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My Way ©MJH 1996-2020; Index

Modified August 2, 2020 3:40 pm
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Michael J. Hannah
, Los Ranchos, NM.

Customizing TMG™
Census Source Data Entry My Way ©MJH

Chapter Contents

• Background:

Data available, TMG options, My method

• Census Dates

• Census Pseudo People:

Tag Sort Dates and Roles, Names, Name Styles, Relationships, Families, Examples

• Census Data Entry:

Action sequence, Exhibits

Finding People with No Census Tag

• Census Tags:

Census/CensOrig, CensusEnum, CensusFind, CensusNil, CensusX, CensusXFind, CensusXNil

• My Census Sentences:

Census/CensOrig, CensusEnum, CensusFind, CensusNil, CensusX, CensusXFind, CensusXNil

• Census Sources

• Endnotes

Background

The “good news” and the “bad news” of census data is that there often is so much (some have even suggested “too much”) information provided by an enumeration entry that a genealogist may want to record. The “good news” and the “bad news” of TMG is that there are so many different ways that the program can be used and customized to record that data. It is confusing to decide how to approach recording census data since it is both a source record that can be cited as the documentation for various types of event tags (names, residence, birth based on recorded age and location, parent/child/sibling/other relationships, occupations, etc.), and the act of enumeration can be considered an event unto itself deserving of its own event tag. As such, recording census data needs to follow your standards both for sources and for events. Because of this, it is important to carefully decide upon your own methodology for census data entry: what data is recorded, where, and how. It should be clear that there is no “right” way to do this. While some may urge recording everything, others may find it easier to only record what is of interest to them while ensuring a good reference pointer to the original source if others want to find more. However, the method must make sense to you, and encourage you to record all the data you wish to record in a manner that allows you to find it and report it easily.

Data available to record

This varies based on what you have recorded and what is available for a given census. For the USA see the on-line site for the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)1.

• Digital image of the page(s) of the enumeration entry

No documentation is more complete than the original source record, or do you simply cite the source? And what is the “original” record? the notes of the enumerator that probably stayed in the local district, or the enumerator’s transcription that was submitted to the census authority? or the centrally recorded “official” data from that transcript? or?

• Your transcription of the entire household’s enumeration record

Done to decipher unclear handwriting and to expand/explain codes and abbreviations, or is the transcription for each recorded individual enough, and did you introduce errors with typos

• Date and location (residence, location names) information that is common to all entries for that household

Preferably entered once to avoid duplication and possible subsequent entry errors, but that may force complicated or non-standard tags, sentences, roles, and/or sources

• Information recorded uniquely about a specific person

Normally the main reason for locating the enumeration record, but do you really want it all to print in that person’s reports, or just their data implied by this record, or just reference the head of household or the household transcription

• Relationships between persons in the same household

Essential for building the genealogical tree, but should it be cited simply as a census entry or as documentation for a relationship tag, or both

• Relationships between these persons and persons recorded (or missing) elsewhere in this census

e.g. Are the uncles or grandparents living nearby? Where is the now missing elder brother? But since they are not part of this household’s census entry, how to record and relate?

• Conclusions based on the presence (or absence) of information in the census

e.g. Wife is now listed as a widow, so husband is presumed dead. Is this entered just as a comment on the census entry possibly with the husband linked with some kind of witness roll, or as a citation to some kind of tag in the husband’s death group? Or is there data missing that the census taker was instructed2 to collect, and what does that mean?

• Identifying what census records have, have not, and/or cannot be located

Useful for planning your research and avoiding looking again for the record that is not there. But if you only use the census as a citation to other tags, how do you easily tell which census records you have checked for this person?

Where Census data can be recorded in TMG

This has expanded and changed as features and options in TMG have increased over time. Early TMG versions had more limitations. With the added capabilities now provided by split citation detail, split memos, customizable witness roles, separate witness sentences, separate split witness memos, custom name and location styles, and even custom languages, numerous differing custom methods for census data entry abound among users who customize TMG.

• A census tag, usually with the head of household as a principal, possibly with specialized witness roles and sentences for each of the people enumerated. This is the structure of the standard census tag type. If you have only one tag type to use for all census data, which is the default, then you will have multiple tags of the same type when a person is enumerated in multiple years. Only one of these (years) can be primary. If you filter reports for only primary tags (which is not an issue for me as I seldom do such filtering), you will lose all but this one tag (year). The only alternative is a separate tag type for each census year. Then you will only ever have one tag per person per year, and it will be primary. You can then also select which years you include by choosing which tag types are active. With my tags I can do this by a filter on the P2 pseudo census person.

• A text exhibit, either internal or external, for the full household transcription, and/or an image exhibit of the census page. Unfortunately the focus of an exhibit that may include multiple households and even locations can only be one3 of the following: one person, one event tag, one source, one repository, one place, one citation. So what one, and only one, item is the focus? Normally I record a text exhibit for the one household linked to its custom CensusEnum tag. I could also link an image of a whole page to my custom Transcript tag entered under my pseudo census person with appropriate witness links.

• A census “pseudo person” with various tags such as full transcriptions, overall comments, research ideas already tried, etc. This “person” may be linked either as one of the principals or with a special witness role to a census tag associated with the “real” people mentioned above. Some even suggest a “family tree” of pseudo census people, with each “Parent-Oth” identifying a geographical level, and each “Child-Oth” a subdivision, and/or the (other) “Parent-Oth” indicating the date of the census. I have such “people” as P2 with head of household P1, and define a full family tree of such people.

• A Research Task in the Research Log to indicate that a census record has, has not, and/or cannot be located. Unfortunately a research task can only be assigned to one each4 of the following: one person, one event tag, one source, one repository. Again, which item is to have the one link? I use special custom Find tags.

• A research “pseudo person” with various tags like ToDo, AtThisLibrary, Completed, etc. that can have multiple people as witnesses with specialized witness roles (possibly including source or repository pseudo people) and document in a single place all that was or should be found. I use both source and repository people, but do not currently define research people.

• Multiple tags for name (primary, alternate, married, nickname, census name, etc.) or event (residence, birth, parent/child/sibling/other relationship, occupation, etc.) can explicitly document the information found in the census record about that specific person in their sentences and/or memos. The choices here will affect the citation (see next) to the census source attached to the tag. I put the name in the split census citation detail, and use “normal” event tags in addition to my custom CensusEnum tag to document the information revealed in the census record.

• Citation to a Source Record located in a Repository provides three sets of fields to hold the census data. While there may be academically approved definitions of each of these terms and what is “supposed” to be defined by which term, these are not required to match the dataset entities in your TMG project that happen to be labeled by these names. Which of these three TMG entities contains what data is more affected by the issue of being a “lumper” or a “splitter” with regard to what level of granularity you choose for your dataset source records. Is a separate source a whole film, a locale, an enumeration district, a household? And how does that relate to repositories in your dataset, which you might choose to be films, or record books, or libraries where you found the film, or simply the National Archives. Your structural decision affects what information about the census entry you place in the repository information, the source record elements, and the citation detail. And each of these three also have memos which can be selectively output in various ways thereby affecting your choice of the contents of the other fields for each of these three dataset entities. My choice of how to record sources is a separate discussion.

My Method of Recording Census Data

While somewhat complicated to set up, my method is useful to me. It makes use of all of my following customizations of TMG.

• A variety of custom Census tags with custom roles and sentences using split memos, with citations to the source, and possibly transcriptions or images as exhibits

• Pseudo “people” for both a Census enumeration and the Location it covers

• Custom Name Styles for both the associated Census and Location “people”

• Custom Created tags in the Birth group to date and identify such pseudo “people”

• A custom Src Link tag to “marry” a Census “person” to its Location “person”

• Custom roles in the NarrativeChildren tag for listing their pseudo “children”

Census Master Dates

In most countries each census was “nominally” conducted on a particular date. Absent specific documentation when a household was actually visited and enumerated, or whether the census was supposed to be “as of” a particular date and whether you believe the data truly reflects that “as of” date, these “master” dates make potential “default” dates to use for the data.

USA:

1790-1820:

2 Aug 1790, 4 Aug 1800, 6 Aug 1810, 7 Aug 1820.

1830-1900:

1 June.

1910-1940: 

15 Apr 1910, 1 Jan 1920, 1 Apr 1930, 1 Apr 1940.

My Census Pseudo “People”

After reviewing considerable discussion in the TMG listserve and testing various methods, I choose to use census “pseudo people”. They greatly aid me in keeping track of my research when using this major source of genealogy data. I also use a unique color scheme to accent all Census People. My convention makes these people Male.

Census People Tag Sort Dates and Roles

I use a special scheme of Sort Dates within the enumeration year to ensure a desired order of their “children” people and their “marriages” among their actual Census tags. There is also a custom scheme for Sort Dates for Census tags. This Census people Sort Date scheme is different from most pseudo people where I usually have a Sort Date to order the Created tag first. I make use of TMG’s date modifiers which produce the desired date ordering of “say year”, then “say year?”, then “circa year”, then “year”, and finally “year?”. .

Sort Dates for Census People Tags

Tag Type

Sort Date modifier

Src Link tag

Say year

NarrativeChildren tag

Say year?

Created tag for Soundex/Index/Film people

Circa year

Created tag for people with CensusEnum tags

year

Created tag for Census parents

year?5

Due to these modifiers, first in the Person View of the census person will sort the Src Link tags “marrying” this source to its location using a sort date prefix of “say”. Next will come a matching NarrativeChildren tag for each Src Link tag, using a sort prefix and suffix of “say year?”. Both Principals use the custom role SubLinks to change the heading on their list of “children”.

Following the Src Link and NarrativeChildren tags in the Person View will come this person’s children6 in their “Created” birth order. Their Created “Birth” tag sets the Location to the overall location that this census person covers and the Date to just the year. That Created tag should have citations from any Census Source Records in the Master Source List which cover this lowest level of detail of this Census person. Those Source Records should also be linked to this pseudo person. Contrary to most Created tags, these sort dates are not blank.

These modifiers will sort first among the children the Soundex/Index/Film7 people. These census people have CensusX tags, but only the Film people might have either CensusX or CensusEnum tags or both depending upon the contents of the film. These Soundex/Index/Film people will have their Created sort date set to “circa” year to order these “children” of this source/location “couple” immediately after the “marriage”.8 Next will sort the “children” that are actual enumeration people (these are the census people with CensusEnum tags) due to a Created sort date of just the year with no modifiers. Finally will sort the children who are themselves “parent” census people as intermediate levels and simply have children and no census tags themselves. These have a Created tag Group role and modifier sort date of “year?”. I choose to use this modifier even though this sorts their own Created tag late in their own Person View. This dating scheme causes the Person View of a census person to have links “across” at the top, links “down” at the bottom, and their census “children” who have data in the middle. As of Version 8 I always display both the Date and the Sort Date so this scheme visually aids in knowing if a child has data or is simply itself a parent.

The custom Role on the Created tag for a Census person is based on whether this person is a true “source” person who has census events, or is just a parent used to “group” source Census people.

 

Census people Role and Memo examples for Created tag

Pseudo Person

Role

Date

Place

M1

M2

*Census *All

Group

 

 

country Census

 

*Census USA

Group

 

USA

USA Census

by year

1800 Census USA

Group

1860

USA

USA Census state and index

for [D]

1860 Census USA

Group

1860

USA

USA Census state

for [D]

1880 Census USA

Group

1880

USA

USA Census state and soundex

for [D]

1800 Census Index USA, Pennsylvania

Source

1800

Pennsylvania

in extracts from its [D] USA Census Index

 

1880 Census Soundex USA, Ohio R251-300

Source

1880

Ohio

in extracts from its [D] USA Soundex R251-300

 

1860 Census USA, Indiana

Group

1860

Indiana

USA Census county

in [L] for [D]

1860 Census USA, Indiana, Starke

Source

1860

Starke County, Indiana

in extracts from its [D] USA Census

 

*Census USA States

Group

 

USA

State Census

by year

1875 State Census USA

Group

1875

USA

State Census state

for [D]

1875 State Census USA, Wisconsin

Group

1875

Wisconsin

State Census county

in [L] for [D]

1875 State Census USA, Wisconsin, Winnebago

Source

1875

Winnebago County, Wisconsin

in extracts from its [D] State Census

 

Census People Names

There are many methods of naming census “people” and the choice of method is strongly influenced by how you want things to sort in reports, appear in displays, and be accessible in/for pick lists and reports. This name sorting is strongly aided by using custom name styles for census people as described below.

My naming conventions allow using standard “name” sentence variables to output various parts of the identification of this source in global sentences. I have the Given name identify the kind of census data, including the year. Entering the data in this way allows using the Given name sentence variables (e.g. [P2G] for what data it is, and [P2F] to get only the year) in the sentence templates of my various custom census tags which produce hyperlinks to this person. The Surname identifies the full location names from large to small covered by this data, comma separated, beginning with country down to the specific location detail of this data. Thus I can use Surname in sentences for outputting the locales large to small, and the standard “location” sentence variables for small to large. Finally, the suffix can identify a specific limited range covered by this specific census data collection. With Given name beginning with the year, and Surname the ordered location from largest to smallest, reports of these people can be sorted either by year (by Given name) or by location (by Surname). Finally I do not need to add a custom Name-Link-Only tag9 using the OneName Name Style to define an abbreviated name (e.g. “1920 Ohio census”). The standard Given Name sentence variables provide any hyperlink to the census person needed in the enumeration narrative sentences. Since the narrative sentence usually has the full Location following the census name variable, the location can be abbreviated to the largest normal collection level. The Data Detail entered in the Primary Census name Suffix is in the citation so that also can be omitted in the abbreviated name.

Examples of Census people Names

YearWhatData (Given)

OrderedLocation (Surname)

DataDetail (Suffix)

Name Style

*Census

*All

 

Census

*Census

USA

 

Census

*Census

USA States

 

Census

1920 Census

USA

 

Census

1920 Census Index

USA

 

Census

1920 Census Soundex

USA

 

Census

1920 Census Film

USA

 

Census

1920 Census

USA, Ohio

 

Census

1920 Census

USA, Ohio, Washington

EDs 100-124

CensusDetail

1920 Census

USA, Ohio, Washington, Adams

EDs 103-105

CensusDetail

1915 State Census

USA

 

Census

1915 State Census

USA, New York

 

Census

1915 State Census

USA, New York, Kings county

 

Census

1920 Census Index

USA, Ohio

 

Census

1920 Census Index

USA, Ohio

HAN-LAK

CensusDetail

1920 Census Soundex

USA, Ohio

 

Census

1920 Census Soundex

USA, Ohio

R263-S142

CensusDetail

1920 Census Film

(blank if it covers multiple locations, but can have children for these locations)

T625-0801

CensusDetail

1920 Census Film

USA, Michigan, Wayne

T625-0801

CensusDetail

Census People Name Styles

If you did not use Name Styles, which were introduced in Version 6, you would have to manually modify the Sort names with special characters for these names to sort conveniently and before all “real” names. You might also need trailing special characters so that larger locales sorted before more detailed locations. However, defining Name Styles for these census people makes this task much easier. Among other things, Name Styles allow you to hard-code text10 as part of the name output (e.g. you could hard-code the word “Census”) and insert special characters in the Sort templates to cause these names to sort as desired. For use in my two census name styles for the Primary Census name (one with detail in the suffix, one without) I also defined custom name part labels to aid in the data entry. For display and picklists, the name parts are separated by colons since the surname could have internal commas. But a comma is needed in the Surname display to specify where the “surname” ends for Census people.

Census Male Name Style Templates

Given [YearWhatData]

[YYYY] Census [type of census data]

Surname [OrderedLocation]

location to match full name of the publication location “mother”, country first then down to smallest subdivision, with separating commas. In the U.S. this is usually to the detail of county for enumeration, and state for indexes.

Suffix [Blank6]

(empty)

Output

[YearWhatData] [OrderedLocation]

Surname sort

%CEN: [OrderedLocation] [YearWhatData]

Surname display

%Cen: [OrderedLocation], [YearWhatData]

Given sort

%CEN: [YearWhatData] [OrderedLocation]

Given display

%Cen: [YearWhatData]: [OrderedLocation]

Children/Siblings

[YearWhatData]: [OrderedLocation]

CensusDetail Male Name Style Templates

Given [YearWhatData]

[YYYY] Census [type of census data]

Surname [OrderedLocation]

location to match full name of publication location “mother”

Suffix [DataDetail]

census = enumeration districts covered, index = name range covered, soundex = codes covered, film = film number

Output

[YearWhatData] [OrderedLocation], [DataDetail]

Surname sort

%CEN: [OrderedLocation] [YearWhatData] [DataDetail]

Surname display

%Cen: [OrderedLocation], [YearWhatData]: [DataDetail]

Given sort

%CEN: [YearWhatData] [OrderedLocation] [DataDetail]

Given display

%Cen: [YearWhatData]: [OrderedLocation]: [DataDetail]

Children/Siblings

[YearWhatData]: [DataDetail]: [OrderedLocation]

Census People Relationships

A census person covering a location is linked as Father/Son-Oth to a “father” that is the census pseudo person of the same date and data type but covering the next larger locale. For example, for a USA national census the father of Surname “USA, Ohio, Washington County” and Given name “1920 Census” would be the person with the next larger locale of Surname “USA, Ohio” and the same Given name “1920 Census”. A given year’s USA national census person (e.g. Surname “USA” and Given name “1920 Census”) is linked to the father with Surname “USA” and Given name “*Census” where the asterisk implies all dates. That father provides the head of the “family tree” for all the USA national enumerations. Similarly for a USA state census the father of Surname “USA, Ohio, Washington County” and Given name “1915 State Census” would be the person with the next larger locale of Surname “USA, Ohio” and the same Given name “1915 State Census”. Likewise a given year’s USA state census is linked to the father with Surname “USA States” and Given name “*Census” where the asterisk implies all dates, which provides the head of the “family tree” for all the USA state enumerations.

A census person covering a location is linked as Mother/Son-Oth to a “mother” that is the location pseudo person of this source’s same location. For example, the mother of the USA national census person with Surname “USA, Ohio, Washington County” and Given name “1920 Census” would be the location person “Washington County, Ohio, USA”.11 A given year’s USA state census person (Surname “USA, Wisconsin” and Given name “1875 State Census”) is linked to that same state as its mother. Thus a location person will have sons which are all the sources covering that same level of locale.

The “mothers” and “fathers” of census people are linked together (married) with the Src Link custom tag in the Marriage group and a matching NarrativeChildren tag to label the children as pseudo. Thus a source person will have marriages with all locations subordinate to this source’s location (since its same location is its mother).

The flexibility of relationships between pseudo people is especially clear when deciding upon a parent/child relationship scheme for Soundex/Index/Film people. While Census enumeration source children covering smaller locales lend themselves to having a mother of that smaller location sudivision, the smaller subdivisions for Soundex/Index/Film source people are parts of the alphabet or parts of a cataloging number system for which I have not created pseudo people to be mothers. I have considered the following various relationship schemes for Soundex/Index pseudo people.

• Have “1920 Census Soundex USA” a son of the single parent “1920 Census USA”. That son could have Src Links to each location subdivision (e.g. State). Then there could be people like “1920 Census Soundex, Michigan”, a son of this “1920 Census Soundex USA” and the Src Linked spouse “Michigan”. Those sons could in turn be single parent fathers of separate soundex source sons (e.g. “1920 Census Soundex, Michigan, H500-520”). Finally the soundex tags would be linked to these detail sons.

I discarded this idea as too many single parents and too many relationship levels to create for the amount of soundex people I have so far required in my data.

• Have “1920 Census Soundex, Michigan” a son of “1920 Census USA” and “Michigan”. Link all soundex tags for this census and location to this one person.

While this minimizes the number of levels, and eliminates single parents, I have found I prefer Soundex people that match a Soundex source film. Typically I have many soundex tags for a given surname from a single soundex source, but seldom have a large variety of surnames and thus seldom need many soundex sources. I find it useful to focus on a surname source.

• Have “1920 Census Soundex, Michigan” a son of “1920 Census USA” and “Michigan”. Then have separate soundex sources (e.g. “1920 Census Soundex, Michigan, H500-520”) as sons of this single parent.

This is a reasonable compromise, and closely matches the relationship scheme and levels I use for enumeration people. I seriously considered it, but finally rejected it. I found that the number of separate soundex sources for a given year did not justify creating even this one extra level and single parent.

• Have the detailed soundex source “1920 Census Soundex, Michigan, H500-520” a direct son of “1920 Census USA” and “Michigan”.

As shown in the descendant table below, this is the relationship scheme I chose. I also link separate Index source children directly at this same level for the same reasons. It has seemed to work well for the few such soundex/index people I have needed to create. It minimizes the levels, but creates the granularity of these pseudo people I prefer. However if a project begins to have too many such people for a given location (State) as to clutter the larger (nation) level’s details, I can always introduce the one extra level for that one location as described in the scheme above. It only requires creating the one separate level son, and relinking the existing relationships of the detail soundex people to that one single parent father.

