Sources

[Patrick Molloy]

This is my first post to the Forum.

By way of introduction my name is Patrick (Pat) Molloy, I'm 75 years old, married and live in Lichfield, England.

I have just purchased my first iMac and having had so many problems with Windows over the years I decided that no way was I letting Windows anywhere near the Mac. Which led me to Reunion.

I have been researching my family history for about 20 years and inevitably errors and mistakes have crept in. I decided that rather than import Gedcom files I would start again.

I started on Monday, and already I'm puzzled.

I want to enter two Sources, a Birth Certificate and a Marriage Certificate (both English). The list of Source Types doesn't have either of these (or a Death Certificate). Does that mean I have to create a new Source Type?

I want to get this right because Sources are so important.

Pat Molloy.

[kmgenealogy]

Re: Sources

Good morning Pat. Welcome to the wonderful world of Macs and Reunion and to the best forum help on the net!

A short answer to your question is no, you do not have to set up a new source type for your birth, marriage & death documents. Just use the source type VITAL RECORDS. Not sure if this designation is used in England but it is what we use here in the U.S. However, if you would rather use BMD, you can duplicate the source type and call it that. Information on how to do this is in the included online manual...just click on the question mark at the bottom left of any family page and search for Sources.

Since you are starting at the beginning, before you start, I recommend that you first take a look at Ben Sayer's web sites - http://genealogytools.com/toolbox - for great tutorials about Reunion (& other genealogy software...but, of course you are most interested in Reunion ) & http://practicalcitation.com which is a class (you pay for) on his new system for setting up citations that make the best use of the GEDCOM system.

I would go through Ben's videos about sources in Reunion first. Some are outdated but will give some good ideas - http://genealogytools.com/reunion-for-mac-tutorials/ & http://genealogytools.com/reunion-10-for-mac-tutorials/

Hope this is helpful,
Kaye

[Michael Talibard]

Re: Sources

I want to enter two Sources, a Birth Certificate and a Marriage Certificate (both English). The list of Source Types doesn't have either of these (or a Death Certificate). Does that mean I have to create a new Source Type?
Pat Molloy.

Hi, Pat! I would recommend that you get used to structuring sources as you see fit. It's not difficult to learn, and well worth it. Even where there is a suitable source type ready-made, you may well wish to adapt it a bit. For BMD, I use source types called 'Registrar' or 'Parish Record'. I attach an image of one of my Registrar sources, but don't necessarily copy that too closely.

Hope this helps - Michael

[beebeewood]

Re: Sources

I would suggest that in addition to creating specialized source records, you add the MEDIA TYPE to each and every source record. I place the MEDIA TYPE field right after the main entry (usually the author, but sometimes the title). For example: a book, a newspaper, a periodical or serial, a vital record, a government document, a family bible, a census record, a gedcom, an oral history, a will, an unpublished manuscript, etc. Identifying the media type of the source is now standard practice in MLA citation style. I use the free form to create unique source types with fields specific to data gathered from cemetery visits (date, name of cemetery, location, person recording data) or perhaps unique to an unpublished document in an archival box.

Citations would look like this:

1. Doe, Jane, [oral history], 2013, New Orleans, LA, Bonnie Bess Wood.
2. "Times-Picayune", [newspaper], New Orleans, LA. (data specific to the document, like page & column numbers, would be added as a detail to each individual record)
3. "Certificate", [gov. doc.], Georgia State Archives. (data specific to the document, like birth, volume & page, would be added as a detail to each individual record)
4. "US census", [gov. doc.] (data specific to the document, like year or any other info, would be added as a detail to each individual record)
5. "Louisiana Historical Quarterly", [serial]. (data specific to the document, like volume & page, would be added as a detail to each individual record)
6. "Doe Family History", [gedcom], John Doe, Jan 2002.
7. "Saint Louis Cemetery No 1", [visit], Nov 1, 1997 All Saints' Day, Basin St, Vieux Carre, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, LA, Bonnie Bess Wood & Jane Doe.

