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
Jay, I appreciate the response. I'm sorry for not being clearer. What I want to do is find the people in my ftm database for whom the surname field is blank. Once I find them I'll use a system, such as yours or one of the others, to fill in the blank surnames. Jim From: Thompson Jay [mailto:jaydarlene@sbcglobal.net] Sent: Monday, February 23, 2015 10:28 AM To: Jim Hoke; ftm-tech@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [FTM-TECH] Searching for blank surnames 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
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/