I'm trying to use a gedcom file that has a lot of occurrences of an unrecognised tag "FREE" at the 1 level under INDI (one per INDI). It typically occurs in association with BIRT and DEAT. Problem is I can't figure out what it means and the rest of the data doesn't help either. The main data seems to be a date. Can anyone shed light on this tag. Thanks Peter

Peter J Seymour wrote: > I'm trying to use a gedcom file that has a lot of occurrences of an > unrecognised tag "FREE" at the 1 level under INDI (one per INDI). It > typically occurs in association with BIRT and DEAT. Problem is I can't > figure out what it means and the rest of the data doesn't help either. > The main data seems to be a date. Can anyone shed light on this tag. > Thanks > Peter Suggested possibilities were to do with slavery or with "freedom to marry". As I understand it, a letter of freedom to marry is a letter normally passing between members of the clergy confirming that someone from a different parish is a confirmed church member. It is therefore unlikely to appear as documentation in family history. The suggestion about slavery seemed maybe plausible but didn't seem to make sense in the context of other data. I couldn't find any Gedcom reference to a FREE tag, so I decided to cast the net wider and found the following which fits with the individuals moving from Europe to the USA in the 1600's: Many immigrants did not have the money to pay their passage and they would contract to work for it. They would be indentured for a period and afterwards got a legal document saying they had paid off their debt. They were then "freemen". Also apparently a freeman could be a church member in good standing who had taken a civil oath called a "Freeman's Oath" and was thus allowed to vote and hold public office. (See places such as wiki answers) This seems to be what the tag refers to. Old news to some people I suppose, but you live and learn. Regards Peter

Peter J Seymour wrote: > I'm trying to use a gedcom file that has a lot of occurrences of an > unrecognised tag "FREE" at the 1 level under INDI (one per INDI). It > typically occurs in association with BIRT and DEAT. Problem is I can't > figure out what it means and the rest of the data doesn't help either. > The main data seems to be a date. Can anyone shed light on this tag. At the beginning of the GEDCOM there should be an identification of the program that created it. That program's documentation is the place to look. If it was hand-edited, the person who created it is the one to ask. If both of those are unavailable, post a few representative samples. -- Wes Groleau Pat's Polemics = http://Ideas.Lang-Learn.us/barrett

In message of 14 Feb, Wes Groleau <groleau+news@freeshell.org> wrote: > Peter J Seymour wrote: > > I'm trying to use a gedcom file that has a lot of occurrences of an > > unrecognised tag "FREE" at the 1 level under INDI (one per INDI). It > > typically occurs in association with BIRT and DEAT. Problem is I can't > > figure out what it means and the rest of the data doesn't help either. > > The main data seems to be a date. Can anyone shed light on this tag. > > At the beginning of the GEDCOM there should be an identification > of the program that created it. That program's documentation > is the place to look. If it was hand-edited, the person who > created it is the one to ask. > > If both of those are unavailable, post a few representative samples. I am getting more and more uncomfortable about this use of GEDCOM files. If you are taking in information, in a GEDCOM file for instance, from another person, you may consider that their research methods are well known and their word on something is almost as good as a lookup from some primary documents. But for the bulk of GEDCOMs you do not know this. Does the originator even say where he (or she) found the information? Are sources includes in the GEDCOM? Are they good sources? In any case you should endeavour to check their sources by some means to satisfy yourself that the information was valid. So either you have well researched information from someone you know to be a good researcher and you can ask them what they mean. Or you have checked it out yourself. In either case you must be able to find very easily what 'FREE' referred to. If you can't find any source for FREE or anything else like that, just leave it out. But adding someone's GEDCOM without some verification of the data is genealogical suicide. (Perhaps all this copying of GEDCOMs around the internet will be a means to the over-population problem? :-) ) -- Tim Powys-Lybbe                                          tim@powys.org              For a miscellany of bygones: http://powys.org/

Here Here ..... regards Bill ======================================================================== * This Mail was sent WITHOUT attachments* Bill Harrison's Genealogy Pages can be found online at http://www.harrisongenealogy.co.uk Also BMSGH Webmaster - URL = http://www.bmsgh.org The Staffordshire BMD can be found at http://www.staffordshirebmd.org.uk and the West Midlands BMD at http://www.westmidlandsbmd.org.uk ======================================================================== ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tim Powys-Lybbe" <tim@powys.org> Newsgroups: soc.genealogy.computing To: <gencmp@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2008 12:46 AM Subject: Re: Unrecognised Gedcom tag: FREE In message of 14 Feb, Wes Groleau <groleau+news@freeshell.org> wrote: > Peter J Seymour wrote: > > I'm trying to use a gedcom file that has a lot of occurrences of an > > unrecognised tag "FREE" at the 1 level under INDI (one per INDI). It > > typically occurs in association with BIRT and DEAT. Problem is I can't > > figure out what it means and the rest of the data doesn't help either. > > The main data seems to be a date. Can anyone shed light on this tag. > > At the beginning of the GEDCOM there should be an identification > of the program that created it. That program's documentation > is the place to look. If it was hand-edited, the person who > created it is the one to ask. > > If both of those are unavailable, post a few representative samples. I am getting more and more uncomfortable about this use of GEDCOM files. If you are taking in information, in a GEDCOM file for instance, from another person, you may consider that their research methods are well known and their word on something is almost as good as a lookup from some primary documents. But for the bulk of GEDCOMs you do not know this. Does the originator even say where he (or she) found the information? Are sources includes in the GEDCOM? Are they good sources? In any case you should endeavour to check their sources by some means to satisfy yourself that the information was valid. So either you have well researched information from someone you know to be a good researcher and you can ask them what they mean. Or you have checked it out yourself. In either case you must be able to find very easily what 'FREE' referred to. If you can't find any source for FREE or anything else like that, just leave it out. But adding someone's GEDCOM without some verification of the data is genealogical suicide. (Perhaps all this copying of GEDCOMs around the internet will be a means to the over-population problem? :-) ) -- Tim Powys-Lybbe tim@powys.org For a miscellany of bygones: http://powys.org/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to GENCMP-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message