What are your practices for using the notes fields?

[CONLEY Research]

I've been using Reunion for years and have a database of just over 3000.

I've always just used the "Misc. Notes" field and tossed in anything I had: transcripts of obituaries or wills, notes and analysis of early census data, research questions I had, whatever. If I had a lot of info, I would try to organize it in a rough chronological order.

Lately, I've begun to write short narrative bios for my ancestors (two to four paragraphs). I'm wondering where to keep these. Should these stay in "Misc. Notes" and I should move all the other notes to "Research"? Is there a better type of note field for a biography? Does it really matter? Should I just leave it all in the "Misc. Notes" field?

I'm curious what other people's practices are and the various ways people might use these fields.

[Melinda Anderson]

I use a fairly simple system which meets my needs. The default MISC. NOTES field is where I write a (usually) short summary of the individual's life. I write more for closer relatives or people I know a lot about and less for more distant relatives. The second notes field is RESEARCH, which has been a dumping ground for information as I find it. I would like to convert this to something going along with the genealogical proof standard, but I doubt this will ever happen. The third field I use is DNA. I write a general statement about the number of DNA matches descended from the couple- which children have DNA matches among their descendants etc. For myself, I include where I have tested or uploaded, haplogroups etc. I have the family view set up to show the Misc. Notes field and the DNA field so I can see it from the main screen,

[Lawrence E Moore]

I created a new notes field called "Narrative" for the biographies I write. I use Research for unproved finds. I use Misc Notes for information that I deem reliable and that doesn't fit in events or other fields.

[CONLEY Research]

Thanks!

I was thinking about adding a Narrative or Biography note of some kind and then either leaving everything else in Misc. Notes (because that's where it is) or moving it to Research, which might be more accurate.

If I create a "Narrative" or "Biography" note field is there a standard GEDCOM tag that I should use? I've searched, but I can't figure out if there's a "BIO" tag of some kind or if I should just use NOTE.

[romad]

Here is a list of Standard GEDCOM tags up to version 5.5.1: http://wiki-en.genealogy.net/GEDCOM-Tags

Note the sentence on user defined field names.

[jimrite]

I have been using Reunion for about 25 years and have about 3800 relatives in my database. I use the Misc. Notes field as a repository for all biographical information about that person. That includes obituaries (either copies and pasted from the newspaper website or transcribed from old newspapers at the library), my notes made from talking with that person or relatives, eulogies delivered at funerals, stories written about the individual by family members, and whatever else comes to hand that helps to remember and define that individual. Recording names, dates and relationships is fun up to a point, but memorializing lives in this way is so much more fun--and important.

[Bob White]

One thing not mentioned so far is that one can have multiple notes fields in the Note section. That can be a tool for organizing all those notes.

[gathompson56]

I've been using Reunion for years and have a database of just over 3000.

I've always just used the "Misc. Notes" field and tossed in anything I had: transcripts of obituaries or wills, notes and analysis of early census data, research questions I had, whatever. If I had a lot of info, I would try to organize it in a rough chronological order.

Lately, I've begun to write short narrative bios for my ancestors (two to four paragraphs). I'm wondering where to keep these. Should these stay in "Misc. Notes" and I should move all the other notes to "Research"? Is there a better type of note field for a biography? Does it really matter? Should I just leave it all in the "Misc. Notes" field?

I'm curious what other people's practices are and the various ways people might use these fields.

My useage of notes has been similar to yours. I first used Misc. notes for one or two word comments on interesting facts. Now I am writing a short bio once I have finished my initial research on that person. Misc notes then appear in the person card. The short bio jogs my memory on who this person is.

I have now moved my notes/needs for research to a log file. I have a log file for each surname. I can quickly scan the log file for each surname which then twigs me as to holes that I need to fill.

I am slowly appreciating how flexible Reunion is, those of you with more experience already know this. Flexible databases like Reunion take a while to get comfortable with but the flexibility is more appreciated with more use.

grant