How to document a Relationship?

Warning: This is a work in progress.

 A question that I see on the various Family Tree Maker message boards, is How do I document a relationship?

We have Facts that we record, with each Fact we Cite where we received that information from. Some of these documents reflect relationships. Within FTM2012 we have a nice Relationship view, in the People Workspace, Person View, and the Relationship Tab.

 This is a nice chart and clearly shows us the Relationships, and the types of relationships between Parents and Children, and "Husband and Wife" (I will not address the issues surrounding those two terms).

Nice chart and pretty clear. BUT, how did we get there. Of course the answer is within FTM2012.

The issue is, how did WE get to the relationship "conclusion" or how do we record that.

In a project I worked on, I used the Name Fact to record what the various sources told me about this person, and other people.

For example:

1850 Census shows Head of Household - James Howard (53);  and Cath Howard (39); Julia Howard (50); Margaret Howard (20); Nancy Howard (16); Wm Howard (13); James H Howard (11); Harry C Howard (8); David R Howard (6); Mary Brannon (17); Ann M Getzandamer (49): Augustus Getzandamer (6); Rebecca Coarley (25); Roletta Carter (35);1880 Census shows David R Howard as Brother of William R Howard (head of household)

1860 Census shows Head of Household - James Howard (63);  and Chas R Howard (38); John E Howard (34); Nannie H Howard (26); Wm R Howard (23); J M H Howard (21); Harry C Howard (18); David R Howard (16); Margt Fitzgerald (26); Ann Carroll (27)

1870 Census shows Head of Household - William Howard (33);  and Ann H Howard (36); Henry Howard (29); David Howard (27); John E Howard (42); James M Howard (31); Annie Carlin (40); Joshua William (39)

1880 Census Shows Relationships with Head of Household - William R Howard (43); Elizabeth W Howard (41), Wife; William R Howard (7m, Son); Charles R Howard (4); Ann H Howard (46), Sister; Harry C Howard (38), Brother; David R Howard (38) Brother; Sophia Johnson (55), Servant; Laura Thomspon (35), Servant; Jennie Francis (17) Servant

1900 Census Shows Relationships with Head of Household - William H Howard (66); William R Howard (63), Brother; Elizabeth M Howard (60), Sister-in-Law; Charles R Howard (24), Nephew; William R Howard (20), Nephew; Harry C Howard (58), Brother; David R Howard (56), Brother; Harriet Bolton (46), Servant; James Mch Howard (61), Brother

1920 Census Shows Relationships with Head of Household - Henry C Howard [Hardy C Howard] (77); David R Howard (75), Brother; Rosa C Howard (50), Cousin
Maryland Births and Christenings, 1650-1995 shows  David Ridgely to his parents, James Howard and Catherine _____.

You get the point. I put these notes in the Preferred Fact.

This worked pretty well. But I started this before we were provided the ability to Print Notes, including Fact Notes.

During my clean up of this file (this file started in Version 3.4), using FTM2012 for clean up, I have many more options, so how best to do them, and address this relationship documentation issue.

How about using Fact Notes?

The advantage now is, that the Citation is one tab away, on the selected Fact Display (right hand panel in the Person View.

Remembering when Census Records really spelled out relationships, besides being "in the household" I decided to record the make up of the household, in the Residence Fact Notes page.

OK, that works for me. Again, the Citation is two tabs to the right, and IF I want to see the Census Record, it is in the Media Tab. This works for me.

There are other records the show relationships, so I put them into the Fact Notes. I have been moving (Copy/Paste) old information from the Person Notes field, into the more appropriate Fact Notes field.

This has a bonus feature. For example, I don't want Social Security information "out there" so I can mark that FACT as Private, so no one can see that fact nor its details, but I can see them.

Keeping with the Census Record, comparing two census years for a household, that is the selection of a different Residence (fact) Year. It's visual, but it has worked for me.

As I try to point out, "but what does the output look like?". Hier is the Publish Workspace, Pction Collection, Notes Report options.

Lots of options. Private Notes, Person Notes, Fact Notes, Relationship Notes, etc.

Now, why didn't I choose the "Relationship Notes". That IS and option. I tried it, but I liked the ability to enter or check the Fact Notes, be able to see the Citation, AND the ability to view the Media File (Census record for this example). The Relationship Notes were "too busy" for me.

In an earlier blog post, I mentioned the Research Notes, that can be seen above.

