Double Asterisks after a name in Relative Chart

[David Leavitt]

I'm trying to set up a limited relative chart for my daughter (who has to work on a genealogical chart for school). I've marked the people we want to include, but I came across one anomaly that I'm not sure how to deal with.
My older sister, so far as we know, is actually a half-sister; she was born to my biological mother and my mother's prior husband, but was adopted by my biological father. (There's a rumor that she is actually my full sister, but I don't know any way to confirm this; she was born during my mother's prior marriage, so legally she's the child of the prior husband. That's not a major problem for us.)
In addition, my sister has been married three times; that of course complicates things a bit.
When I do a Relatives chart for my daughter, with only the marked relatives, I find six boxes for my sister: two for each marriage, arranged in sets of three (probably based on her two "fathers"--the biological one and the adopted one. I can easily cut out three boxes, but each box shows her name with two asterisks after the family name.
Apparently this is Reunion's way of marking these as duplicates, but I'm not sure how to remove the asterisks from the chart. Is there a simple way that I just haven't found yet? (I'm using the latest version of Reunion 9 on a first generation Intel iMac, running Snow Leopard.)
Thanks.

[Dennis J. Cunniff]

Re: Double Asterisks after a name in Relative Chart

My older sister, so far as we know, is actually a half-sister; she was born to my biological mother and my mother's prior husband, but was adopted by my biological father. (There's a rumor that she is actually my full sister, but I don't know any way to confirm this; she was born during my mother's prior marriage, so legally she's the child of the prior husband. That's not a major problem for us.)

Well, the obvious way would be DNA "relationship" testing (I'm avoiding brand names here); two tests (one of you, one of her) would quickly confirm if you were full or half siblings. Even if it's not a problem, it might be a matter of curiosity for you, and would thereby be quickly solved.

When I do a Relatives chart for my daughter, with only the marked relatives, I find six boxes for my sister: two for each marriage, arranged in sets of three (probably based on her two "fathers"--the biological one and the adopted one. I can easily cut out three boxes, but each box shows her name with two asterisks after the family name.
Apparently this is Reunion's way of marking these as duplicates, but I'm not sure how to remove the asterisks from the chart. Is there a simple way that I just haven't found yet? (I'm using the latest version of Reunion 9 on a first generation Intel iMac, running Snow Leopard.)

You could remove them manually, the same way you'd edit any other text. (Click in the box, highlight the **, hit delete, click outside the box) (You should be able to find information on this in the manual under "Editing Text in Boxes"; essentially you can search for "**" on the chart, and delete it wherever you find it. As far as I know, there's only a search, no search and replace, but for these few changes hand-editing should work OK.)

[Dennis J. Cunniff]

Re: Double Asterisks after a name in Relative Chart

I'm trying to set up a limited relative chart for my daughter (who has to work on a genealogical chart for school).

From your description, I'm assuming your sister is currently a child in two families.

Just as an afterthought, you could:
[1] remove your sister from the adoptive/duplicate family
[2] create the relative chart
[3] return your sister to the adoptive/duplicate family

[David Leavitt]

Re: Double Asterisks after a name in Relative Chart

Well, the obvious way would be DNA "relationship" testing (I'm avoiding brand names here); two tests (one of you, one of her) would quickly confirm if you were full or half siblings. Even if it's not a problem, it might be a matter of curiosity for you, and would thereby be quickly solved.

I was under the (apparently mistaken) assumption that DNA tests for a male and a female of the same generation weren't all that accurate. I guess it's time to research that again. Thanks.

You could remove them manually, the same way you'd edit any other text. (Click in the box, highlight the **, hit delete, click outside the box) (You should be able to find information on this in the manual under "Editing Text in Boxes"; essentially you can search for "**" on the chart, and delete it wherever you find it. As far as I know, there's only a search, no search and replace, but for these few changes hand-editing should work OK.)

Why didn't I think of this? I guess I thought of the charts as graphics, rather than text. I guess I'll have to blame approaching senility. Thanks for clearing this up.

[David Leavitt]

Re: Double Asterisks after a name in Relative Chart

By the way, this shows the problems of over-thinking a solution. I should have realized that this was simpler than I was making it.

[Dennis J. Cunniff]

Re: Double Asterisks after a name in Relative Chart

I was under the (apparently mistaken) assumption that DNA tests for a male and a female of the same generation weren't all that accurate. I guess it's time to research that again.

You're right, the testing has changed considerably. If you want to e-mail me (click on the signature) I can probably give you the info you need