I can use Descendant reports of these census and location pseudo people to reflect all my census work for those dates and locations. I also use the Second Site© program which makes hyperlinked web pages of the census “family”. The following table is an example of a census “family” descendant tree. “(Src/NC Link to)” indicates these “people” are linked with both a Src Link tag and a NarrativeChildren tag to label the children as pseudo. While in the Master Place List I choose to have “England” as a sublocation of “Great Britian”, for these pseudo people I have placed “England” at the same level as “USA” since so many of my ancestors are from there.

*All *Census

 

 

 

 

 

*Census USA

= (Src/NC Link to) USA

 

 

 

 

1920 Census USA

= (Src/NC Link to) Michigan

 

 

 

 

1920 Census Soundex, Michigan, H500-520

 

 

 

 

1920 Census USA, Michigan

= (Src/NC Link to) Wayne County, Michigan

 

 

 

 

1930 Census USA, Michigan, Wayne

 

*Census USA States

= (Src/NC Link to) USA

 

 

 

 

1905 State Census USA

= (Src/NC Link to) Wisconsin

 

 

 

 

1905 State Census USA, Wisconsin

= (Src/NC Link to) Clark County, Wisconsin

 

 

 

 

1905 State Census USA, Wisconsin, Clark

 

*Census England

= (Src/NC Link to) England

 

 

 

 

1881 Census Index England

 

 

 

 

1881 Census England

= (Src/NC Link to) Norfolk

 

 

 

 

1881 Census England, Norfolk

 

My choice for Census Data Entry

I currently choose to use “pseudo” census people with the naming convention described above, a custom source type for recording census sources, and a set of custom census tags. Census data entry then requires the following steps (reserving the right to change my mind at any time <grin> and the full understanding that there is no one “right” way). One of my motives was my “lumper” bias to attempt to have a single method that worked for all the kinds of census records over time and in multiple countries using a minimal number of custom tags. I also do not choose to limit to only primary tags at this time. In fact, as my system would include the memos containing the raw census data in the narrative if reports printed my census tags, I am more likely to exclude all my custom census tag types from printing in more finished reports. Since these tags are seldom actually printed in most reports, I tend to use a Version 8 tag type color highlight for these tag types. If I include any, I usually only include CensusEnum. I use other tags for the narrative of the actual data, such as Address, ResidedAddress, Occupation, etc. See also my separate Source chapter for non-census specific source data entry standards.

My Census Data Entry Action Sequence

1. First, if necessary, create a Repository record. For example, I define the LDS Archives as a repository, and also often use the Internet Archive ( http://archive.org/ ) as the repository where I viewed a census record. See my Source Guide chapter for my standards on Repository records.

2. Next create a source entry in the Master Source List if needed. Remember that what you choose here reflects your attitude towards split/lump. I usually split only to county or equivalent. I will use the film number as the Repository Reference number to link to the Repository if that differs (e.g. LDS FHL film numbers) from the publisher’s (e.g. NARA) film or reference number. See my Source Guide chapter for details concerning entering sources, especially the abbreviation structure.

3. Create a census “family” as needed. Use my custom tag “Src Link” mentioned above and a matching NarrativeChildren tag to link any census source person to a location person if they have “children”. The Created tag for such “parents” will use the Group role with a descriptive memo. Create the actual census source person/child if needed, appropriate to the source whether a location or index, with Created tag from Birth group using role Source for male census people with Census events, Location for female location people. All such people will use the appropriate sort date dependent upon the type of this person.

These “children” can be “lumped” more, or even differently, than the actual Sources entered in the Master Source List. For example, I choose to have each Soundex film a separate Source Record and person. When there are multiple films for a county I choose to have each enumeration film a Source Record. But when there are multiple counties on a film I choose to have each county a separate Source Record. However, I usually have a single Census person for each county regardless of the arrangement of the source records. On the other hand with this system if I got too many census entries for a county that had multiple films, I could still create appropriate children for each film or to whatever level of detail desired.

4. Check that all the people that will be linked to this census have appropriate Name-Var tags as I choose to use TMG variables in the sentences of the various Census tags that refer to a person’s Given name or married name. I do not add a Name-Var simply to record a different spelling that may only occur in this one Census record, that will be recorded in the tag memo, but choose to have an available Name-Var that reflects their commonly used given name or married name.

5. Enter the CensusEnum or CensusX tag with the head of household as P1 and role of “Head” and all other members of the household as witnesses (with roles if appropriate) having their unique witness memos designed to print appropriately in their narratives. Set each person to use their appropriate Name-Var. If it is an entry of only one person, use the role “Alone” for P1. Set P2 to the specific census person using the role of “Extract” since reports on this “person” will have and should print the full transcription exhibit. The census person acts as a source pseudo person, and these census tags serve the equivalent function to my custom source Transcript tag, so I attach the full transcription of the household entry as an exhibit (I choose internal text). Set the options on this tag to display witnessed tags using the tag label and display both principal and witness roles. On the Person View for head of household this lists the census person (P2) whose name includes the date followed by the location (e.g. “Head; 1920 Census USA, MICHIGAN, WAYNE (1:268); Highland Park, Wayne County, Michigan, USA”). For all others it lists the relation to the head of household (P1) followed by the (P2) and location (e.g. “(child); Charles Rex RICHARDS (1:8) and 1920 Census USA, MICHIGAN, WAYNE (1:268); Highland Park, Wayne County, Michigan, USA”). If CensusFind or CensusXFind, do as above, but the census person roles are likely to be Source instead of Extract and the memos for each person provide the names and details that you expect to find for that person. These transcription exhibits reflect everything you expect to find for this entry, as it will print in my Find reports.

6. Cite the census source entered above. The Citation Detail for CensusEnum is the full details within this source to find this household entry (e.g. “Bluffton City, Ward 3, SD 5, ED 90-6, Sheet No. 8B, Stamped page 60, Archive image n647, 225 East Wiley Avenue, dwelling 229, family 238, lines 84-87”). Any details not included in the Source record which could aid others finding this enumeration should be included, such as an image number of the page within the source film. For CensusX it is first how to find this household index entry in this index source (e.g. “R263 Richards, C. Rex”), then the data of this index entry which will usually indicate how to find the enumeration entry. For CensusFind or CensusXFind cite the source(s) you expect to search.

7. Enter the full transcription of the entire household, either as the Citation Memo if it is short (such as just the numbers of people in age categories), or as an exhibit to this CensusEnum tag similar to what I do with a Transcript tag. I choose to use internal text exhibits with the structure [:CR:][LIND:]exhibit text[:LIND] for these (and all) text transcriptions to set this text off in my commonly used reports. Set Topic to the name of the head of household and the census year (e.g. “Sark, H.B. CENS1920”), Caption to the census source abbreviation, and Description to the citation CD. My Second Site customizations for all my exhibit pages will output both the Caption and Description. [Note that the ending [:LIND] code will always produce a carriage return in Second Site12, whereas in TMG reports it will only produce a carriage return if there is not already a carriage return following the ending code.]

8. For every “Find” tag, create and link a Research Task, assigning it an appropriate priority at the beginning of its Task Name. For the “Find” tags, you could pre-enter a transcription exhibit with the information to help identify if this is the desired entry. Enter as close as you think you know for the Topic, Caption, and Description. I do not currently do this, but could begin each of these exhibit fields with “Find:” to distinguish. These “Find” tags are included for printing in my specially defined Individual Narrative report for all “Find” type tags. Check that the FIND flag is set, although a separate LOE report can be used to set this automatically later, as well as be used to identify any “Find” tags where I forgot to create and link a Research Task.

9. Once I actually have the census data, I choose to enter additional event tags based on the census data, such as Birth, Residence, Marriage, Occupation, etc. What tags you enter is a matter of choice, and will probably affect what text you choose to leave (or remove?) in that person’s CensusEnum tag witness memo, or whether you intend to include the CensusEnum tags in reports. Since I usually only print these tags in the narratives of Census people in final reports or in an optional separate Second Site tag group for transcriptions, I make a point to always cite the census record as a source on at least one commonly output tag, usually the Birth and/or possibly Marriage group tags. This ensures that normal reports for people will include at least one citation to any census records I have found for that person.

Finding People with No Census Tag

My single tag type that is used for every year of census records does not allow directly and simply filtering the Project Explorer for people that do not have a census record in a given year. However, finding such people can easily be accomplished using the List of Events report to set a Flag. For example, to find people who were alive in 1840 but are neither a Principal or a Witness on either an enumeration or index tag I do the following. First flag all people associated with these two types of tag:

• I create a temporary flag called CENSUS with a default value of ‘N’ and alternate value of ‘Y’. Of course you could create a flag for each census year that you were researching.

• I created a List of Events report configuration “LOE Set Census Year” that I can use to set this one flag based on an input year. Again, if you had separate year flags you could have separate configurations.

• This configuration uses a filter that I call “census enum year” defined as:

 

(

Tag Type…

Label

= Equals

CENSUSENUM

 

OR

 

 

Tag Type…

Label

= Equals

CENSUSX

)

AND

 

 

Sort Date - Year

 

= Equals

[?]

 

END

In this example I would enter “1840” for the Sort Date - Year when prompted.

• This configuration sets the Options for Secondary Output to “Change Flag” for “All Witnesses” of flag “CENSUS” to ‘Y’, and supress output to screen, file, and printer. I need to specify “All Witnesses” since there is only one tag, only the Head of Household is a Principal, and all other people enumerated in that household are Witnesses. This setting will flag everyone linked to the tag.

Now the Project Explorer can isolate those people apparently living during that time that do not have these tags. The following filter will find people that were at most 100 years old in 1840 but not recorded as having died. I could also eliminate “pseudo” people by means of that flag, but that is usually not necessary.

 

 

Birth…

Year

< Is less than

1840

 

AND

 

 

Birth…

Year

> Is greater than

1740

 

AND

 

(

Death…

Year

> Is greater than

1840

 

OR

 

 

Death…

# of Tags

< Is less than

1

)

AND

 

 

CENSUS

 

= Equals

N

 

END

You could then select all these people, create a Focus Group, and work through them one by one.

Census Tags

I choose to have different tags to identify a true census enumeration entry versus an entry found in an index or soundex, (CensusEnum, CensusX), separate tags that indicate an entry needs to be found (CensusFind, CensusXFind), and tags that document the fact that I did look but could not locate an entry (CensusNil, CensusXNil). To avoid confusion with the TMG standard Census tag type and it sentences, I renamed it to “CensOrig” and deactivated13 it. While some choose to have different tag types for different years or ranges of years, to accomodate the different data recorded in different census years, I choose a “lumper” approach. This works for me due to the way I enter the enumeration data and my linkage of these tags to census pseudo people. As of Version 8 I set all my Census and the custom Src Link tag types (but not the *Find tags) to the same color scheme I use to accent the Census People.