There is one more advantage, that I learned earlier, is the Notes tent can be seen in the People Workspace, Family View, for the selected Person.

 Example:

So, I can SEE all of the notes for that person in the Family View.

This is still a work in progress, but it's the direction that I am going.

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Copyright © 2012 by H R Worthington

FTM2012 Reserach Notes

Something that I have not done before, that is to watch the Video's that Ancestry.com offers and can be found on  Facebook.

I just watched this offering:

Ancestry.com LIVE: Keeping Track of All That Research: Using Notes in FTM and Trees

I found that Crista Cowan does a far better job at documenting her research notes then what I do. I would RECOMMEND that you watch that video.

I just have a couple of comments, not against what she offered, but the use of some of the features in Family Tree Maker that I use that is Different then what Crista uses.

There are a couple of options in Family Tree Maker that she doesn't use, that I do. That's not right nor wrong, but different.

1) Person Notes and Research Notes

2) Timeline Feature

3) ToDo / Task List

There are a number of "Notes" in FTM2012. Person Notes, Research Noes, Fact Notes, and Media Notes. What the video used, from the best that I can tell, is the Person Notes. The Person Notes are on the People Workspace, Person View, lower left.

The first NOTES ICON is the Person Notes, while the Second ICON (that is hi-lighted with the hover message "Research note").

This question is, Which one would I use? I would enter the data into this second ICON and not the Person Notes (first ICON). I use the Person Notes for Stories, not my research notes. However, Crista's notion of a quick biography makes some sense. I am not sure that I want to change, but I REALLY like what she did in this presentation.

The second item that I would use, that was not in the video is the TimeLine feature. I have blogged about that in the past, and how it helped me identify a research problem.

Viewing a Time Line

and

FTM2012 - Use of TimeLine Feature

I would use the Timeline feature to review what was going on in a person life, then add the Family History to that Timeline. That 2nd link pointed what is showed me.

As for missing Census records, the positive results, would be in the Fact page for the Residence Fact. Below, it is obvious to me, that I need the 1910 Census.

Please don't get me wrong, I really liked what Crista did in the video, and it gave me something to thing about. Each of us needs to figure out what works for use, as Crista mentioned a couple of times.

The Task List for the person, is where I would put the ToDo items that she pointed out. In fact, it could be in both places, but I RELY on the ToDo list. Reason: I don't have to search for it, Its on the Plan Workspace, a reminder every time I open the program, and it's listed by person. I didn't even have to look, as here is the ToDo list

Lesson Learned: Actually, in watching this YouTube, I learned something new. I have talked about the use of FACT Notes, but had NOT looked at the Notes ICON on the People Workspace, Family View, Right Hand Panel, Notes ICON since I started to use the Fact Notes. The third ICON is ALL of the Notes (Person and Fact) for that person. The notes are labeled. This example is the Person notes, as can be seen above.

Scrolling down that column, are the other notes. The top of the image (below) are notes from the Find-A-Grave Fact notes, and below is the Notes for 1920 Residence Fact Notes.

Based on the Video, both ways of using Research Notes would work. The way I do them, and the way that was suggested by Crista.

I have mentioned before, Check the Output. When and how do you want to present this information.

In the Publish Workspace, Person Collection, Notes we have control over what notes we can include in a report.

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Copyright © 2012 by H R Worthington

FTM2012: Filter Out Media - a learning

In this blog post: List of Burials with Headstone Images I learned that the Filter Out of Media files did not work as I had seen in my file BEFORE I posted the message. What I learned was that only the Media Files, linked to a PERSON will be excluded. That means, that if there is a Media file, a family portrait for example, that Person would be excluded from that report. Not the desired result.

This step should NOT be used in the blog post mentioned above.

The blog post has been updated to reflect that this step should now be used.
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Copyright © 2012 by H R Worthington

List of Burials without Headstone Images - revised

Question: "Does anyone know of a way to create a report that shows all burial data and then filter out the ones that have media attached to them? I want to get a list of open cemeteries that I need to get pictures of gravestones. I tried the custom reports with the filter in all burials with data in the description(that works!!) and then filter out the ones that have media data attached.....that does not work??"

The question is Timely as I have been working on my file, on this same topic.

I'll start by creating a report of everyone,  who has a Burial FACT, what includes a Media File. (Image of a headstone)

Go to the Publish Workspace, Person Collection and Custom Report.

For this report, since the question was "cemeteries that I need to get pictures of gravestones", that suggests the Report would be BY Cemetery, the Person in the Cemetery.

