Like BJ and others, I use 10 underscore characters when a name is not known. Because I may have a number of people with the same name, or a number of "Mary Unknowns", I also include additional information in the name, such as "Wife of", "Husband of", "son of" etc; pointing back to someone who can be uniquely identifed. Examples: Mary 'W/John Ellis' __________ Peter 'H/Mary Smith' __________ David 'S/Jane Doe' __________ __________ 'S/Stephen' Brown Using the single quote seems to work fine, without messing up other indexes, etc. In 2014 (and perhaps other versions) this will generate a warning about special characters being included in a name, but you can ignore that. Regards, Ian MARR at 38° 24' 01.299" S by 142° 34' 11.9094" E; 6m above sea level This message can be considered to be in the public domain. The home of SW Victorian Cemetery indexes: http://www.ianmarr.net.au/ Allansford Weather (10 min updates): http://www.ianmarr.net.au/Weather/ Family Tree: http://marrwatts.tribalpages.com/ Remember, to EVERY question in life, there is MORE than ONE correct answer. -----Original Message----- From: Mary W. Ellis via Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2015 2:09 PM To: Thompson Jay ; ftm-tech@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [FTM-TECH] Searching for blank surnames I use basicly the same system, but if I know the husband was married but have no name I enter it like _____, (Smith) then I know that this person is the wife of a Smith. Works a lot better than having a list of 'who knows where they belong' people. Mary Ellis On 2/23/2015 10:27 AM, Thompson Jay via wrote: > Jim, > > Thinking of what that would involve, with only one person listed, the > program would have to assume that there was a spouse that was blank, > innumerable children that were not entered (whether they existed or not). > The program just wouldn't know and would not be feasible. > Many of us have found other ways to accomplish that. I use 10 underbars > for the unknown name. That way, if I print a report and give it to > someone and they know the name, there is room to write it in and I can > enter it. If I know the first name only (James and Mary Jones), I enter > Mary as Mary __________. If I know the last name only (Mary (Smith) Jones, > I enter the husband as __________ Jones. Same if I know James and Mary had > three children, but no names. If I only know that James was married, I > enter __________ __________. Same for unknown other spouses > In my scenario, The totally unknowns sort at the top of the index, the > last name unknowns sort next, by first name, and the first name unknowns > sort at the top of the rest of people with the same last name. > Others use "UNK," "Last Name Unknown," or something else that works for > them. Depending on the size of your file, it can seem like a daunting task > to begin , but the results are well worth the effort. > > Jay Thompson > just an old genealogy nut > too tough to crack. > > > > On Monday, February 23, 2015 9:45 AM, Jim Hoke via <ftm-tech@rootsweb.com> > wrote: > > > > BJ, > > Your comment in The Great Debate about FTM 2014's handling of people's > names > triggered me to wonder how one can search on surname. > > > > Specifically, my question is how does one find all the people in an ftm > file > for whom the surname is blank (that is, it has not been entered)? I've > searched without luck the FTM-TECH archives for an answer. > > Thanks for the help, > > Jim Hoke > > > > ------------------------------ > > Date: Sun, 22 Feb 2015 16:58:48 -0700 > > From: BJ <oldtrails@gmx.com> > > Subject: Re: [FTM-TECH] Fact Notes and Names - (was The Great Debate) > > To: ftm-tech@rootsweb.com > > Message-ID: <54EA6D38.7050907@gmx.com> > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed > > > > Thanks for the comments. I see some have replied to your message but to > > add my 2cents worth, please see my comments interspersed below. > > > > BJ > > . > >> 3. Split the NAME field into FIRST, MIDDLE, LAST, PREFIX and SUFFIX. I > like to be able to see titles (Captain) and it helps with reports, > especially when some people do not have all parts of their names > identified. > > > > As has been pointed out this feature was implemented beginning with FTM > > 2008 but not exactly as you describe. While the name is displayed as > > one continuous name, it actually consists of three fields; Given Names, > > Surname and Suffix. > > . > > > > ********************************** > List information page > http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/other/Software/FTM-TECH.html > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > FTM-TECH-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > ********************************** > List information page > http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/other/Software/FTM-TECH.html > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > FTM-TECH-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > -- If you don't know your family history, you are a leaf that doesn't know it is part of a tree. ~ Michael Crichton ~ Mary W. Ellis http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~mwellis/ http://www.rootsweb.com/~ncacgs/ ********************************** List information page http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/other/Software/FTM-TECH.html ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to FTM-TECH-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

When I wrote that I used 10 underscores for the unknown part of the name, I was addressing a question about the surname. I'm very happy with all of the responses providing alternatives. I'm particularly pleased that Ian wrote about his method. I actually use the same method except, I use ( ) to enclose the relative's name. Like Ian I find the use of the H/, M/, S/, D/ and W/ annotations extremely helpful when I am reviewing the index as they provide additional information which I can use to identify particular family that I may want to concentrate my current research on. Thanks to everyone who contributed their ideas as that is the beauty of this list, Users helping Users. BJ On 2/23/2015 10:30 PM, Ian Marr via wrote: > Like BJ and others, I use 10 underscore characters when a name is not known. > Because I may have a number of people with the same name, or a number of > "Mary Unknowns", I also include additional information in the name, such as > "Wife of", "Husband of", "son of" etc; pointing back to someone who can be > uniquely identifed. > > Examples: > Mary 'W/John Ellis' __________ > Peter 'H/Mary Smith' __________ > David 'S/Jane Doe' __________ > __________ 'S/Stephen' Brown > > Using the single quote seems to work fine, without messing up other indexes, > etc. In 2014 (and perhaps other versions) this will generate a warning > about special characters being included in a name, but you can ignore that.