What I LOVE about the source feature in Reunion is that if I create a source and then later find that I did not correctly cite it (either through error or omission of important info), any change that I make to source record is immediately made through all instances of the citation when a report is created. For example, if anyone wants to now go back into their sources and add the media type data, they can easily do that.

[alan]

Re: Sources

Hi Pat,

You will find you can do exactly what you are after by following these tips;
Reunion > Preferences > Sources > add Type + > put in new source title such as Birth Certificate or Death Cert.
Close the Preferences window and go to a person card.
Select the person which should then change to "Edit Person" > at the bottom of the view card select "Add Source" when the window opens choose "New Source" and the title of the source should appear amongst others > select it and a new window opens whereby you can then enter and drag records to it.
(I have never used the Free-Form Text panel only Source Fields, Preview & Multimedia)

One extra tip; after entering the details go to the Multimedia panel and put a check √
in box to the far right. The source number will then appear against the persons name in the Family View card.

My ancestors were all English so I have many birth, marriage & death certs. all recorded that way.
By the way I'm almost in your age bracket and thoroughly enjoy Reunion. Its power and resources are under estimated. Very powerful programme.

Hope this helps you on your way.

Alan

[Charles Bourland]

Re: Sources

If you will go to www.genealogyhowto.com and search for "Source Records", you will find a simple, effective and easily retrieved method. Every Source I have in Reunion starts with File Number (sequential), File Name (BMD) and the rest is as appropriate to the particular source. I can find any referenced source document in less than 10 seconds and I have 3000 sources.

[Patrick Molloy]

Re: Sources

Thanks to all who replied to my query.

My word, you are a friendly bunch!

I think I know where I'm going.

Over the years I've looked at most of the Family History programmes and as far as I know none of them use as an example of entering a source, a Birth Certificate. They all to seem to choose something like an entry in a book. I bet that 90% of folks starting to use a programme will chose a Birth Certificate as a Source. Why not use that?

Once again, thanks.

Alan,

I've been to Adelaide a couple of times. Last time I had to have a tooth extracted by the Dentist in Rundell Mall, the one behind the sliding door!

Pat Molloy

[sgtbob]

Re: Sources

Hi Pat,

You will find you can do exactly what you are after by following these tips;
Reunion > Preferences > Sources > add Type + > put in new source title such as Birth Certificate or Death Cert.
Close the Preferences window and go to a person card.
Select the person which should then change to "Edit Person" > at the bottom of the view card select "Add Source" when the window opens choose "New Source" and the title of the source should appear amongst others > select it and a new window opens whereby you can then enter and drag records to it.
(I have never used the Free-Form Text panel only Source Fields, Preview & Multimedia)

One extra tip; after entering the details go to the Multimedia panel and put a check √
in box to the far right. The source number will then appear against the persons name in the Family View card.

My ancestors were all English so I have many birth, marriage & death certs. all recorded that way.
By the way I'm almost in your age bracket and thoroughly enjoy Reunion. Its power and resources are under estimated. Very powerful programme.

Hope this helps you on your way.

Alan

Alan - I was able to figure out your suggestion in adding additional sources for Death Certificates, etc., and I thank you for the suggestion.

I'm puzzled by adding the check mark - when I add the check mark, the source number does not appear by the person's name; however, if leaving it blank, the source number does appear. Am I reading this wrong?

Bob

[alan]

Re: Sources

Alan - I was able to figure out your suggestion in adding additional sources for Death Certificates, etc., and I thank you for the suggestion.

I'm puzzled by adding the check mark - when I add the check mark, the source number does not appear by the person's name; however, if leaving it blank, the source number does appear. Am I reading this wrong?

Bob

Hi Bob,
Thats strange. I've just added a source to my own view card and checked the box to the far right, under General, in the m/media panel and the number then appeared against my name. Did you click on "done" at the bottom of the page?
If not, then perhaps thats why it didn't appear.

Edited;
I've just gone my card and to the little boxes and un-checked the sources and the source numbers still show against my name. Doing the same by clicking on "Done" makes no difference. But to remove a source you have to highlight it first then click on remove source at the bottom.