First I named the report "Headstone Media Report", then selected the "Items to Include" ICON.

The report I am generating, is based on the fact that I have a number of towns, or places, where there are multiple cemeteries where I have ancestors. To do that, the Items I want to include are: Burial, Name, and PersonID. That is the Burial Fact, the Name of the Person, and the Person ID. Reason: I may have, and do, have multiple people, with the same name buried in the same cemetery and the PersonID will show the specific person I am looking for. The order of the list of Facts are important, for grouping by Place and Cemetery.

NOTE: I record the Place Name, and the Cemetery Name is in the Description Field.

The Sort order is by Burial Fact PLACE, then Burial Fact DESCRIPTION.

And example of the Report is below:

So each PLACE, which can be filtered later one, is grouped together, then within that PLACE would be the multiple Cemeteries within that PLACE. Then the Name of the Person, and the PersonID.

Now to reduce the number of people in the report. Select "Selected Individuals" and a new window will appear. This is where you "Filter" people in or out, so select Filter In >

The first will be do Filter In EVERYONE who has information, any information, in the Burial Fact. Burial is in the All Facts selection, Burial from the pull down menu of Facts, and "Any Data" from the second pull down menu, and select EXISTS.

This will move everyone with a Burial Fact into the Right Window. Too many, 429.

EDIT: After further testing, the information below, does not work in this specific case.

We now will Filter OUT, everyone who already has a Media File associated with the Burial Fact. (That is where I put headstone pictures)

Selecting "Other", the Media, and Exits, will < Filter OUT anyone with a Media file, from the Right window, reducing the number of people in the report.

NOTE: This Filter WILL Filter OUT every one with a Media File. So, it may remove too may people. I'll post a follow up post with the ability to Identify those you were removed, in error.

Still too many, 479 to 372.

I only want people who are buried in Pennsylvania.  So, we'll  < Filter OUT burial Facts that are NOT in Pennsylvania, or Any Fact Places, that Does Not Contain Pennsylvania.

This gets the number down to 74

 Here is the final report.

 This example has two cemeteries grouped and listed.
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Copyright © 2012 by H R Worthington

How or IF to Cite an Index ?

I have a website, that always has a tab set to that Website: Evidence Explained A relatively new, but much needed resource for us. There is lots of material on the website and lessons that might be of interest to many of us.

As a user of Family Tree Maker, I know that it has a Template feature that is based on Elizabeth Shown Mills book of the same name, Evidence Explained! I have a copy of the book on my desk, especially when working with a New Record Type or document. I even look at it, IF I can't figure our which Template to use OR what the Key Word might be, to get me to the right Template.

If you have read much of this blog, my goal for 2012 is to get ALL of my Sources into the FTM Template feature.

But I am stumped, when I find a Record that is an Index. That is, NOT the complete information, but the record that is found points to another document.

I have heard, from several genealogists, that we should not Cite an Index. Paragraph 2.12, on page 48 suggests that in Index is a Tool and not the record. I agree with that. But Index points to the source that would be "the record". I agree with that as well. BUT, what is not talked about, it the time between finding the Index and being able to actually see "the document or record".

My mind can't keep track of what Indexes that I look at, and the associated record. Now, IF, I found the index and immediately was able to see the record, I might have a different answer. But to try to be consistent, I WILL cite Index Information and use a Template to do so.

Generally, the Indexes that I have found, so far, are for government types of records. City Tax Records, Birth and Death Indexes, for example.

What is the important information that I will find in an Index, would be the name of the person and that the record can be found elsewhere.

Usually, what is found in the Index is:

• Database Title
• Website creater/owner
• Website title
• URL
• Year

In looking for a template options, and what the Index Records were, I select the "Database Online (Courts & Governance, Derivative)" Template.

The template calls for the data listed above.

Pulling up the Citation Screen, the Citation Detail is looking for:

Enter the date the website was accessed, description of the item, and credit line (how the information is credited on the website)

That information is what is in the Citation Detail screen before you start to enter anything in that field. Likewise, the Citation Text says:

Enter pertinent text from the source and/or an explanation of the relevance of the data to your research

The Citation Detail, will provide me with enough information to know what document I am looking for, and the Citation Text would remind me who I was looking for in that document.

