Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Family Tree Maker Versino 2009 - Date Calculator

It's Saturday Night, I needed a brain break, and Genealogy Blogger Randy Seaver submitted his weekly Challenge to use. Please visit Randy.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Where's Your Date Calculator?

It's Saturday Night again - time for a little Genealogy Fun. My readers waxed very poetic last week both in comments to my SNGF post and on their own blogs. Well done!


This week, let's do something quick and easy in your genealogy software program. Are you able to calculate an age at death from a birth date and a death date? I usually can. Are you able to calculate a birth date from a death date and an age at death (in years, months, days)? I usually cannot.


Here's the challenge:


1) Open your genealogy software program and search for a "Date Calculator." You could go exploring in your Tools or Options menu, or you could use the Help menu to find it.


2) Open the "Date Calculator" and put in a death date for one of your ancestors and put in an age at death (use the one you know, or just make one up - we're just testing this feature today). Do the same thing by entering a birth date and a death date in the "Date Calculator" and see how old someone was when they died.


3) Tell us what software you're using and where you found the "Date Calculator." Tell us the information you found out from using the "Date Calculator."




I can do this:



On my Tombstone Blog, I post photographs of tombstones on Tuesday, so I have a number of examples, on line now, or will be soon, of headstones with a Death Date and the Age at the time of Death. No birth date. So, here is how I use Family Tree Maker to identify the Birthdate. Of course, other documentation is used to confirm this date, but it provides a starting point.

On the People Tab, Person screen for Charles T. Deats the following information was in my family file.

Figure 129

From a census record, I knew that he was born about 1899. The Tombstone stated that he died January 21, 1987.

The cemetery visit is documented with a Source Citation found in Figure 130.

Figure 130

With a digital image of the headstone, in this specific example, the dates were one a Family Monument.


As part of the Source-Citation, the Image will be attached to that Cemetery Visit source-citation. Do to that, Clicking on the Media Tab, in the Right Hand Panel, clicking on New, will open a small window with two choices. This image is not yet in the family file, so Add New Media is selected, as seen in Figure 131. Since we are documenting the Death Date, that is on the monument, the Death fact is selected.

Figure 131

Clicking on Add New Media will open a navigation window where the image will be selected.

Figure 132

As is my custom, I keep the original image in a seperate folder on the computer but want the image included in the Media folder associated with this family file. When the image is selected a Copy to Media Folder window opens and the Copy Image to Media Folder is selected. WATCH this window as the Default selection is a Link To image. This is a User Choice.

Figure 133

The images is now part of the Media Folder for this family file. The image now appears in the Media Tab for with the Source-Citation for the Death Date.

Figure 134

The image says that he died Jan. 21, 1987, aged 88 years, 9 days. All of the dates on this monument included the full number of Years, Month's and Dates. Unless otherwise proven differently, the number of months is zero (0). For a better view of the monument information double clicking on the image in Figure 134 will open a View Detail window. Other information will be included in another blog dealing with images.

Figure 135

Here is where the Date Calculator comes in very handy. You will notice on the right end of the Birth Date fact is a Calculator ICON. The Cursor needs to be in the Birth Date fact field

Figure 136

Te Date Calculator window will open with some information selected. Since we are trying to calculate the Birth Date, that bullet is selected. The Date is filled in from the information already included and the 88 Years, 9 Days are entered and the Copy button is selected.

Figure 137

The information that is know, from the monument has been entered and the Calculate button pressed and the date is displayed.

Figure 138

Clicking on Close will close this window and return you to the Birth fact.

Wanting to have the image to be supporting information for that date, return to Media Tab and selecting New. This time the Link to Existing Media is selected.

Figure 139

The Find Media window will open and the Image used in Figure 133 is selected.

Figure 140

After clicking OK, you will be returned to the Source-Citation, Media tab with a thumbnail view of the image.

Figure 141

Additional information can be found on the Family Tree Maker Online Help Center.

http://ftm.custhelp.com/


Searching for 'calculator' will return a number of Knowledge Base articles, but these are specific to this blog.

Adding Media Items in Family Tree Maker 2009

Calculating a Birth Date in Family Tree Maker 2009

Calculating an Individual’s Age on a Specific Date

Calculating the Date of a Specific Event in Family Tree Maker 2009

How to Enter an Intra Familial Marriage - Part 4

Continued from How to Enter an Intra Familial Marriage - Part 3

A look at the Outline Descandant Report from Samuel Osbun, seen in Figure 114, will show the two relationships that this Intra Famial Marriage created. The two individuals are listed, with their spouse, under their Parents. Note the order of the names.

