definition. I have tried to reproduce this with a bunch of ideas, and cannot seem to do so no matter what I have tried. What are your options on the Places tab of your List of People Report Options? What, if anything, do these 8 Burial tags have in common? Since you have looked carefully at the tags, could there be something special about the Place record(s) these tags are using? Are all 8 the same Location? Open the Master Place List and open each Place record to see what Style these Place records are using, and anything else that may look unusual. Have you done an Optimize lately? The Optimize routine is generally what cleans the Master Place List. Finally, try adding one more output column, which is "Burial Group* tag; Place" with a large width and see what that produces in the report for these 8.

 

I know it sounds like I am clutching at straws, but TMG is not random. Any report output is based on the data and its settings, and the options of the report. So there has to be something we are overlooking.

[martielee 0]

I’ve worked with computers (and TMG) enough to know that the problem is with me; it’s just frustrating that I can’t find it.

 

6 of those 8 people are in the same cemetery, but I have over 50 relatives buried there and they print just fine.

1 of those people (my dad) is in a cemetery where I have over 60 relatives buried and they print just fine.

The 8^th one is in a cemetery where I have 5 others that print just fine.

 

I tried the option you suggested – nothing printed in that column.

I cannot find anything that these 8 have in common that is different than others in the same cemetery.

 

I have deleted the Burial tag and printed – of course they were not included on the report. Then I added the Burial tag and reentered with state only – same results of no data. So I don’t think the Burial tag & information is the problem. There must be some other problem with these people and I’ll start investigating that now.

 

Thank you for your patience and help. If I ever figure this out, I’ll be sure to post here.

 

Marlene

[martielee 0]

Well, Huh! I fixed it and I honestly don't know why that fixed it.

 

Many years ago (many versions back), I added a "person" with the name of the Cemetery for my most popular cemeteries. I then added the Tag "Cemetery" to each person buried there, selected that Cemetery as the 2nd Principal. This allowed me to print a list of people in those cemeteries. Apparently I thought I was going to do each cemetery that way, but it proved to be too time-consuming so I abandoned that idea. I did like having the 2 largest ones, though, since most of my mom's and dad's people are buried there.

 

I just deleted the Cemetery Tag for those 8 people, then reconnected them and all works like it should.

 

I don't know why. I have worked in IT for many years and computers still baffle me.

 

Marlene

[Michael Hannah 0]

Glad to hear you fixed it, Marlene. There had to be something unique about those 8 tags. I am guessing you had the "Cemetery" tag in the Burial group, and guess it was Primary for the Cemetery person but not for the buried person, so it showed on your list.

 

I like having "pseudo" cemetery people. Like your idea of only using them for your 2 largest ones, I only use them for those cemeteries which contain a large number of my ancestors. But I do not have a separate tag. I just add the cemetery person as a Witness to the Burial tag itself with a custom role. I find this works well.

 

If you are interested, in my on-line book describing "My Way" of customizing TMG I discuss the concept of "pseudo" people here, and specifically mention my way of using cemetery "people" (which I treat as one type of Location "people") here. The sentences for my Burial tag type are here which include the custom role for the "cemetery" Witness. If you ever decide to revisit that idea for your project perhaps my notes will be of interest.

 

Hope this gives you ideas,

[martielee 0]

Great idea! I never thought about connecting as a Witness - I like that.

 

The reason I was running this report of all cemeteries is that I've been browsing through Find A Grave, looking for tombstone photos that have been added recently. Found quite a few this week.

 

....off to read those links you posted....

 

THANKS!

[Butterfly 0]

I have found if a person was cremated they are not listed in a cemetery. they may be buried there but the cemetary does not require they be notified

[Michael Hannah 0]

True, but in that case there should be some kind of official record of the cremation itself which can be cited specifying where it was done. For exactly such circumstances I created a custom tag type (Cremation) in the Burial group to record such events which I discuss here in my book. That is generally considered the officially documented event equivalent to a burial. I do not have enough cremations at the same crematorium among my ancestors to do this, but one could still have a "pseudo" person which was the crematorium as a Witness to any such events at that facility. I have not (yet) added a custom Witness role of "crematorium" in my Cremation tag's sentences for such pseudo people, but it could be similar to the cemetery role in the Burial tag I mention above.

 

As for scattering (or burying) the ashes, I generally document that in an Anecdote tag as a separate event, since it can be quite some time later and in a different location that the actual cremation. As you note, such disposition of ashes events seldom have any "official" record, and the only source is usually some informal family record. But if you know the information, it can be quite a nice addition to that person's narrative, especially noting the person's involved in the event.

 

Hope this gives you ideas,