For example:

Online publication - Ancestry.com. Baltimore, Maryland Tax Records Index, 1798-1808 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 1999.Original data - Baltimore City Archives. A Name Index to the Baltimore City Tax Records, 1798-1808. Baltimore, MD, USA: Baltimore, MD, 1981.

Source Information
Ancestry.com. Baltimore, Maryland Tax Records Index, 1798-1808 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 1999.

Original data: Baltimore City Archives. A Name Index to the Baltimore City Tax Records, 1798-1808. Baltimore, MD, USA: Baltimore, MD, 1981.

About Baltimore, Maryland Tax Records Index, 1798-1808
The largest city in Maryland, Baltimore boasted a population of over 60,000 residents in 1800. This database is an index to the earliest existing general property tax records in the city, dating between 1798 and 1808. It provides the names of individuals and organizations, along with year of assessment and reference to the original city tax record. Containing over 5700 records, it can be a useful guide to more detailed tax information for researchers seeking ancestors from Baltimore ancestors.

That information is what was on Ancestry.com's website for this Index Hit. If I wasn't interested in the Template feature, I could just use this information, and some of it, would be included in the Web Merge for this Index hit.

Now, I Copy and Paste that information into the Citation NOTEs for that Citation. But here is what I entered into the Citation Detail:

accessed 09 May 2012; tax year 1798; page 166; 1799-1800; page 439; 1801-1803; page 384

 The Citation Text would have:

index for Samuel Worthington; citing Baltimore City Archives, A Name Index to the Baltimore City Tax Records, 1798-1808, Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore, MD, 1981

The Reference Note would not read:

"Baltimore, Maryland Tax Records Index, 1798-1908", database, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com), accessed 09 May 2012; tax year 1798; page 166; 1799-1800; page 439; 1801-1803; page 384. index for Samuel Worthington; citing Baltimore City Archives, A Name Index to the Baltimore City Tax Records, 1798-1808, Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore, MD, 1981.

So, I know what I am looking for, and who I am looking for.

Now the trick here is "how will I remember to follow up". That is where the Task List or ToDo list comes in.

I will Copy and Paste that Reference Note, into my ToDo List for that person. I have a ToDo Category of Locate Source:

My Locate Source list isn't that log, at this point, but I could create a Category for the Baltimore City Archives or the Maryland Archives. Then, when I go to either of those repositories, I would print my Locate Source Category To Do / Task List and I have what  I need to locate that document.

To Cite an Index, is a User's Choice. Not required, but for me, It's important to keep track of those Documents / Sources, that I need to look for, but also to know when and where I found the information (Index) to look for that document.

The Bibliography Report also helps with the Identification of Index Records.

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Copyright © 2012 by H R Worthington

How to get Family Photos into a Family Group Sheet?

How to have a Family Photo into a Family Group Sheet?

I have a photo of my Grandparents:

I would like that photo to be on their Family Group Sheet.

First, the photo my have links from the Photo, to the people in the picture. My example is only two, but if the photo had an entire family, the same steps would need to take place.

Go to the Media Workspace and find the photo.

Now select the Details Tab.

Notice that there is only ONE link from that photo to a Person.

Clicking on New, Link to Person, will allow you to add other people to that Photo.

You then Enter the Name (Surname, Given Name). Selecting the Name, and have Link to Person Only.

This will now add(Link)  this second person to  that image.

Going to that Person, this picture will be in the Media Tab for that person.

Going to the Publish Workspace, Relationship Collection, Family Group Sheet, you will see that there is NO Family Image at the top of the Family Group Sheet.

On the Right Hand Panel, is a Family Picture pull down menu. The Image that was just linked is now listed and can be selected.

Now the Family Group Sheet has this Family Photo.

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Copyright © 2012 by H R Worthington

Missing Census Records

There was a question on the Ancestry.com Message Board about Family Tree Maker. It was about a Report to show what Census Records that the user might have missed.

It should be noted, that I record Census Records using the Residence Fact. What I did was to create a Custom Report (Publish Workspace, Person Collection, Custom Report)  and have three Items. Birth, Residence, and Death Facts.

In the Items to Include ICON (first ICON in the Right Hand Panel), those are the Facts Selected. For this report, the order of FACTs are Birth, Residence, and Death. For each Fact, I made sure that the "Include only preferred facts" was selected.

Each Fact was selected and that Facts OPTIONS were checked. The Exception is the Residence Fact, where the Preferred Only check mark was removed, as I want to see ALL Residence Facts.