Under Fred and Nancy (Osbun) Pittenger is Nathaniel Pittenger and Elizabeth Osbun
and
Under Isaac Osbun and Eileen Gilbert is Elizabeth Oshun and Nathaniel Pittenger

The Child is listed first, then the Spouse with a "+" sign in front of the name.

Figure 126

Returning to the People, Family View and the Index, those "duplicated" names in Figure 126 does NOT appear in the Index. Each Individual is listed once in the index but multiple times in the Outline Descendant Report.

Figure 127

There is a Nathaniel Pettenger Jr listed, as he was the child of this marriage. Nathaniel was added the same way as in Figure 116 of How to Enter an Intra Familial Marriage - Part 1.

More information on how to handle Relationships can be found on the Family Tree Maker Knowledge Base website. Go to this website: http://ftm.custhelp.com/ Enter 4202 into the Keyword Search box and read that Article.

How to Enter an Intra Familial Marriage - Part 3

Continuing from How to Enter an Intra Familial Marriage - Part 2

We left of in How to Enter an Intra Familial Marriage - Part 2 where Nathaniel Pittenger and Elizabeth Osbun were married. We were on the People, Person, Attach/Detach, Attach Spouse screen in Figure 121. From there the "Select The Spouse To Attach" screen. Here we select Osbun, Elizabeth from the list.

Figure 122

Once Elizabeth has been selected, the Attach Spouse screen will change to a New Family window, where you will click on the button to the Left of the New Family entry.

Figure 123

Clicking on OK will take you back to the People, Family View showing the New Family and relationship.

Figure 124

Going back to the Kinship Report will indicate that Nathaniel and Elizabeth are "Self" and "Wife".

Figure 125

Continued on How to Enter an Intra Familial Marriage - Part 4

How to Enter an Intra Familial Marriage - Part 2

Continued from How to Enter a Intra Familial Marriage - Part 1

Following the marriage of Isaac Osbun and Eileen Gilbert, they had a Daughter, Elizabeth Osbune. Clicking on the Add Child, again, will open the Name window.

Figure 118

A quick look at the Kinship Report, at this point, might be helpful. Select Nathaniel Pittenger, the Child in Figure 118, then Click on Publish in the Workspace will open the Collection tab, from which Relationship Reports will be selected. The select the Kinship Report.

Figure 119

The Kinship report for Nathaniel will be generated. Not that Nathaniel is listed as "Self", as that is who was selected, and that Elizabeth Osbun is listed at First Cousin.

Figure 120

Now, Elizabeth Osbun and Nathaniel Pittenger marry. Both are currently in the Family File, to the trick is to ATTACH the two together. This is done by clicking on Person, on the People Workspace. A drop down menu will appear, where Attach/Detach Person will appear and another menu will open to the right. Select Attach Spouse. Remember that we are on Nathaniel's record.

Figure 121

To be continued on How to Enter an Intra Familial Marriage Part 3

How to Enter an Intra Familial Marriage - Part 1

A listener of the Genealogy Gems Podcast, Episode 63, asked How to Enter a situation where Cousins Marry. A term that might describe this is "Intra Familial Marriage".

Here is the question:

MAILBOX: Listener Question regarding Family Tree Maker 2009 Platinum Edition.
"I have at least one instance in my husband's tree where two first cousins married. This, of course means that some of the tree overlaps itself. I can not get the FTM software to recognize that the people are the same…Do you or any of your listeners know if I am just missing something or can it not be done??”

This post will describe how to create this relations.

1. Go to the People, Family View
2. This list of of Individual in the first family

• Father - Samuel Osbun
• Mother - Sarah Holmes
• Child - Nancy Osbun
• Child - Isaac Osbun

Figure: 114

You can see the Relationships within the family above.

Nancy marries Fred Pittenger. One of the ways to do this is to click on the Add Spouse under Nancy's name. In this case, Double clicking on Nancy, in Figure 114, changed the view to Figure 115. A small window will open to enter the name.

Figure 115

Fred and Nancy had a Child, Nathaniel Pittenger. Clicking on Add Child, below the Parents will open a small window to Enter the name and select the sex of this new child.

Figure 116

Now, Isaac Oshun, the second child of Nathaniel Pittenger and Elizabeth Oshun married Eileen Gilbert. She was added by clicking on the Add Spouse to the Right of Isaac. Again the Name and sex small window will open where Eileen Gilbert is entered.

Figure 117

To be Continued on How to Enter an Intra Familial Marriage - Part 2.