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agthorn

GEDCOM multi marriage handling

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I recently updated my GEDCOM data on WorldConnect and in so doing I inspected a new 2nd marriage entry that I had added to see how it was displaying.

 

http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/i...rn&id=I5172

 

I have not inspected the GEDCOM output from TMG exactly yet, to determine fully that the problem is partly WorldConnects read on the data, but I am guessing that the GEDCOM created is not sequencing the marriages correctly. By listing the first marriage second, it obviously does not report well.

 

Is there a way to control this, since apparently the date of the marriages (one being earlier than the other) is not sufficient to do so. I know we have sibling numbering but I don't see any sort of marriage numbering ability in TMG.

 

Any and all guidance on this appreciated.

 

William Silverthorn

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Well, wasn't expecting a response this quick from World Connect. I forwarded the quote from the link you gave me: "According to the GEDCOM specs, it's the responsiblity of the receiving software to correctly sequence tags

by date if that's desired. Apparently WorldConnect doesn't do that."

 

Here the 'response' from World Connect:

------------

Hi William,

 

I'm sorry, but I'm afraid that is not quite so.

 

Date sequencing is an option. Ideally, it should be an option in the program exporting the GEDCOM -- for several reasons:

1) Suppose there is no date entry for one or both marriages. The creator of the database/GEDCOM should be able to sort/arrange the marriages for GEDCOM export in the correct order in his/her program.

 

2) Children are another problem. Suppose a couple has 5 children born between 1810 and 1820. One of the 5 was born in 1812. A date sequence sort order would result in

child 1 b 1810/1820

child 2 b 1810/1820

child 3 b 1810/1820

child 4 b 1810/1820

Elizabeth b 1812

which is obviously incorrect.

 

To solve your immediate problem, in your genealogy program, unlink spouses (and any children of that spouse), then relink the spouses in the correct marriage order. Export a new GEDCOM for upload.

 

World Connect may have a date sort option available at some time in the future, but it will not be a default for the reasons mentioned above. Pat

------------

 

So, I am left to do the above 'surgery' to my data until either the GEDCOM creator or reader take the time and make it easier for us genealogists!!! I imagine I have a lot more 2 marriage principles that are not displaying correctly due to this lack of proper handling on either end.

 

FYI - this is where I am. Would be great if TMG would put the above in their items to look into.

 

William

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The person responding has no clue as to the GEDCOM v5.5 specs.

 

1) There is no specification for event sorting.

 

2) And the spec states: "The preferred order of the CHILdren pointers within a FAMily structure is chronological by birth."

 

There is no provision for a child order independent of birth date.

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The person responding has no clue as to the GEDCOM v5.5 specs.

 

1) There is no specification for event sorting.

 

2) And the spec states: "The preferred order of the CHILdren pointers within a FAMily structure is chronological by birth."

 

There is no provision for a child order independent of birth date.

Sorry for responding so late. :wub:

 

I am personally not familiar with the specifics of the GEDCOM spec, :wacko:

but I do get her point about the child sorting. Even TMG has child numbering as an option to prevent the very problem she is mentioning from occuring. If TMG does child sequencing, why would it not do marriage sequencing or at least entertain this as an option in its next release? :huh:

 

It would seem that anything to make the purchasers of TMG happy with the software they purchased would seem to be a worthy goal for the creators of this package.

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I also import things from GEDCOMs from rootsweb. If the marriage has no date, TMG puts them at the bottom of mine. At that point, I'm not worried too much about it.

 

If I learn more about whether it is a first marriage or second marriage, I can sequence it myself after-the-fact by putting "before 'some date'" or "after 'some date'" in the date field to place it where it needs to go. Much can be implied by birthdates of children with one surname or the other.

 

If I am dealing with multiple marriages in multiple places, I have been known to put "1st m of husb" or something like that in the memo field of the marriage.

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Sorry for responding so late. :wub:

 

I am personally not familiar with the specifics of the GEDCOM spec, :wacko:

but I do get her point about the child sorting. Even TMG has child numbering as an option to prevent the very problem she is mentioning from occuring. If TMG does child sequencing, why would it not do marriage sequencing or at least entertain this as an option in its next release? :huh:

 

It would seem that anything to make the purchasers of TMG happy with the software they purchased would seem to be a worthy goal for the creators of this package.

 

Not if what it takes to makes them happy conflicts with certain standards held by the developers. An example of this is John Cardinal's Utility which allows users to perform certain functions which will never be included in TMG itself simply because those functions allow users to violate certain principles of Bob Velke's conception of data integrity.

 

I'd also take the word of Bob's crew about anything concerning the gedcom standard over *anyone* connceted with Ancestry/Roostweb. ;)

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