This is the report that was generated. It's very clear that  I am missing the 1910, 1920, and 1940 Census. (Yes, I have manually search for this record in the 1940 Census, waiting for California to be indexed.

The 2nd person (Sarah), is only missing the 1910 Census, as she was born in 1891, found her in 1900, but she died in 1920.

Ulysses was interesting, and since he was in the report, I included him. Born, just before the 1880 Census and died later in 1880, but made the 1880 Census.
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Copyright © 2012 by H R Worthington

Response to a comment from FTM2012 Research Notes Options

 Response to a comment from FTM2012 Research Notes Options.

Yvette has some great comments, and I wanted to make them more visible and to be able to answer them with some Images. Can't do that in Comments:

Yvette HoitinkJune 8, 2012 5:42 PM

I'm planning on using the citation notes for personal use only, to contain a copy of the information I used. For example, if I create a citation of a Find a Grave memorial, I'll copy the text of the page into the citation note. That way I can always check back what information was there when I used the source. I do not like the Page Archive function as that still references resources on the original site that may not exist anymore when I need to recheck the information.

Each of us needs to look at how WE want to handle each situation. I've shared my experience with Find-A-Grave.

How I work with the Burial Fact

In that blog post, I Copy the memorial information into the Find-A-Grave Fact that I created. I have that FACT marked as Private, but I can always "Included Private Facts" in a report that I have. I found the the Citation Note is too hidden.

Here is an example of what I would put into a Citation Note:

Quote:
Source Information:

Ancestry.com. Web: Kansas, Find A Grave Index, 1854-2011 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.

Original data: Find A Grave. Find A Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi: accessed 23 February 2012.

Description:
All data in this third-party database was obtained from Find a Grave. Ancestry.com does not support or make corrections or changes to the original database.

EndQuote:

I can refer to this information, when creating my Citation for this specific example.

The Reference Note for this Citation is:

Quote:

Russ Worthington, "Find-A-Grave", database, Find A Grave (www.findagrave.com) Helen Adele Strode Entwistle (1894-1985 ) - Find A Grave Memorial# 50314294.

EndQuote:

The Citation Notes are accessed in the Sources Workspace, and access to that, when working with the Citation is right there.

The details from Find-A-Grave, in the Find-A-Grave Fact Note is:

Quote:

Find-A-Grave

Helen Adele Strode Entwisle

Birth:     Jun. 24, 1894
Death:     Apr. 14, 1985

Family links:
 Spouse:
  Thomas Lee Entwisle (1891 - 1973)

Inscription:
Helen Strode Entwisle - 1894 - 1985

Burial:
Birmingham-Lafayette Cemetery
West Chester
Chester County
Pennsylvania, USA

Created by: Russ Worthington
Record added: Mar 27, 2010
Find A Grave Memorial# 50314294

EndQuote:

I can control when and IF I want these notes printed, but I have easy access to this information on the People Workspace, Person View. The above information in to the right of the FACTs for this individual to make sure I have recorded what I wanted to.

My real transcriptions are all in Dutch so they would not be very useful.

A translation of an actual transcription:

13 december 1653
Herman Stoffels and his wife Hilleken ten Borninckhave, Jan Carstkens Pleckpoel as husband and guardian of Martina Stoffels, Herman Stoffels and Jan Carstkens also on behalf of Hendersken Stoffels, their sister and sister-in-law, Berndt Eckerfelt and Derck Claessen as chosen and accepted guardians of Maria Janssen, widow of the late Berndt Stoffels and their children Grietken and Johan Stoffels, as heirs of the late Mechtelt Lammerts, widows of Stoffer Stoffelsen who declared for themselves, their wards
and heirs, that they have sold for a well paid sum of money for ever and irrevocably, to Margaretha Schmidts, widow of the late Herman Nachtegall and her heirs, their house as it is situated between the aforementioned buyer, Johan Corts and the late Jan an Basten's houses with all its old rights etc.

(BTW, this Hendersken Stoffels was the mistress of the famous Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn. Her brother Harmen, the first person in this document, is an ancestor of mine)

So, the question becomes WHO is this information recorded on. Everyone, or one person.

For me, I create a Citation for where this information came FROM, and put Citations on each person's name that is listed and any FACTS that I choose to record for the individual peopls.

For example:

 It's difficult to see on the screen, but the Hi-Lighted items in this Newspaper Article have been entered as Military Service Facts, with the Newspaper as the Citation.