These custom census tags often have blank dates. Just like special Sort Dates for Census People, if there is not a specific known date these tags need artificial sort dates within their enumeration year for them to appear appropriately in narratives and in the Person View of their census person.

Sort Dates for Census Event Tags

Census Tag Type

Sort Date default

CensusX

Jan year

CensusXFind

Feb year

CensusFind

Mar year

CensusEnum

Jun year

CensusXNil

Nov year

CensusNil

Dec year

[As most USA enumerations are 1 April or later, this also allows using the actual enumeration date as the sort date when known.] I attach the entire transcription of the entry found as a text exhibit to the tag and cite the source directly from this tag. With the introduction of unique witness memos in Version 6, I can have a single custom tag, with all members of the household simply linked as witnesses using roles as appropriate, with each witness memo referring to their unique entry data. Note that my custom census tags include the person’s name as recorded in the census as memo entries. Most of the time I choose not to create separate Name-Var tags to specify these census names, as this name (or its spelling) is often unique to this one tag/event, yet the split memo entry allows these tag sentences to use this possibly unique census recorded name. While some use P1 and P2 for the head of household and spouse in their census tags14, I use P1 only for the head of household (or the single individual if enumerated alone) and reserve P2 to link to my census “people”.15 I choose to only use roles for the spouse and the children of this couple but use Witness for other household members including children of only one spouse, and include those roles/relationships as recorded in the census in their split witness memo, like their recorded name. This one generic set of tags has worked (so far) for all the various types of census records over time and countries. By defining the structure of data entry consistent for all the tag types, I can simply change (or copy) a tag from CensusFind, to either CensusEnum or CensusNil, as the research progresses. This needs to be seen with more extensive use, but I have been using what is shown successfully for some time.

CensusEnum TagMJH

This is the main tag with its sentences for recording census enumeration data. The Head of Household is P1 with their unique data in the main memo, all members of the household have roles of “spouse”, “child”, or “Witness” to this one tag with their data in their separate witness memos, the full actual census record is attached as an Exhibit, and P2 is required to link to the pseudo census person as I use [P2F] for the year in the sentences. This is usually the only census tag I include in normal narratives. I cannot include the term “child” or “children” in the sentences since TMG provides no way to know if there are multiple people assigned to a role, so I use the generic term “offspring”, and the sentences assume that individuals assigned the role “child” are offspring of both the head and the spouse. These sentences use the specific role variables (including [R:Witness]) when I want a specific group, and [WO] when I want all witnesses regardless of role. I prefer to have the details of the focus person only print with that person and only identify the spouse and offspring with specific roles. The nature/relationship of the other members of the household, and the details of all other members, are in their own narratives. Address/location details are in the citation details.

The special role “Alone” was created for the situation where I found an individual in some household (perhaps a boarding house) but I do not wish to enter the head(s) of household in the database. A split memo part is used to record the name(s) of the head(s) of the household. No Witnesses of any kind should be included with a tag that has this role for the Principal.

Example narrative output might be:

“Joe Smith was enumerated in the 1880 Census in Chicago, Illinois, on 3 Jun 1880 as head of household with his wife Mrs. Mary Smith and his offspring Robert Smith, Mary Sue Smith, and George Smith, details: W, M, 29, Tanning, 3 months unemployed, born- Ohio, parents born- Ohio. His household also included Mrs. Mary Jane Roe. Emil Ring and Albert B. Conger were included in the household and listed as lodgers. Joseph J. Smith was enumerated in the 1900 Census in Chicago, Illinois, on 11 Jun 1900 as head of household with his wife Mrs. Mary Smith and his offspring George Smith, Louise Smith, and Susan Smith, details: White, Male, age 48 born Oct 1863 in Ohio, married 23 years, father born- Ohio, mother born- Ohio, occ- Bar Tender, rents house. 24 year-old Mary Flannigan was also enumerated with the household as a servant. The 1910 Census in Chicago, Illinios, enumerated J. J. Smith as a father-in-law in the household of Robert P. Jones and Mrs. Mary Sue Jones, details: 59, M, W, widow, b- Ohio, occupation- county surveyor.”

Tag Field

Description

P1

Head of household assigned the role “Head”, or the special role “Alone”

P2

Census pseudo person identifying this census date and location, assigned the role “Extract” since you have a transcription attached as an exhibit

Date

Only entered if you have an exact actual enumeration date, otherwise left blank

Sort Date

If no actual date then I use “Jun” of census year (I choose not to use the Master Census Date)

Location

as specified in the census (follow location standard), detail depends on how full you want your Master Place List to be, maybe street address? I choose to lump at the City level and show location details like the street address in the Citation Detail.

Head Main memo

full name of head as written in the census (used in the sentences of all linked people)||phrase of the head’s specific census data||sentence of other information to be included only with the head, such as a list of others enumerated but not linked as witnesses||sentence to be appended with head and all Witnesses

Alone Main memo

full name of person as written in the census||phrase of this person’s specific census data||name(s) of the head(s) of this household||sentence to be appended

spouse Wit. memo

name used in census||phrase of the spouse’s specific census data||optional information about the spouse to follow the word ‘as||sentence of extra information about this spouse of the head of household.

[WM3] (to follow the word ‘as’) is seldom used with this role, but retained for consistency in the order of memo parts, since the term “wife” or “husband” is generated automatically in the sentence based on the SEX flag of this witness.

child Wit. memo

name used in census||phrase of this child’s specific census data||required text of the reported child’s relationship to the head to follow the word ‘as||sentence of extra information about this child of the head of household.

The [WM3] text about the child is usually “her son” or “his daughter” as enumerated (which sometimes proves to be in error and is entered “his daughter \[sic\]”).

Witness memo

name used in census||phrase of this person’s specific census data||optional text of the reported relationship of this witness to the head to follow the word ‘as||optional sentence of extra information about this witness.

Entering [WM3] relationship text in the memo precludes the need for separate roles/tags, example text: “his mother-in-law”, “her uncle”, “a servant”, etc.

spouseAssumed Wit. memo

name used in census, or just the word ‘him’ or ‘her’ if unnamed||phrase of the spouse’s specific census data||phrase of explanation to follow the “presumably…” spouse phrase||sentence of extra information about this spouse.

The term “presumed wife” or “presumed husband” will be based on the SEX flag of this witness. If not named in the census and thus not in [WM1], for the [WM3] relationship data enter their name and a phrase like: “[SF], one of the five unspecified family members” to show count, “[SF], the female 20 to 30” to show age category, etc. There will usually be either [WM2] if they are named or [WM3] if they are not, but not both.

childAssumed Wit. memo

name used in census, or just the word ‘him’ or ‘her’, or “a male” or “a child” if unnamed||phrase of this child’s specific census data||phrase of relationship you assume this child has to the head to follow the word ‘presumably||sentence of extra information about this presumed child of the head of household.

The [WM3]relationship portion of the memo can simply be “her son” or “his daughter” if they are named in the census and thus [WM1], or their name and a phrase like “[SF], as one of the five unspecified family members” to show count, “[SF], as one of the 3 females under age 5” to show age category, etc. There will generally always be a [WM3], but there generally is not a [WM2] if they are not named.

assumed Wit. memo

name used in census, or just the word ‘him’ or ‘her’, or “a male: if unnamed||phrase of this person’s specific census data||phrase of enumeration data that you assume refers to this person to follow the word ‘presumably||sentence of extra information about this witness.

The [WM3]presumed relationship portion of the memo can simply be “her neice” or “his brother” if they are named in the census and thus [WM1], or their presumed relationship and name followed by enumeration data like “his granddaughter [S], one of the 3 females under age 5” to show age category, etc. If an actual relationship is shown (e.g. “cousin”) use the Witness role instead. [WM4] can also be used to identify what is simply a suspected relationship, e.g. “This is possibly a relation of his spouse.

Citation

to this census enumeration record as required by source template

Roles:

spouse

child

Witness

all people named and enumerated with a specified relationship to this person (could use picklist to select all at once then go back and fill in their memos and set their roles). The role “child” is for children of this head and this spouse, otherwise use “Witness” with appropriate text. For sentences to work, I link using my custom Name-Marr-Title for any women married at this time. If the person or their relationship is only implied by the data (e.g. U.S. census records prior to 1850), use the appropriate “assumed” role instead.

Roles:

childAssumed

spouseAssumed

assumed

For census enumerations where some aspect of the people in the household is described, but they are not named (e.g. 3 males under age 5), or where they are named but the relationship is not specified (possibly left blank), these custom witness roles are used to link those individuals you believe are the ones enumerated in this household and/or you assume to have these relationships. I usually reserve the role “childAssumed” for children of this head whether or not with this spouse, otherwise use “assumed” with appropriate text.

Role:

Not-here

(not used)

I considered this role for an individual not found in a household that was found, but because I use [WO] in some sentences this individual gets listed as if they were in this household. Instead I chose to use a separate CensusNil tag, structured like the CensusEnum tag, possibly with the Alone role, for missing individuals.

Exhibit (internal or external)

contains the complete household enumeration transcription, or a digital image of the enumeration linked to this tag.

Reminders

CensEnum Tag Type

P1 should be role Head, or role Alone if HOH is not entered in project

P2 should be role Extract

Date: exact date or “June year”

Location: as specified in the census to city (street etc. in CD)

Exhibit: complete household transcription, or digital image

Head role

Memo: full name of head as written in the census||Head’s specific census data||other information for only the Head, e.g. others enumerated but not linked||sentence to be appended to everyone

Alone role

Memo: full name of person as written in the census||this person’s specific census data||name(s) of the Head(s) of this household||sentence to be appended

spouse role

WM: name used in census||spouse’s specific census data||[seldom used]||sentence of extra information about this spouse

child role

WM: name used in census||this child’s specific census data||child’s recorded relationship to the head||extra information about this child

Witness role

WM: name used in census||this person’s specific census data||recorded relationship of this witness to the head||extra information about this witness

spouseAssumed role

WM: name used in census, or ‘him’ or ‘her’||separate recorded census data for this presumed spouse||census data presumed to be this spouse, e.g. “one of the five unspecified family members” , “the female 20 to 30”||extra information about this presumed spouse

Usually there will be either [WM2] or [WM3] but not both

childAssumed role

WM: name used, or ‘him’ or ‘her’ or “a child who is probably him”||census data for this presumed child, e.g. “one of the five unspecified family members” , “the male age under 5”||assumed relationship of this child to the head||extra information about this presumed child

assumed role

WM: name recorded as “the Jim Jones”, or just ‘him’ or ‘her’ or “a person who is probably him”||census data for this presumed person, e.g. “one of the five unspecified family members” , “the female 20 to 30”||assumed relationship of this person to the head||sentence of extra information about this witness

CensusFindMJH

I choose to use this tag instead of (and oftne in addition to) a Research Task16. The structure and sentences for this tag needs to be structured similar to CensusEnum (and CensusNil) so all that needs to change when you find (or not find) the entry is the tag type. As of Version 8 I use a common color highlight for all Find tag types, even Census tags. If you suspect an individual could have been in multiple households, or be their own head of household, you may have multiple copies of this research tag, one for each place you expect to look, with the one you think most likely marked as primary. As you try a place and wish to record that you didn’t find the record, change it to a CensusNil. If necessary, first make a copy for the next “Find” place to look. While this could be done as a single CensusEnum tag with alternative roles to show the “Find” condition, I prefer separate tags so I can select which tags print in various reports by tag type (and it allows the variable [WO] to still be meaningful). I also link a separate Research Task to each “Find” tag to establish a research priority. I do not use “assumed” roles in “*Find” tags.

