Genealogy Chat

Can anyone help me out with advice on how I can enter a scenario on Family Tree Maker - I'm using the latest version? I cannot determine which of 2 couples are the parents of one of my 4x GGrandmothers. In essence 2 brothers married & both chose to call a daughter after their mother, both families lived in the same village & the girls were born within less than 2 years of each other. The marriage register entry gives no clues regarding which of the 2 married my 4x GGrandfather. Whichever of them did, it still means that their grandparents are my 5x GGrandparents, but how can I record this either/or situation on FTM (if indeed it is possible)

have you found deaths of either of the couples.the ages at death may help determine who was who

Shirley, unfortunately for the period concerned the burial register for the village doesn't include ages - we are talking pre -1813 so detail at the whim of the parish clerk or clergyman.

I don't use FTM, but I would have thought there was an option to add notes, as there is on GR

That's probably all you can do in any system, other than having multiple entries.

I'm assuming that the girl who is your direct line married after July 1837..............

Jacqueline, No the marriage was pre-1837 hence no fathers name on the entry, witnesses names don't help either. Recipe for confusion when cousins living in the same location have the same name! Short of creating 2 different trees with one set of possible parents on one, the other set on the second tree I can't see what to do. Yes I could add notes, but that won't allow me to produce alternative tree print outs. With the girls being born quite close together, even ages at burial wouldn't have helped, they are so often unreliable.

Not sure how I would deal with it.

I use FTM and often use the notes to explain oddities

BUT in your case not knowing who the parents are is awkward

For the father you could call him christian name unknown with the surname BUT how do you put the mums name in ??? unless you dont put a mums name in could be the answer

That's a pity - she could have waited..........LOL!

The snag with not knowing which couple were her parents is that you can't allocate the correct siblings to her, either.

I have FTM2010 and you an add as many parents as you like to a child.

Select the child then go to add/detach a person(if the father is already on FTM) or add person (if they are not already on FTM) and add a father....Repeat for as many as you want!
Go to the child's 'relationships' screen and then select which father you want to be the preferred for the time being.
Add 'mothers' in a similar manner attaching them to the right husband.

All mothers and fathers will show on the relationship screen.

This works for 2010 but I would think there is something similar for newer versions.

Chris

Chris, Thanks I will have to see if this is still possible on the later version. I'm not sure how things will come out on FTM reports, with alternative parents and I really don't know which way to jump on preferred couple. This really complicates my plan to do a pedigree tree chart for my Dad's side of the family on a nice pre-pinted A2 sheet - on well no one said family history research was easy!