By doing this, this becomes data entries in his TimeLine. His wife is listed, she will have a Citation for her Name and other facts from this newspaper article about her.

Normally, in this example, I would probably use Preferred Facts ONLY, but would include the Person Notes.

I use the Facts for features like TimeLine data, and more for my own information. When sharing, I would normally just use Preferred Facts.

Since I'm working on a population reconstruction of the entire region, all 19 people mentioned in this transcription are in my database. I do not want to copy the transcription 19 times but I do want to be able to access it from all 19 people. And I don't have just the one document, I've got 50 years worth of transcribed records of this town and 50 years more in digital photographs still waiting to be transcribed.

You are right about copying the transcription 19 times.

A thought for you, as in my Civil War case, is to create an Unrelated Person for the Transcriptions, then use Facts and Citations for the people involved.

The 2nd American Civil War Blog Challenge - and FTM2012 Timelines

 I created a Unrelated person, who is the Military Unit for my  Great Grandfather.

In reality, the text will be in an old form of the Dutch language that is not easy to read for a modern reader even if it's transcribed. Unlike English, the Dutch language has changed a lot since the 17th century. It's not quite as bad as reading Anglo-Saxon for a current English speaker but it's worse than Shakespeare.

In fact notes, I typically want to enter readable text that is fit to go into a report for general reading.

Based on your own advice elsewhere on this blog, I'm first thinking about a strategy on what I want my data to look like, so I haven't got a sale event yet. Maybe a 'property' event would be more appropriate, listing the fact that somebody owned property in a specific place at a specific moment in time. In this example, ideally I would like to create a property event that is shared between the children and grandchildren that are mentioned as heirs of the mother, because they are the joint owners in this sale.

I have Property Facts, as my early Maryland Ancestors "named" their properties. Some of those properties were willed to the next generation or another family member.

Shared events only apply to two people, currently in Family Tree Maker. Their normal use is in the area of Marriages. In my case. the Property was owned by various member of the family, but not between Two People. Usually one person owned it, willed it to another or others, each then would have the Property Fact, and usually with Dates. So, that date ownership can been seen, if the dates were known and recorded.

Besides the Input and Output of what is recorded, I take into account where will I need it. Such as the Citation Notes. I need them with working with my Citation. Fact Notes, are nice to be available when working with Fact.

The Person Notes are the "stories".


Thank you for your comments.

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Copyright © 2012 by H R Worthington

FTM2012 - Research Notes Options

Genea-Blogger Randy Seaver, of GeneaMusing.com has a series of Blog Posts on the importance of Research Notes. I would encourage you to read each of his Blog Posts on this topic.

 Samples of Essential Reports for Genealogists

Creating Research Notes in RootsMagic 5 - Post 1

Creating Research Notes in RootsMagic 5 - Post 2

Do the Research Notes Transfer via GEDCOM to Family Tree Maker 2012?

Do the Research Notes Transfer via GEDCOM to Legacy Family Tree 7.5?

I found is observations very interesting. Having spent quite a bit of time dealing with the exchange of information between Genealogy Software packages, using the GEDCOM option, including the three Randy has shared,

I had made a quick blog post, earlier, but was not in a position to provide details:

Research Notes

I now want to see how I have done or am doing in the area of Research Notes, within Family Tree Maker 2012 already, as I really haven't focused on this topic, but I have been using the features, just hadn't been doing it consistently or "on purpose". More or less by accident to track what I  have or haven't done.

The first thing I did was to look at the Help file, within FTM2012. This is from the Help menu Index for Research Notes Report.

Looking at that, confirmed that we have many options, based on what level we want to keep Research Notes for. There is a place for Citation Notes, Person Notes, Fact Notes, and Research Notes for a Person.

The Person Notes, are normally where I keep and enter the "stories" of people, as I find them. Part of my Clean Up of my file, is to restoring the field for that purpose, as these Note features have not been around for that long, nor have we had the ability to Print Notes Reports.

In the People Workspace, Person View, the Person Notes are in the Left Column, near the bottom of that Panel, it's the First ICON, and the "stories" or Notes are typed into that area of the screen. (NOTE: these Notes can be marked as Private).

Also, each FACT has the ability to have notes. There are blog entries on how I have used this.

For this specific Example, I have recorded the History of the 11th Kansas Cavalry. The "story" of this Civil War unit is in the Notes section. Above the notes are the Events of this Unit in the Civil War, with Dates and Places where the battles were fought. That data will be displayed in a Timeline Report.