Tag Field

Description

P1

Either role “Head” or role “Alone”

Head: head of household that is object of the search, witnesses are rest of household

Alone: specific individual to be found in a particular census but not known or unlikely to be a head of household, witnesses are not used

P2

Census pseudo person identifying this census date and location, assigned the role “Extract” if you have a transcription attached as an exhibit, otherwise the role “Source” to identify the year and location

Date

Either an exact date when assumed actually enumerated, or normally left blank

Sort Date

“Mar” of census year

Location

where you expect to find this household, as detailed as you can guess or as you use in your Master Place List (follow location standard), the [M2] portion of the main memo can be used for some (further) detail

Head memo

phrase of specific information to use to try to find this head, e.g. age, occupation||sentence to be appended for head and all Witnesses giving reason you guess the household is in this Location and/or other details for the search

Alone memo

phrase of specific information to use to try to find this person, e.g. age, occupation||sentence giving reason you guess the person is in this Location and/or other details of the search such as households where this person might be found

spouse Wit. memo

name expected in census, or just “data that indicates her” if not expected to be named||phrase of specific information to help identify the spouse, e.g. age, occupation||expected categorization in the census to follow the word ‘as||sentence of other information about this spouse

Since the term “wife” or “husband” is generated automatically in the sentence based on the SEX flag of this witness, the optional categorization is only used if the person is not expected to be named like “a female between 20 and 30

child Wit. memo

name expected in census, or just “data that suggests him” if not expected to be named||phrase of specific information to help identify this child, e.g. age, occupation||expected categorization in the census to follow the word ‘as||sentence of other information about this child

The categorization might simply be “a son” or the data that would suggest them like “a female under age 5

Witness memo

name expected in census, or just “data that suggests him” if not expected to be named||phrase of specific information to help identify this person, e.g. age, occupation||expected relationship to head or categorization in the census to follow the word ‘as||sentence of other information about this specific witness

Citation

to all actual census records that are planned to try, with surety and CD showing what you plan to search.

Roles:

spouse

child

Witness

household members that “should” be here like a normal CensusEnum tag, not used with Alone role. I do not use “assumed” roles in “*Find” or “*Nil” tags as linking them implies I assume they should be here.

Exhibit (internal or external)

contains the complete household details of what you plan to search, and any suggestions for the search, as this will print in the Census “Find” reports.

CensusNilMJH

With this tag and its sentences I want to be able to record when and/or where I looked but did not find a person or household, as this may imply death or relocation or at minimum save looking there again when trying to fill holes in information. I use roles to identify whether this is a head of a whole household, or just a single individual that is not there. If the individual is expected to be in a household with a specific head of household, that HOH can be entered as the P1 with the role Principal, which will not print in the HOH narrative, but will provide useful linkages. May have both CensusXNil and CensusNil if I separately checked the indexes. If multiple places were searched before finally finding the entry, could copy CensusFind to multiple CensusNil tags to document those searches until you find it. Then change the CensusFind to CensusEnum when the actual record is finally located.

Tag Field

Description

P1

Either role “Head” or role “Alone”, but can use “Principal”

Head: head of household that was object of the search, witnesses are rest of household

Alone: specific individual not found in a particular census but not known or unlikely to be a head of household, witnesses are not used

Principal: can be used to link to an expected HOH but not print in their narrative

P2

Census pseudo person identifying this census year and location, assigned the role “Extract” if you have a citation or transcription attached as an exhibit where you expected them but they were not included, otherwise the role “Source”

Date

Normally left blank as it is not used in any sentence, or just the year of the census

Sort Date

“Dec” of census year

Location

as detailed as was fully checked (follow location standard), level of detail depends on how full you want your Master Place List to be, the [M2] portion of the main memo can be used for some (further) detail

Head memo

phrase of specific information that you used to try to find this head, e.g. age, occupation||sentence to be appended for head and all witnesses giving reason you guess the household was not found and/or other details of the search such as multiple locations tried if the Location is broad. If there is a citation, specify why the person was expected in this citation.

Alone memo

phrase of specific information that you used to try to find this person, e.g. age, occupation||sentence giving reason you guess the person was not found and/or other details of the search such as multiple locations tried if Location is broad, and households that did exist but where this person was not found. If there is a citation, specify why the person was expected in this citation.

spouse Wit. memo

name expected in census, or just ‘him’ or ‘her’ if not expected to be named||phrase of specific information that you expected for the spouse, e.g. age, occupation||expected categorization in the census to follow the word ‘as

Since the term “wife” or “husband” is generated automatically in the sentence based on the SEX flag of this witness, the optional categorization is only used if the person is not expected to be named like “a female between 20 and 30

child Wit. memo

name expected in census, or just ‘him’ or ‘her’ or “a child” if not expected to be named||phrase of specific information that you expected for this person, e.g. age, occupation||expected categorization in the census to follow the word ‘as

Witness memo

name expected in census, or just ‘him’ or ‘her’ if not expected to be named||phrase of specific information that you expected for this person, e.g. age, occupation||expected relationship to head or categorization in the census to follow the word ‘as

Citation

to all actual census records that were searched, with surety and CD showing what searching you did in that source. For the Alone role, especially include the exact CD of recorded households where the individual was expected but not found.

Roles:

spouse

child

Witness

household members that “should” be here like a normal CensusEnum tag, not used with Alone role. I do not use “assumed” roles in “*Find” or “*Nil” tags as linking them implies I assume they should be here.

Exhibit (internal or external)

is normally not used, but could be information from the source that makes it clear that this person was not found, or anything about this unsuccessful search.

CensusXMJH

Use this tag and its sentences for census indexes or soundexes as they provide secondary or copied information which may have introduced errors or be less complete. I am likely to have both these and the actual CensusEnum tag, so want two tags linked under my Census pseudo person for this location. When the enumeration entry is found this tag can be copied as a CensusEnum tag and then just delete the extra information in the main memo. Most index entries will only identify a head of household and perhaps the members of the household. However, this tag is designed to also accommodate those indexes and soundexes that have separate entries for non-head individuals where the entry for the non-head usually names the head but does not mention other members of the household.

Tag Field

Description

P1

Either role “Head” or role “Alone”

Head: head of household if this is the index entry for that person

Alone: specific individual separately indexed who is not a head of household, witnesses are not used

P2

Census pseudo person identifying this census index with year and location, assigned the role “Extract” if you have a transcription attached as an exhibit, otherwise the role “Source”

Date

Only entered if you have an exact actual enumeration date, otherwise left blank

Sort Date

“Jan” of census year

Location

what is covered by this entire index, in the USA usually a state, the [M4] or [M5] portion of the main memo can be used for some (further) detail

Head memo

index reference/citation to the actual enumeration record||full name of head as written in the index (used in the sentences of all linked people), followed (usually in parentheses) by any code or value for this index or Soundex that identifies this household entry||phrase of specific information cited about the head||sentence of other information to be included only with the head, such as a list of others enumerated but not linked as witnesses, and/or detailed house/location information||sentence to be appended for head and all witnesses

Alone memo

index reference/citation to the actual enumeration record||Name of head of household where this person was found, followed by any index or Soundex code that is used to locate this household entry||phrase of specific information cited about the head||name of this individual as indexed||phrase of specific information cited about this individual||sentence of other information, possibly including detailed house/location information for the head of household entry

spouse Wit. memo

name used in index||phrase of specific information about the spouse||relationship to indexed head to follow the word ‘as||sentence of extra information about the spouse

The third memo part (to follow the word ‘as’) is seldom used with this role, but retained for consistency in the order of memo parts, since the term “wife” or “husband” is generated automatically in the sentence based on the SEX flag of this witness.

child Wit. memo

name used in index||phrase of specific information about this child||relationship to indexed head to follow the word ‘as||sentence of extra information about this child

Witness memo

name used in index||phrase of specific information about this witness||relationship to indexed head to follow the word ‘as||sentence of extra information about this witness

spouseAssumed Wit. memo

name used in index, or just ‘him’ or ‘her’ if unnamed||phrase of the spouse’s specific data, if any||phrase of index data that makes you think this is the spouse to follow the “presumably…” phrase||sentence of extra information about this spouse.

The term “presumed wife” or “presumed husband” will be based on the SEX flag of this witness. If not named in the index data and thus not in [WM1], for the [WM3] relationship data enter their name and a phrase like: “[SF], one of the five unspecified family members” to show count, “[SF], the female 20 to 30” to show age category, etc.

childAssumed Wit. memo

name used in index, or just ‘him’ or ‘her’ or “a child” if unnamed||phrase of this child’s specific data, if any||phrase of the index data that makes you think this is a child of the head to follow the word ‘presumably||sentence of extra information about this presumed child of the head of household.

The [WM3] index data portion of the memo can simply be “her son” or “his daughter” if they are named in the index and thus [WM1], or their name and a phrase like “[SF], one of the five unspecified family members” to show count, “[SF], one of the 3 females under age 5” to show age category, etc.

assumed Wit. memo

name used in index, or just ‘him’ or ‘her’ or “a male” if unnamed||phrase of this person’s specific index data, if any||phrase of the index data that makes you think this person is in this household to follow the word ‘presumably||sentence of extra information about this witness.

The [WM3]presumed relationship portion of the memo can simply be “her neice” or “his brother” if they are named in the index and thus [WM1], or their presumed relationship and name followed by index data like “his granddaughter [S], one of the 3 females under age 5” to show age category, etc. If an actual relationship is shown (e.g. “cousin”) use the Witness role instead.

Citation

to this index or soundex record as required by source template. The Citation Detail will include the reference to the expected location in the enumeration records.

Roles:

spouse

child

Witness

individuals linked to the head in this index entry, not used with Alone role

Roles:

childAssumed

spouseAssumed

assumed

For census indicies where some aspect of other people in the household is described, but they are not named (e.g. 3 males under age 5), or where they are named but the relationship is not specified (possibly left blank), these custom witness roles are used to link those individuals you believe are the ones indexed in this household and/or you assume to have these relationships.

Exhibit (internal or external)

contains the transcription of the complete index entry, or a digital image of the entry.

CensusXFindMJH

I choose to use this tag instead of (in addition to) a Research Task17. This tag and its sentences needs to be structured similar to CensusX (and CensusXNil) so all that needs to change when you find (or not find) the entry is the tag type. As of Version 8 I use a common color highlight for all Find tag types, even Census tags. I also link a separate Research Task to each “Find” tag to establish a research priority.

Tag Field

Description

P1

Either role “Head” or role “Alone”

Head: head of household that is object of the search, witnesses are rest of household

Alone: specific individual to be found separately indexed in a particular index who is not known or unlikely to be a head of household, witnesses are not used

P2

Census pseudo person identifying this census year and location, assigned the role “Extract” if you have a transcription attached as an exhibit, otherwise the role “Source”

Date

Either an exact date when assumed actually enumerated, or normally left blank

Sort Date

“Feb” of census year

Location

what is covered by this entire index, in the USA usually a state, the [M2] portion of the main memo can be used for details of where you might expect this household

Head memo

phrase of specific information to use to try to find this head, e.g. age, occupation||sentence to be appended for head and all witnesses giving reason you guess the household is in this index and/or other details for the search such as any index or Soundex code(s) that could be used to locate this household entry

Alone memo

phrase of specific information to use to try to find this person, e.g. age, occupation||sentence giving reason you guess the person is in this Location and/or other details of the search such as households where this person might be found or any index or Soundex code(s) that could be used to locate household entries

spouse Wit. memo

name expected in census, or just ‘him’ or ‘her’ if not expected to be named||phrase of specific information to help identify the spouse, e.g. age, occupation||expected categorization in the census to follow the word ‘as||sentence of other information about this spouse

Since the term “wife” or “husband” is generated automatically in the sentence based on the SEX flag of this witness, the optional categorization is only used if the person is not expected to be named like “a female between 20 and 30

child Wit. memo

name expected in census, or just ‘him’ or ‘her’ or “a child” if not expected to be named||phrase of specific information to help identify this child, e.g. age, occupation||expected categorization in the census to follow the word ‘as||sentence of other information about this child

The categorization might simply be “a son” or something like “a female under age 5

Wit. memo

name expected in census, or just ‘him’ or ‘her’ if not expected to be named||phrase of specific information to help identify this person, e.g. age, occupation||expected relationship to head or categorization in the census||sentence of other information about this specific witness

Citation

to all actual index records that are planned to be searched, with surety and CD showing what you plan to search.

Roles:

spouse

child

Witness

household members that “should” be here like a normal CensusX tag, not used with Alone role. I do not use “assumed” roles in “*Find” or “*Nil” tags as linking them implies I assume they should be here.

Exhibit (internal or external)

contains the complete household details of what you plan to search, and any suggestions for the search, as this will print in the Census “Find” reports.

CensusXNilMJH

With this tag and its sentences I want to be able to record when and/or where I looked but did not find a person or household index entry.

Tag Field

Description

P1

Either role “Head” or role “Alone”

Head: head of household that was object of the search, witnesses are rest of household

Alone: specific individual not found separately indexed in a particular index who is not known or unlikely to be a head of household, witnesses are not used

P2

Census pseudo person identifying this census date and location, assigned the role “Extract” if you have a citation or transcription attached as an exhibit, otherwise the role “Source”

Date

Normally left blank as it is not used in any sentence, or just the year of the census

Sort Date

“Nov” of census year

Location

what is covered by this entire index, in the USA usually a state, the [M2] portion of the main memo can be used for details of location checked in this index

Head memo

phrase of specific information that you used to try to find this head, e.g. age, occupation||sentence to be appended for head and all witnesses giving reason you guess the household was not found and/or other details of the search such as multiple name spellings, locations, index codes or soundex values tried

Alone memo

phrase of specific information that you used to try to find this person, e.g. age, occupation||sentence giving reason you guess the person was not found and/or other details of the search, and households that did exist but where this person was not found

spouse Wit. memo

name expected in census, or just ‘him’ or ‘her’ if not expected to be named||phrase of specific information that you expected for the spouse, e.g. age, occupation||expected categorization in the census to follow the word ‘as

child Wit. memo

name expected in census, or just ‘him’ or ‘her’ or “a child” if not expected to be named||phrase of specific information that you expected for this person, e.g. age, occupation||expected categorization in the census to follow the word ‘as

Witness memo

name expected in census, or just ‘him’ or ‘her’ if not expected to be named||phrase of specific information that you expected for this person, e.g. age, occupation||expected relationship to head or categorization in the census

Citation

to all actual index records that were searched, with surety and CD showing what searching you did in that source. For the Alone role, especially include in the CD the index entries of recorded households where the individual was expected but not found.

Roles:

spouse

child

Witness

household members that “should” be here like a normal CensusX tag, not used with Alone role. I do not use “assumed” roles in “*Find” or “*Nil” tags as linking them implies I assume they should be here.

Exhibit (internal or external)

is normally not used, but could be information from the source that makes it clear that this person was not found, or anything about this unsuccessful search.

My Census Sentences

All these tags and their sentences are custom. I have renamed the original standard Census tag to CensOrig and then deactivated it since mine are so different. Remember that any individual tag sentence may be changed locally as needed and will only affect that one tag. Global changes are reflected in all tags (used and in newly added tags) of that type unless the sentence for the used tag has been changed locally. [This table structure is also used in my separate Tag Sentences chapter where all other sentences are listed and the conventions in this table are discussed there.]

Census Tag Types, Roles, Sentence Templates

The maximum characters allowed for each field in a tag type definition is given in parentheses:

Tag Label (20), Role (2318),Verb (20), Abbreviation (4), GEDCOM (4), Sentence (254)

#

Group

Label / Role

Rem

Verb,abbr,GEDC / Sentences

19

Other

Census/CensOrig

 

(Original default sentences are in the Tag Sentences chapter)

0

Other

*CensusEnum

R

enumerated, cen., CENS

 

 

Head (P1D)

R

Male: *“[M1] was enumerated in the [P2G] in [L]< on [D]> as head of household< with his wife [RG:spouse]>< with [RG:spouseAssumed] who is presumed to be his wife>< and his offspring [RG:child]>< and presumably his offspring [RG:childAssumed]><, details: [M2]>.< His household also included [R:Witness].>< His household is also presumed to include [R:assumed].>< [M3].>< [M4]>

Female: *“[M1] was enumerated in the [P2G] in [L]< on [D]> as head of household< with her husband [RG:spouse]>< with [RG:spouseAssumed] who is presumed to be her husband>< and her offspring [RG:child]>< and presumably her offspring [RG:childAssumed]><, details: [M2]>.< Her household also included [R:Witness].>< Her household is also presumed to include [R:assumed].>< [M3].>< [M4]>

 

 

Alone(P1)

R

*“[M1] was enumerated in the [P2G] in [L]< on [D]>< in the household of [M3]><, details: [M2]>.< [M4]>

 

 

Extract (P2D)

(male only)

 

Male: *“[:CR:][:CR:][BOLD:][P2F] Census Enumeration[:BOLD] of the household of [BOLD:][M1][:BOLD] in [L]< on [D]> linked to [P1]< and to [WO]>

Female: *“--Sources should be male

 

 

child (WD)

R

*“The [P2G] in [L]< on [D]> enumerated [WM1] as [WM3] in the household of< [RG:spouse] and>< [RG:spouseAssumed] and> [M1]<, details: [WM2]>.< [WM4].>< [M4]>

 

 

spouse (W)

R

Male: *“The [P2G] in [L]< on [D]> enumerated [WM1] in the household of [M1] as her husband< as [WM3]><, details: [WM2]><. [WM4]><. [M4]>

Female: *“The [P2G] in [L]< on [D]> enumerated [WM1] in the household of [M1] as his wife< as [WM3]><, details: [WM2]><. [WM4]><. [M4]>

 

 

Witness

R

*“The [P2G] in [L]< on [D]> enumerated [WM1]< as [WM3]> in the household of< [RG:spouse] and>< [RG:spouseAssumed] and> [M1]<, details: [WM2]>.< [WM4].>< [M4]>

 

 

spouseAssumed (W)

R

Male: *“The [P2G] in [L]< on [D]> enumerated [WM1] in the household of [M1], presumably her husband<, as [WM3]><, details: [WM2]><. [WM4]><. [M4]>

Female: *“The [P2G] in [L]< on [D]> enumerated [WM1] in the household of [M1], presumably his wife<, as [WM3]><, details: [WM2]><. [WM4]><. [M4]>

 

 

childAssumed (W)

R

*“The [P2G] in [L]< on [D]> enumerated [WM1]<, presumably [WM3],> in the household of< [RG:spouse] and>< [RG:spouseAssumed] and> [M1]<, details: [WM2]><. [WM4]><. [M4]>

 

 

assumed(W)

R

*“The [P2G] in [L]< on [D]> enumerated [WM1]<, presumably [WM3],> in the household of< [RG:spouse] and>< [RG:spouseAssumed] and> [M1]<, details: [WM2]><. [WM4]><. [M4]>

 

 

Principal

 

*“-- Use roles Head for P1 and Extract for P2

0

Other

*CensusFind

 

not yet found, cfin, NOTE

 

 

Head(P1D)

 

Male: *“The [P2G] in [L]< possibly enumerated on [D]> needs to be searched for [P1] as a head of household<, using details: [M1]><, with his wife [RG:spouse]><, with offspring [RG:child]><, and including [R:Witness]><. [M2]>

Female: *“The [P2G] in [L]< possibly enumerated on [D]> needs to be searched for [P1] as a head of household<, using details: [M1]><, with her husband [RG:spouse]><, with offspring [RG:child]><, and including [R:Witness]><. [M2]>

 

 

Alone(P1)

 

*“The [P2G] in [L]< possibly enumerated on [D]> needs to be searched for [P1] in some household< using details: [M1]><. [M2]>

 

 

Source(P2D)

(male only)

 

Male: *“[:CR:][:CR:][BOLD:][P2F] Census Enumeration[:BOLD] needs to be searched in [L]< possibly enumerated on [D]> for [BOLD:][P1][:BOLD]< and [RG:spouse]><, details: [M1]><, with offspring [RG:child]><, and including [R:Witness]>.< [M2]>

Female: *“--Sources should be male

 

 

Extract(P2)

if transcription attached as an exhibit

(male only)

 

Male: *“[:CR:][:CR:][BOLD:][P2F] Census Enumeration[:BOLD] needs to be further searched in [L]< possibly enumerated on [D]> for [BOLD:][P1][:BOLD]<, details: [M1]><, with spouse [RG:spouse]><, with offspring [RG:child]><, and including [R:Witness]><. [M2]>

Female: *“--Sources should be male

 

 

child (WD)

 

*“The [P2G] in [L]< possibly enumerated on [D]> needs to be searched for [WM1]< as [WM3]> in a household of< [RG:spouse] and> [P1]< using details: [WM2]>.< [WM4].>< [M2]>

 

 

spouse (W)

 

Male: *“The [P2G] in [L]< possibly enumerated on [D]> needs to be searched for [WM1] in a household of [P1] as her husband< as [WM3]>< using details: [WM2]>.< [WM4].>< [M2]>

Female: *“The [P2G] in [L]< possibly enumerated on [D]> needs to be searched for [WM1] in a household of [P1] as his wife< as [WM3]>< using details: [WM2]>.< [WM4].>< [M2]>

 

 

Witness

 

*“The [P2G] in [L]< possibly enumerated on [D]> needs to be searched for [WM1]< as [WM3]> in a household of< [RG:spouse] and> [P1]< using details: [WM2]>.< [WM4].>< [M2]>

 

 

Principal

 

*“-- Use roles Head or Alone for P1, Extract, or Source for P2

0

Other

*CensusNil

 

not enumerated, cnil., NOTE

 

 

Head(P1D)

 

Male: *“P1] was not found as a head of household in [L] in the [P2G]< using details: [M1]><, with his wife [RG:spouse]><, with offspring [RG:child]><, and including [R:Witness]>.< [M2]>

Female: *“[P1] was not found as a head of household in [L] in the [P2G]< using details: [M1]><, with her husband [RG:spouse]><, with offspring [RG:child]><, and including [R:Witness]>.< [M2]>

 

 

Alone(P1)

 

*“[P1] was not found in [L] in the [P2G]< using details: [M1]>.< [M2]>

 

 

Source(P2D)

(male only)

 

Male: *“[:CR:][:CR:][BOLD:][P2F] Census Enumeration[:BOLD] was not found in [L] for [BOLD:][P1][:BOLD]< and spouse [RG:spouse]>< and offspring [RG:child]>< and [R:Witness]>.< [M2]>

Female: *“--Sources should be male

 

 

Extract(P2)

if citation or exhibit

(male only)

 

Male: *“[:CR:][:CR:][BOLD:][P2F] Census Enumeration[:BOLD] was not found in [L] for [BOLD:][P1][:BOLD]< and spouse [RG:spouse]>< and offspring [RG:child]>< and [R:Witness]>.< [M2]>

Female: *“--Sources should be male

 

 

child (WD)

 

*“The [P2G] in [L] did not list [WM1]< as [WM3]> in a household of< [RG:spouse] and> [P1]< using details: [WM2]><. [M2]>

 

 

spouse (W)

 

Male: *“The [P2G] in [L] did not list [WM1] in a household of [P1] as her husband< as [WM3]>< using details: [WM2]><. [M2]>

Female: *“The [P2G] in [L] did not list [WM1] in a household of [P1] as his wife< as [WM3]>< using details: [WM2]><. [M2]>

 

 

Witness

 

*“The [P2G] in [L] did not list [WM1]< as [WM3]> in a household of< [RG:spouse] and> [P1]< using details: [WM2]><. [M2]>

 

 

Principal

 

*“-- Use roles Head or Alone for P1, Extract or Source for P2

0

Other

*CensusX

 

indexed, cenx, CENS

 

 

Head(P1D)

 

Male: *“The household of [M2] was indexed in the [P2G] of [L] which references the enumeration at [M1]< enumerated on [D]><. His index data is: [M3]><. This index entry includes his wife [RG:spouse]><. This index entry includes [RG:spouseAssumed] who is presumed to be his wife>< and his offspring [RG:child]>< and presumably his offspring [RG:childAssumed]><. His household index entry also includes [R:Witness]><. [M4]><. [M5]>

Female: *“The household of [M2] was indexed in the [P2G] of [L] which references the enumeration at [M1]< enumerated on [D]><. Her index data is: [M3]><. This index entry includes her husband [RG:spouse]><. This index entry includes [RG:spouseAssumed] who is presumed to be her husband>< and her offspring [RG:child]>< and presumably her offspring [RG:childAssumed]><. Her household index entry also includes [R:Witness]><. [M4]><. [M5]>

 

 

Alone(P1)

 

Male: *“[M4] was separately indexed in the household of [M2] in the [P2G] of [L] which references this enumeration at [M1]< enumerated on [D]>.< His index data is: [M5].>< The head of household index data is [M3].>< [M6]>

Female: *“[M4] was separately indexed in the household of [M2] in the [P2G] of [L] which references this enumeration at [M1]< enumerated on [D]>.< Her index data is: [M5].>< The head of household index data is [M3].>< [M6]>

 

 

Extract(P2D)

if transcription attached as an exhibit

(male only)

 

Male: *“[:CR:][:CR:][BOLD:][P2G] of [L][:BOLD] lists the household of [BOLD:][M2][:BOLD] referenced at [M1]< enumerated on [D]> linked to [P1]< and to [WO]>

Female: *“--Sources should be male

 

 

Source(P2)

(male only)

 

Male: *“[:CR:][:CR:][BOLD:][P2G] of [L][:BOLD] lists the household of [BOLD:][M2][:BOLD] referenced at [M1]< enumerated on [D]> linked to [P1]< and to [WO]>

Female: *“--Sources should be male

 

 

child (WD)

 

*“The [P2G] of [L] listed [WM1] as [WM3] in the< [RG:spouse] and>< [RG:spouseAssumed] and> [M2] household index entry< enumerated on [D]> referenced at [M1].< The index details of this child are: [WM2]><. [WM4]><. [M5]>

 

 

spouse (W)

 

Male: *“The [P2G] of [L] listed husband [WM1]< as [WM3]> in the [M2] household index entry< enumerated on [D]> referenced at [M1].< His details in this index entry are: [WM2]><. [WM4]><. [M5]>

Female: *“The [P2G] of [L] listed wife [WM1]< as [WM3]> in the [M2] household index entry< enumerated on [D]> referenced at [M1].< Her details in this index entry are: [WM2]><. [WM4]><. [M5]>

 

 

Witness

 

Male: *“The [P2G] of [L] listed [WM1]< as [WM3]> in the< [RG:spouse] and>< [RG:spouseAssumed] and> [M2] household index entry< enumerated on [D]> referenced at [M1].< His details in this index entry are: [WM2]><. [WM4]><. [M5]>

Female: *“The [P2G] of [L] listed [WM1]< as [WM3]> in the< [RG:spouse] and>< [RG:spouseAssumed] and> [M2] household index entry< enumerated on [D]> referenced at [M1].< Her details in this index entry are: [WM2]><. [WM4]><. [M5]>

 

 

spouseAssumed (W)

 

Male: *“The [P2G] of [L] listed [WM1]< as [WM3]> presumably her husband in the [M2] household index entry< enumerated on [D]> referenced as [M1].<His details in this index entry are: [WM2]><. [WM4]><. [M5]>

Female: *“The [P2G] of [L] listed [WM1]< as [WM3]> presumably his wife in the [M2] household index< enumerated on [D]> referenced as [M1].<Her details in this index entry are: [WM2]><. [WM4]><. [M5]>

 

 

childAssumed (W)

 

*“The [P2G] of [L] listed [WM1]< presumably [WM3]><, index details: [WM2]>, in the< [RG:spouse] and>< [RG:spouseAssumed] and> [M2] household index entry< enumerated on [D]> referenced as [M1].< [WM4].>< [M5]>

 

 

assumed(W)

 

Male: *“The [P2G] of [L] listed [WM1]< presumably [WM3]> in the< [RG:spouse] and>< [RG:spouseAssumed] and> [M2] household index entry< enumerated on [D]> referenced as [M1].< His details in this index entry are: [WM2]><. [WM4]><. [M5]>

Female: *“The [P2G] of [L] listed [WM1]< presumably [WM3]> in the< [RG:spouse] and>< [RG:spouseAssumed] and> [M2] household index entry< enumerated on [D]> referenced as [M1].< Her details in this index entry are: [WM2]><. [WM4]><. [M5]>

 

 

Principal

 

*“-- Use roles Head or Alone for P1, Extract or Source for P2, and only Head has Witnesses

0

Other

*CensusXFind

 

not yet found, cxfn, NOTE

 

 

Head(P1D)

 

Male: *“The [P2G] of [L]< possibly enumerated on [D]> needs to be searched for [P1] as a head of household< using details: [M1]><, with his wife [RG:spouse]><, with offspring [RG:child]><, and including [R:Witness]><. [M2]>

Female: *“The [P2G] of [L]< possibly enumerated on [D]> needs to be searched for [P1] as a head of household< using details: [M1]><, with her husband [RG:spouse]><, with offspring [RG:child]><, and including [R:Witness]><. [M2]>

 

 

Alone(P1)

 

*“The [P2G] of [L]< possibly enumerated on [D]> needs to be searched for [P1] in some household< using details: [M1]>.< [M2]>

 

 

Source(P2D)

(male only)

 

Male: *“[:CR:][:CR:][BOLD:][P2G] of [L][:BOLD]< possibly enumerated on [D]> needs to be searched for [BOLD:][P1][:BOLD]<, with spouse [RG:spouse]><, with offspring [RG:child]><, and including [R:Witness]>

Female: *“--Sources should be male

 

 

Extract(P2)

if transcription attached as an exhibit

(male only)

 

Male: *“[:CR:][:CR:][BOLD:][P2G] of [L][:BOLD]< possibly enumerated on [D]> needs to be searched for [BOLD:][P1][:BOLD]<, with spouse [RG:spouse]><, with offspring [RG:child]><, and including [R:Witness]>

Female: *“--Sources should be male

 

 

child (WD)

 

*“The [P2G] of [L]< possibly enumerated on [D]> needs to be searched for [WM1]< as [WM3]> in a household of< [RG:spouse] and> [P1]< using details: [WM2]>.< [WM4].>< [M2]>

