Apologies if this has already been covered; but I did a search before deciding to create this thread and didn’t find an answer:
What would be the most consistent way to identify and separate multiple families with the same surname? Example: Let’s say I have a branch with the surname of ‘Jones’ in my tree. Then, along the way, I find there are others I should enter into the tree who come from yet another family who also have the same surname of ‘Jones’?
Since I do like the ability to tag for different blood lines, it seems to me there must be a way to keep the two (or more) families differentiated.
(Bear in mind, I’m just getting back into all this after about a decade and am assuming all the different genealogy packages such as RM have their own structures and methods. With that said, I’m looking for an adaption in RM that best serves the exporting of GENCOM files so that others can best benefit from the data.)
Thanks in advance!
Couple if ideas -
1 - Color code just YOUR branch so that if you see other Jones you know they are different since they don’t have that color.
2 - Color code just the "Other’ Jones so you know they aren’t your branch
3 - Color code each branch a different color. Probably the best
4 - Type the names in the other branch all CAPS. If you see first & last names in caps you know.
5 - Use color code Plus all Caps option 
Thanks. Option 2 seems most appropriate in this case.+
I think color coding is a good way to do this. There are many variances one could do. One could color code more than 2 if that fits for your need. I would probably also use a a Color SET for “Jones”
On second thought, if I did the color-coding, and sent the tree to someone else as a GEDCOM, how would those colors be interpreted? Would the GEDCOM version understand the colors???
That is going to depend on what genealogy software the other person is using---- if using RM, the gedcom will work just fine for them but you may have to tell them what color to pick if you have more than one color–I have used several colors and when I set up the gedcom, purple( color code set 3 was showing BUT when I imported the gedcom color code set 1 was showing…
As for people with something besides RM, not sure they would see it
I use the Reference No (REFN) fact to track which line I am working on. The surname of my four grandparents all started with a different letters so I use the first letter and add my relationship to them. Example: S1C2R would be my Smith 1st cousin, once removed. I will either check it on the Edit Person screen or switch to displaying the REFN after their name. I’ve done this for many years so everyone has a REFN fact. If I was just starting I would simply add it to the Jones1, and Jones2 line.
I was going to suggest making 2 groups as well as color coding BUT groups do NOT transfer in a gedcom BUT you still MIGHT want to do it for yourself…
You could add a specific type of Flag ( for lack of a better word) for each line–either by adding it as a photo such as
or pick a specific universal character or emoji such as this
Using the Reference No fact would normally be a versatile consideration, because it is usable for selection criteria (groups, color coding, reports, exports, etc.), as well as in some reports/sentence templates, -and- (when applied) to customize the People List view, makes for easy notice/reminder. They also export as a GEDCOM fact for portability. Unfortunately, a distinct disadvantage is that if that fact is used multiple times for a person (with differing “purpose” values)… only the firstly-entered instance of this fact-type is shown in People List view. That would mandate always having to enter the “name purpose” first, before other types of uses, in order to facilitate sorting on that column in People List view. Fortunately, multiple Reference No facts still export fully to GEDCOM.
Groups are the only other way of “filtering” People List view and they’re usable for selection criteria (color coding, reports, exports, etc.), but their GEDCOM export viability (similar to Color Coding) is then left to the destination application Edited …stops at their use for selecting folks for export (similar to Color Coding) -and- because Groups are a purely RootsMagic construct, they do not transfer via GEDCOM.
Sorry @kbens0n BUT I am going to disagree as I tried this twice now to make a gedcom in RM 10 out of a database that had 2 groups and then import the gedcom into a new file in RM 10-- the groups did NOT transfer either time…
Original database
New database
I edited my post. I got too lofty in my wording and overlooked the concept of Groups as a concept not transferring.
I don’t think it would. You can test by creating a gedcom with colors & import into RM as different database.
Having been away from RM for about ten years, I’m just getting back into it.
From the YouTube vids, I understand the use of groups, and have implemented groups defined by individual blood lineages. This has worked so far; but, I’m not sure how that would work for a second independent family lines without using something like “Jones2”, “Jones3”, etc., which I really don’t think is very professional looking.
Maybe it’s time for a new feature in RM-next that would account for this AND provide the abilities to communicate the family identities in GEDCOMs, and be intuitive to the receiving party (i.e. self-explanatory).
Thought???
Thanks in advance.
Thank you; that’s helpful to my understanding and a limit for ‘Groups’. Wasn’t aware.
Can you point me in the direction of an in-depth User Manual for RootsMagic(10)?
I haven’t seen any manual available except purchase of the developer’s offering Getting the Most Out of RootsMagic 10. The Help menu option (3-dot menu far upper right corner) opens the RootsMagic 10 Help website to its main screen. More “context-sensitive” help can be accessed via the F1 key. Other than that, it’s this forum, the Facebook group, a mailing list with low-frequency participation and a small group of folks who fiddle with RootsMagic’s inner workings.
Any suggestions as to how to do that? Seriously RM has some pretty good features with groups and color coding BUT a gedcom will not transfer the groups and the other person may NOT get the color coding depending on the genealogy program they are using–same thing goes for emojis and universal characters…
Personally I think the current gedcom needs to also be updated to keep up with the changing technologies…
Groups like this would basically be for you to see at a glance–personally I would just dump all the others into 1 group called Unrelated (or Unproven) Jones lines BUT I don’t post my lines on Ancestry etc…
You could use some kind of Media to denote the other line BUT then when you sent the gedcom to someone else, you would have to put the media on a flash drive and mail to them-- perhaps you could make a zip file and send to them also.
If the other person has RM 10 , you could actually just attach a copy of your RM 10 database to an email and send to them-- then they would see it exactly as you see it BUT you still would have to give them the media somehow…
Richard I will tell you 2 other ways I have dealt with other unrelated people before color coding and groups…
1st-- helping a cousin we had a guy say Joe Blow in our database- I ran across info for a Joe Blow in the right timeframe and area–ended up finding a ton of info on him and finally figured out he was NOT our guy-- BUT I wasn’t going to throw away all that work, so I added him to the database as Joe Blow not ours-- a couple of years later one of his descendants contacted me because of a burial I had made for him–I was able to provide him with a wealth of unknown info…
2nd way-- we had a Williams line which had 300-500 Williams in it–all from one line-- we knew there was another line of Williams in the adjoining county where our 4th g-grandfather moved to— we also found an old 1764 tithe list that show our ancestors living with a son of the other Williams line’s ancestors–so I created a separate database for the 2nd Williams line–eventually we knew this 2 lines had to be connected as there was 150 years at least that the 2 lines were associated with each other BUT no marriages between the 2–it took DNA to prove we descend from the same ancestor BUT I still have 2 separate files for the lines with a little cross over–trying to merge the 2 files would create a huge problem for me as there are too many with the same names and dates of birth are close…
just an FYI
Totally off topic, but are any of your Williams in East Texas for the last 100 years and further East before that?
NO but thanks for asking
Thank you. Let me do some mental gymnastics on this…