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Archiver > BK > 2006-03 > 1143441129


From: "Paul O'Bannon" <>
Subject: Re: [BK] Alternate names in indexes
Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2006 22:32:39 -0800
References: <009b01c65064$665d9ac0$0d01a8c0@y7r6l5><44259D85.26231.1A42E117@shag.jbbz.net>
In-Reply-To: <44259D85.26231.1A42E117@shag.jbbz.net>


At 04:44 PM 3/25/2006, wrote:

>I have one branch of my family that changed their surname after
>committing a murder 5 generations ago. The man that committed the
>murder ran for the hills and changed his name. He than married,
>bought land, had a will, and died living under an alias. But it was
>still an alias. His 'new' children have a legally-binding
>name. They were born, registered, documented,
>whatever, but that is their name and has been since.. Do you track
>married women in your database with their
>maiden names or by their married name? Because in your example,
>that would mean now you'd have to
>have both a woman's maiden and married names in the index.

So, why not? The purpose of any Names Index is to enable researchers
to FIND a person, regardless of the name the person used or
regardless of the name remembered by the researcher. A competitive
genealogy program, The Master Genealogist, allows such added names in
its Names Index. If TMG can do it, so can BK!

I too have in my O'Bannon data base a person who abandoned his family
to take up a new life and identity. One night in 1872 in Indiana,
Presley J. O'Bannon snuck out of the house, laving behind a first
wife and two son, both surnamed O'Bannon. He turned up in 1876 in
Illinois where he was found under the alias of Thomas Clarence Brown
and had by then fathered son Number 3, surnamed Brown, via a woman he
was not married to. In 1879 he formally divorced his first wife and
married the mother of son Number 3. This woman died in 1881, and
Thomas Clarence Brown then married a third wife and by her had eight
more children, all surnamed Brown.

In my Edit Screen entry for this person, I have at the top "Presley
J. O'Bannon," and I have the name of Wife #1 plus the names of Sons
#1 and #2 surnamed O'Bannon.

But BK offers NO way to make a new, linking, entry for "Thomas
Clarence Brown!" so I can cover him and his last two wives and last
nine children surnamed Brown! Instead, I am forced to list wives 2
and 3 as if they had indeed married "Presley J. O'Bannon" but, for
their children, I must list their surnames as "Brown." Very odd,
seeing an entry whereby an "O'Bannon" is father of children surnamed
"Brown." No? Yes?

Remember, that "Thomas Clarence Brown" did NOT change genetically
from "Presley J. O'Bannon." He still had his original O'Bannon genes
and still belongs in an O'Bannon data base, NOT in a Brown data base.

Now comes a totally useless and non-productive waste of time, the way
BK is currently programmed;

While in the Edit Screen, I clicked the "Names" tag, left blank the
"first name," "last name" and "sort name" boxes (because the birth
name, Presley J. O'Bannon is still the "default") and THEN at bottom
clicked to create a new line to enter the alias.

In the drop down menu for "type of name" I selected "other name," in
the resulting name box I entered "Thomas Clarence Brown" and in the
"print where" drop down menu box picked "All."

One would think that this would enable a searcher to press F3, type
"Thomas Clarence Brown," and find him in the entry for "Presley J.
O'Bannon." As BK is presently written, no such luck. Anyone knowing
that "Thomas Clarence Brown" was originally an O'Bannon, but not
knowing the full birth name of Presley J. O'Bannon, isn't going to
find him. For reasons obscure to me, BK refuses to make it possible
to put "Thomas Clarence Brown" in the name search index so
researchers can find him under "Presley J. O'Bannon."

Indeed, since NONE of the alternative names in ANY of the "Names" Tag
boxes show up in the F3 index, there seems to be no reason to offer
the ability to enter alternative names under this tag if nothing
results from the effort. So what is the purpose of entering
alternative names under the "Names" Tag?

One would also think that by selecting "All" in the "print where" box
one would find both "Thomas Clarence Brown" and "Presley J. O'Bannon"
in the name index that prints at the end of the reports. Nope. Same
thing. If a researcher doesn't know the original birth name of
"Thomas Clarence Brown," he's NOT going to find the printed page for
"Presley J. O'Bannon."

Again, why bother having the ability to enter an alternative name in
the "Names" tag if that alternative name does not anywhere, not even
as notes, let alone the names index, as I found out in tests of this
"print where -- all" feature.

All I'm asking is that the compiler using BK be given an opportunity
to allow alternative names, when entered in the bottom boxes of the
"Name" tag, to appear in both the overall names index (press F3) and
in the printed names index. These would include aliases, self
activated legal name changes, adoptive names, middle names used
instead of first names, and, yes, even maiden names, if desired.

Yes, some think it unreasonable to clutter name indexes with such
alternative names, and, at present, all they need to do is make NO
entries whatsoever under the "Names" Tag on the main edit screen.

However, I see others agree with me that it is MORE unreasonable to
deliberately hide these alternative names from researchers whose only
sins were not knowing the full original legal birth names of persons.

So, in sum:, Mr. Steed, consider modifying the programming as follow:

If alternative names are listed in the Names Tag, assume the
compiler WANTS THEM ADDED to the F3 and printed names indexes.
If they are NOT listed in the Names Tag, then assume the
compiler wants ONLY the names given at the tops of the Edit Screen to
be in the F3 and printed names indexes.

Thanks.

Paul O"Bannon
Vallejo, CA


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