 

 

spouse (W)

 

Male: *“The [P2G] of [L]< possibly enumerated on [D]> needs to be searched for [WM1] in a household of [P1] as her husband< as [WM3]>< using details: [WM2]>.< [WM4].>< [M2]>

Female: *“The [P2G] of [L]< possibly enumerated on [D]> needs to be searched for [WM1] in a household of [P1] as his wife< as [WM3]>< using details: [WM2]>.< [WM4].>< [M2]>

 

 

Witness

 

*“The [P2G] of [L]< possibly enumerated on [D]> needs to be searched for [WM1]< as [WM3]> in a household of< [RG:spouse] and> [P1]< using details: [WM2]>.< [WM4].>< [M2]>

 

 

Principal

 

*“-- Use roles Head or Alone for P1, Extract or Source for P2, and only Head has Witnesses

0

Other

*CensusXNil

 

not indexed, cxnl., NOTE

 

 

Head(P1D)

 

Male: *“[P1] was not found as a head of household in the [P2G] of [L]< using details: [M1]><, with his wife [RG:spouse]><, with offspring [RG:child]><, and including [R:Witness]>.< [M2]>

Female: *“P1] was not found as a head of household in the [P2G] of [L]< using details: [M1]><, with her husband [RG:spouse]><, with offspring [RG:child]><, and including [R:Witness]>.< [M2]>

 

 

Alone(P1)

 

*“[P1] was not found in any household in the [P2G] of [L]< using details: [M1]>.< [M2]>

 

 

Source(P2D)

(male only)

 

Male: *“[:CR:][:CR:][BOLD:][P2G] of [L][:BOLD] entry was not found for [BOLD:][P1][:BOLD]< and spouse [RG:spouse]>< and offspring [RG:child]>< and [R:Witness]>

Female: *“--Sources should be male

 

 

Extract(P2)

if citation or exhibit

(male only)

 

Male: *“[:CR:][:CR:][BOLD:][P2G] of [L][:BOLD] entry was not found for [BOLD:][P1][:BOLD]< and spouse [RG:spouse]>< and offspring [RG:child]>< and [R:Witness]>

Female: *“--Sources should be male

 

 

child (WD)

 

*“The [P2G] of [L] did not list [WM1]< as [WM3]> in a household of< [RG:spouse] and> [P1]< using details: [WM2]><. [M2]>

 

 

spouse (W)

 

Male: *“The [P2G] of [L] did not list [WM1] in a household of [P1] as her husband< as [WM3]>< using details: [WM2]><. [M2]>

Female: *“The [P2G] of [L] did not list [WM1] in a household of [P1] as his wife< as [WM3]>< using details: [WM2]><. [M2]>

 

 

Witness

 

*“The [P2G] of [L] did not list [WM1]< as [WM3]> in a household of< [RG:spouse] and> [P1]< using details: [WM2]><. [M2]>

 

 

Principal

 

*“-- Use roles Head or Alone for P1, Extract or Source for P2

My Census Source Type

My preference is as a “lumper” and thus my Source Templates chapter describes a single custom Census Source Type that I use for both the actual enumeration source as well as indexes and soundexes, and for all countries. It also provides the ability to link the source citation to the source pseudo person. Any Census Source Record at least should be cited to the Created tag of the most detailed Census person which covers that source and be linked to that pseudo person. Note that my style for the structure of these templates does not exactly follow either the published U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) style or the Mills publications or the Garner citation style, but reflects my personal preference to range from the least to the most detail from Short Footnote through Full Footnote to Bibliography. I choose to have each Soundex film a separate source, yet I choose to have each enumeration film a source when there are multiple films for a county but each county a source when there are multiple counties on a film. As I enter data from other country’s census sources I may find the need to create a separate Type for a particular country, but currently have not found the need.

As of Version 7.04 the standard Indented report List of Sources can only be sorted by Abbreviation, Title or Bibliography form, and the Columnar form only be Source ID#, Abbreviation or Biliography form. Since I use [TITLE] to simply define the overall location/type census of which this source is a part, e.g. “U. S. Census”, a Title-sorted List of Sources report would be of minimal value using my custom Census Source Type. While Bibliographic form may be a useful sort, I generally only use Abbreviation-sorted List of Sources reports for my census sources because of my custom abbreviation codes.

Other Source Type Ideas

I toyed with trying to modify the basic Source Types provided, and use an appropriate one for each kind of census source, but found that my single “lumped” Type seems to work for all the variations of census source documents. The following are other ideas I collected on modifying the basic Types, but I have not fully considered them and I do not currently use them. They are offered simply as possible ideas for others.

Census, Index

*FF:

[CENSUS DATE] [TITLE]<, [SECOND LOCATION]>, [LOCATION] [RECORD TYPE]< [VOLUME]>, [CD], ([PUBLISHER ADDRESS]: [PUBLISHER]<, [PUBLISH DATE]>)< [FILM]>< [REPOSITORY REFERENCE]>; [REPOSITORY]<, [REPOSITORY ADDRESS]>.

*SF:

[CENSUS DATE] [TITLE]<, [SECOND LOCATION]>, [LOCATION] [RECORD TYPE], [CD].

*B:

[LOCATION]<, [SECOND LOCATION]>, [CENSUS DATE] [TITLE] [RECORD TYPE]< [VOLUME]><. [COMMENTS]>. [PUBLISHER ADDRESS]: [PUBLISHER]<, [PUBLISH DATE]>; < [FILM]>. <[REPOSITORY REFERENCE; >[REPOSITORY]<, [REPOSITORY ADDRESS]>.

Census Compendium

FF:

[COMPILER], [ITAL:][TITLE][:ITAL] ([PUBLISHER ADDRESS]: [PUBLISHER]<, [PUBLISH DATE]>)<, [RECORD INFO]><, [CD]><. Cited as [ITAL:][SHORT TITLE][:ITAL]>.

SF:

[ITAL:][SHORT TITLE][:ITAL]<, [CD]>.

B:

[COMPILER]. [TITLE]<. [COMMENTS]> ([PUBLISHER ADDRESS]: [PUBLISHER]<, [PUBLISH DATE]>).

Census, Federal (Local/State Copy)

FF:

[HOUSEHOLD],< [DATE]> [RECORD TYPE], [REPOSITORY ADDRESS]<, [RECORD INFO]><, [REPOSITORY REFERENCE]> [REPOSITORY]<, [CD]>.

SF:

<[DATE]> [RECORD TYPE], [REPOSITORY ADDRESS]<, [RECORD INFO]><, [CD]>.

B:

[REPOSITORY ADDRESS].< [DATE]> [RECORD TYPE]<. [COMMENTS]>.< [REPOSITORY REFERENCE]> [REPOSITORY].

Census, State

FF:

[HOUSEHOLD],< [DATE]> [RECORD TYPE], [LOCATION], [RECORD INFO], [REPOSITORY] [REPOSITORY ADDRESS]<, [CD]>.

SF:

<[DATE]> [RECORD TYPE], [LOCATION], [RECORD INFO]<, [CD]>.

B:

[LOCATION].< [DATE]> [RECORD TYPE]<. [COMMENTS]>. [REPOSITORY] [REPOSITORY ADDRESS].

 


Endnotes

2. The instructions to the census-takers for the U.S. Federal Census for various years may be found on-line at: http://usa.ipums.org/usa/voliii/tEnumInstr.shtml, or along with the actual questionaires and other information in the 149 page Bureau of Census booklet Measuring America: The Decennial Censuses of 1790 to 2000 found at: http://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/pol02marv.pdf

3. Of course if internal it could be duplicated for multiple attachments, and if external the same file could be linked in multiple ways.

4. Again the task could be duplicated for multiple attachments.

5. I have considered using “After year” for the Created Sort Date of a parent when all of their children are also parents. It would sort the lowest level of parent before the Created tag of an intermediate parent. For now it has been adequate and easier to have all parents use the same qualifier.

6. I always enable the “Show children” option in Preferences // Program Options // Tag Box so that all children show in the Person View.

7. I do not currently have any “Film” census pseudo people in my projects, but have defined them here to record my thoughts should I ever decide to do so.

8. As noted with location people, there could be a problem with the order in the Person Details with a census father of multiple census sons if the sons have common or missing “birth” sort dates. This is usually not an issue with census children since most have a date. If necessary, I could force an offspring order by placing a numbering order in their BIRTH ORDER flags.

9. Note that the Name-Link-Only tag type is excluded from the list of tag types in Second Site so intentionally does not appear in its Name indexes, but can be used for a Selected Name when linking to a tag so long as the person with that name is included in the site.

10. The presence of hard-coded text in a template will produce a warning message: “The XXX template includes text that is not within square brackets [like this] to designate it as a field label. Are you sure that you want to save this template?” Just select ‘Yes’ for those templates, such as these census styles, where you desire such hard-coded text.

11. As a special case, the person Surname “USA” and Given name “*Census” has a father of “*Census *All” and no mother. I have not chosen to create a larger locale person than at country level, although a location person named “Earth” may someday become appropriate.

12. Last tested with the final TMG Version 9.05 and Second Site Version 6.2 Build 00.

13. Marking a tag type as not “Active” only affects whether or not it is listed in the Master Tag Type list, and only based on the option on that list to “Show deactivated tag types”. It may still be used, and may exist in “Add Person” templates.

14. If a census event is to be exported to GEDCOM (whether by defining its GEDCOM export tag as CENS or EVEN) and it has two principals and those principals are married (which would be the case if you used the parents for the principals, but are not if the source person is the other principal), the CENS event is exported as a family event, not an individual event, which follows the requirements of the GEDCOM 5.5 specs.

15. Since the Head and the Pseudo Census person are not married, these two-Principal custom Census events will not export to GEDCOM.

16. See also my discussion of the Research Log in my Style chapter.

17. See also my discussion of the Research Log in my Style chapter.

18. Version 4 limit on a Tag Type Label was 10 characters, and Version 5 expanded this to 21. As of Version 6 names were truncated at 20. Since Version 8.05 the maximum is 20 characters for the Label and 23 for a role. Previous versions had side-effects if you entered too many characters, but since Version 6 your entry is simply truncated to the maximum.


Disclaimer

I am not affiliated in any way with TMG™, its company Wholly Genes, Inc., or its primary author Bob Velke, nor with John Cardinal, author of several TMG after-market programs. I am simply a satisfied user of these software packages and have constructed these documents to aid me in their use.

If others find these documents useful, so much the better. I do not warrant in any way that they are accurate or useful, and any use of them is at the user’s own risk.

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