Researching this unit, I found some battle specific information, which I put in the FACT Notes on the Right. If I want more details about that battle, they are right there. In this specific case (the example), that data was found on page of the Citation. Having played around with the Output, that is where I thought these notes would be helpful. It more Battle Related and NOT Unit Specific. The Unit Specific notes ARE in the Notes for the unit. For me, it's two different pieces of information.

I am still searching information on this Civil War Unit, so I have entered some Research Notes for the "person" (person, in this example, is Unit).

This is the 2nd ICON, under Person Notes. (between the Person Notes, and the Private NOTEs on/off ICON).

It notes what I HAVE found, and two more places, at this point, where I want to Research. I had looked at Fold3.com before, but want to go back and look, and I haven't looked at Wikipedia yet. If I think of other places to research, I can put those Notes here. Looking at what I have and haven't done, I don't document normally what I have found and where, as I can see that based on the Facts and the Citation for those facts. BUT, I put conflicting information notes here. Open Conflicting information are in the Task List for that person (the 3rd Tab on this page). So, research notes would contain how conflicting information was solved.

Citation Notes are in the Source Workspace for the Citation.

I have lots of Citation Notes, or better said, there are not many Citations that don't have notes. This is more for me, and it helps be "remember" more about the Source and the Citation that is displayed in the Citation Details, and Citation Text.

Now, what about the Output. How is this information presented in a report?

The Publish Workspace, Person Collection is where the Notes Reports are. Now, I am taking my lead on this from Randy presenting the Research for his PERSON. That is what I am doing as well.

Bringing up that Report, here are the Options: Person Notes: Fact Notes: Research Notes:

They can be displayed in one report, but for this Blog, I'll present each separately. This is the Person Notes, or the stories. This is also available elsewhere.

The about is the basic summary for this unit and the report is 6 pages in length.

This next report is the FACT Notes, where the Military Fact Notes are presented. In this case, it's information about the Battle and not Unit Specific. Remembering the the Unit's participation in the Battle is in the above (or Person Notes) part of the report.

The Research that I have to do, or conflict resolution notes would be shown here.

Although Private Notes are available, this "person" did not have any private notes (yet) and the entire report, to date, is 11 pages.

NOTE: Randy made a number of Valid comments about Family Tree Maker: 1) Timeline does not allow for Citations, and 2) the Research Notes in Roots Magic 5 are in Chronological Order, where FTM2012 are not.

I attended a class which brought up the Chronological Order of Citations was important. I also looked at the Roots Magic Research Notes that Randy discussed but didn't have that great of an impact on me, as it might have on a very experienced researcher or a Professional Researchers.

The Research Report that I generated from within FTM2012 helped me.
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Copyright © 2012 by H R Worthington

Research Notes

I read Genea-Blogger Randy Seaver on his GeneaMusings Blog.  Of interest has been his series about Research Notes.

Creating Research Notes in Roots Magic 5

I was not going to post about this series, as this first posting was above my head, especially the reference to the work of Elisabeth Shown Mills. My needs for that level of detail was not that important, great reading, but a little over my head.

I am not been at my home PC, where I have Roots Magic and FTM2012 installed to duplicate Randy's experience.

Part 2 of Randy's Blog Creating Research Notes in RootsMagic 5 - Post 2

Got my attention, because I think Roots Magic 5 and FTM2012 handle "Research Notes" differently. In fact FTM2012 has two places for Research Notes. The People Workspace, Person View, there is a Research Notes ICON, in the Notes Tab on the Left side, bottom on this view. The normal Notes, is where stories are recorded, but there is a Research Note ICON, where you can record generic research notes for that Person.

In addition to that option, we have a Citation Note, for any Fact. I blogged about that here:

http://ftmuser.blogspot.com/2012/05/how-i-work-with-burial-fact.html

In Roots Magic 5, Randy pointed out where his Research Notes go. His example was for a specific fact. If I were to do that in FTM2012, I would record that information in the Fact Notes.

As in my earlier Blog, those notes are available in reports.

I have asked Randy to email me the GEDCOM from Roots Magic 5, so that I can see where those notes appear in FTM2012.

With the current state of the GEDCOM format and with the advanced settings of both programs, it will be very interesting to see where those notes will appear in FTM2012.

I'll post a follow up when I get back to my home PC and/or receive Randy's GEDCOM file.
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Copyright © 2012 by H R Worthington