Now what the little box is for I'm not sure yet, as I haven't found it in the manual but I was always under the impression it had to be checked for the number to show against a person's name.

Alan

[Patrick Molloy]

Re: Sources

I have created two Sources, both for English Birth Certificates.

I made a new Source Type (Birth Certificate - English) and then filled in Source Field by using the List and also adding a few of my own. I also filled in the Label as a Heading.

I then go to the edit Person and write in the Birth and Place, then click Add Source, and the Source Type appears with the Source Field Box at the side. I then fill in the details from the Certificate into the various Fields and click Done.

The information then appears in the Citation Box but without the Field Type Headings e.g. Date, Fathers Name, Mothers Name etc. It just shows the details in one line of Text. Is this correct?

Also the Label I typed to give the Source a Name ( i.e. Birth Certificate of Joe Bloggs) isn't shown although it does in the Preview. Is this correct?

When I use this Source, for example, to use for the Fathers Name, again the heading doesn't appear, just the detail. So it doesn't tell the name of the Source you have used.

Is this correct.

Each Source has a number, should I be using that in some way.

Finally, is there a List of Sources apart from the Sidebar?

Pat Molloy

[AE Palmer]

Re: Sources

// cut //

Each Source has a number, should I be using that in some way.

Pat Molloy

I have taken to using it as a "Document field" and then using that to identify each of my paper documents

[Peter Cook]

Re: Sources

I have created two Sources, both for English Birth Certificates.

Finally, is there a List of Sources apart from the Sidebar?

Pat Molloy

When you are viewing the Sources list in the side bar, click on the double orange rectangle at the bottom to get the sources in List view.

[Robin Helmond]

Re: Sources

When you are viewing the Sources list in the side bar, click on the double orange rectangle at the bottom to get the sources in List view.

Thanks for that tip Peter. It was there to be seen but I had overlooked it.

Robin.

[colinc]

Re: Sources

This may seem an idiot question.

When I started with Reunion I did use the source field, but I'm not actually sure of its utility, so I may be missing something.

I can see the point in the B, M, D, Occ fields, but I have huge amounts of data in the notes field, for instance perhaps my longest is a 5pp broadsheet obit from the Jewish Chronicle. While I have a lot from the JC they are inevitably of different dates, so will not recur.

My practice is simply to put at the foot of any quote the journal title and date, or if a book the normal biblio info you would find in a footnote. If the source is a URL I give it and the date accessed.

Am I loosing anything by doing this?

Cheers, Colin

[Jeff89]

Re: Sources

This may seem an idiot question.

When I started with Reunion I did use the source field, but I'm not actually sure of its utility, so I may be missing something.

I can see the point in the B, M, D, Occ fields, but I have huge amounts of data in the notes field, for instance perhaps my longest is a 5pp broadsheet obit from the Jewish Chronicle. While I have a lot from the JC they are inevitably of different dates, so will not recur.

My practice is simply to put at the foot of any quote the journal title and date, or if a book the normal biblio info you would find in a footnote. If the source is a URL I give it and the date accessed.

Am I loosing anything by doing this?

Cheers, Colin

Obviously, personal preferences rule here, but here's how I handle this issue. I convert the documents to pdf files and then add them in the multimedia tab of the source record for the event in question. The reason I do this is to reduce visual clutter and also, I think, it helps to organize what might be in the Notes tab. If you have, say, birth, marriage, death, family stories, details about the person's work history and so on as information in the Notes field, not everyone is interested in reading the entire Notes entry to find out more details. If I'm interested in the cemetery where a person is buried, I can add a pdf file or a photograph of the cemetery in the source record. The same applies to every other type of event. I've imported a GEDCOM file in which information is handled the way you describe and I convert the data to my method as I work my way through the file. I think this method streamlines and simplifies things, but it's probably a matter of personal preference. Another reason I can think of to do it this way is that you can attach a single source file to multiple people, depending on what is in the source file. It's probably more time-consuming to set it up this way, but in the end I find it useful. But whatever method works best for you is the way you should do it.

Jeff