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Archiver > TMG > 2011-09 > 1316106052


From: Lee Hoffman <>
Subject: Re: [TMG] Add Siblings Question
Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2011 13:00:52 -0400
References: <mailman.170.1316054917.18268.tmg@rootsweb.com><4E722899.8070306@nm.net>
In-Reply-To: <4E722899.8070306@nm.net>


Michael J. Hannah wrote:
>The issue is that while TMG will permit a child of a parent to have
>their SEX flag set to unknown '?', a PRIMARY parent cannot have an
>unknown value for their SEX flag. However, if the parent is not
>primary, then its SEX flag can be set to unknown. So you could have
>both siblings linked to a single "parent" via non-primary relationship
>tags. When you view the parent's details you will see both siblings,
>and the relationship tags can have memos and citations. There are other
>"side effects" of a non-primary relationship, but this method may be
>preferable to some users.

You can certainly see non-Primary parents in the Tag Box of the
Person View of the Details window. But that is not true of the
Family View or the Tree View. Only Primary parents are shown in the
Family or Tree Views or in the Father and Mother fields of the Person View.

As for Darrell's comment stating that there we occasionally do not
know the name of the shared parent, I would agree. And also like
Darrell, I am not very concerned about this.

I have a number of cases in my main project for whom the biological
or the non-biological parent(s) are not known. I have two first
cousins whose parents divorced. The cousins remained with their
mother who married and they adopted the cousins. I don't know the
name of the adoptive father and thus the cousin's new name.

I also have an adoptive second cousin. As with most adoptees, the
names of the biological parents is unknown.

The question in all non-biological relationships is how to treat them
-- as Primary or non-Primary. But, non-Primary Relationships cannot
be used to trace lines whether that relationship is biological or not.

So, I treat all siblings (or all apparent siblings based on the same
surname) as having the same Primary father. As I gain more
information, this is easily changed. I may also temporarily remove
the Primary parent(s) (making them non-Primary) and/or make
non-Primary parent(s) Primary in order to include/exclude certain
parents/children in reports. Again, this is easily done and only
takes a minute or so.

As Darrell noted, other Tags or Tag Memo entries may be added to
ensure the inclusion of data in reports with or without having to
adjust which parent(s) are Primary/non-Primary.

Hope this helps -

Lee Hoffman/KY
TMG Tips: <http://www.tmgtips.com>;
My website: <http://www.tmgtips.com/lhoffman>;
A user of the best genealogy program, The Master Genealogist (TMG)


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