BJ, what do all the H/, M/, etc., annotations stand for? Would you mind showing examples of them and the ( ). Thank you. Allie -----Original Message----- From: BJ via Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2015 1:22 AM To: ftm-tech@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [FTM-TECH] Searching for blank surnames When I wrote that I used 10 underscores for the unknown part of the name, I was addressing a question about the surname. I'm very happy with all of the responses providing alternatives. I'm particularly pleased that Ian wrote about his method. I actually use the same method except, I use ( ) to enclose the relative's name. Like Ian I find the use of the H/, M/, S/, D/ and W/ annotations extremely helpful when I am reviewing the index as they provide additional information which I can use to identify particular family that I may want to concentrate my current research on. Thanks to everyone who contributed their ideas as that is the beauty of this list, Users helping Users. BJ On 2/23/2015 10:30 PM, Ian Marr via wrote: > Like BJ and others, I use 10 underscore characters when a name is not > known. > Because I may have a number of people with the same name, or a number of > "Mary Unknowns", I also include additional information in the name, such > as > "Wife of", "Husband of", "son of" etc; pointing back to someone who can be > uniquely identifed. > > Examples: > Mary 'W/John Ellis' __________ > Peter 'H/Mary Smith' __________ > David 'S/Jane Doe' __________ > __________ 'S/Stephen' Brown > > Using the single quote seems to work fine, without messing up other > indexes, > etc. In 2014 (and perhaps other versions) this will generate a warning > about special characters being included in a name, but you can ignore > that. ********************************** List information page http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/other/Software/FTM-TECH.html ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to FTM-TECH-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Thanks for asking. My annotations are pretty much the same as Ian's. Basically they are * H/ - Husband of * W/ - Wife of * M/ - Mother of * F/ - Father of * S/ - Son of * D/ - Daughter of I use the notation along with the name of the closest known relative. Examples are * John (H/ Mary Archer) __________ Mary Archer's name is known. Archer is her maiden name. I know John's given name but not his surname so I enter 10 underscores for the surname. This gives me an index listing of __________, John (H/ Mary Archer) Because the underscores sort before any alphabetic characters, the name will be listed before anyone with a name beginning with "A". * Marie (W/ Sam Small) __________ Sam Small's wife's name is Marie but I don't know her maiden name. Again this sorts toward the beginning of the Index due to the surname being underscores. If you use different numbers of underscores, it can affect the sorting and display i.e. 9 underscores will sort before 10 underscores. 11 underscores will sort after 10 underscores. * __________ (M/ Jane Austin) __________ I occasionally use this for parents when I find a census which indicates the birth state of the mother or father. I don't know the given name nor the maiden name of the mother. Obviously for the father I would assume his surname to be the same as Jane' maiden name, Austin. * __________ (S/ James Smith) Smith * __________ (D/ James Smith) Smith Hope this helps. BJ On 2/24/2015 10:30 AM, Allie Warnier-Susko wrote: > BJ, what do all the H/, M/, etc., annotations stand for? Would you > mind showing examples of them and the ( ). Thank you. > Allie > > -----Original Message----- From: BJ via > Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2015 1:22 AM > To: ftm-tech@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [FTM-TECH] Searching for blank surnames > > When I wrote that I used 10 underscores for the unknown part of the > name, I was addressing a question about the surname. I'm very happy > with all of the responses providing alternatives. I'm particularly > pleased that Ian wrote about his method. I actually use the same method > except, I use ( ) to enclose the relative's name. Like Ian I find the > use of the H/, M/, S/, D/ and W/ annotations extremely helpful when I am > reviewing the index as they provide additional information which I can > use to identify particular family that I may want to concentrate my > current research on. > > Thanks to everyone who contributed their ideas as that is the beauty of > this list, Users helping Users. > > BJ > > On 2/23/2015 10:30 PM, Ian Marr via wrote: >> Like BJ and others, I use 10 underscore characters when a name is not >> known. >> Because I may have a number of people with the same name, or a number of >> "Mary Unknowns", I also include additional information in the name, >> such as >> "Wife of", "Husband of", "son of" etc; pointing back to someone who >> can be >> uniquely identifed. >> >> Examples: >> Mary 'W/John Ellis' __________ >> Peter 'H/Mary Smith' __________ >> David 'S/Jane Doe' __________ >> __________ 'S/Stephen' Brown >> >> Using the single quote seems to work fine, without messing up other >> indexes, >> etc. In 2014 (and perhaps other versions) this will generate a warning >> about special characters being included in a name, but you can ignore >> that. > ********************************** > List information page > http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/other/Software/FTM-TECH.html > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > FTM-TECH-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >