Throughout the Narrative Report, every so often, appears [NEED TO DEFINE SENTENCE: variable]footnote
Is there a means to point the user to where exactly this need to define a sentence relates? Does the footnote itself suggest any clues as to where I need to start the definition?
Many thanks for any help.
Kind regards,
Kelly
Go to the Tools page and run the “Enhanced properties list”. Click View on “Fact types needing sentence template”. You can print the list. Then go to the People page and click on the 3 dot menu and select “Fact Type list” and Edit the fact and the Principal role.
That’s prefect! I really appreciate your helpful advice Renee. I will try it immediately!
I ended up just deleting all of these Fact Types that I had stupidly created. The Fact Type that I might go back try to create would be Obituary, and maybe Newspaper Clipping.
Could have created a Sentence for each if you wanted them included in your reports.
Can Copy from other Fact and then edit to suit your needs.
Thanks for that idea Jerry, I’ll give it a try next.
Apparently, these “Fact types needing sentence template” problems are being chronically introduced when shared data from Ancestry gets introduced into RM. For example, a couple weeks ago when this issue first presented I ended up simply deleting all of the triggering fact types before returning to my research effort largely on Ancestry. Then yesterday, I updated the RM database from Ancestry and today tried publishing the descendants report and discovered about 6 dozen of these “Fact types needing sentence template”.
These all tend to be sources like newspaper clippings and other collections like cemetery transcript records.
Is there anything better than deleting all of them from the RM database or basically having to create sentences from scratch?
Thankfully, all of the multiple sources and citations duplicates that were also introduced through the tree share infusion were cleaned up using the merge features.
Fact Type
13 Sep 1893 in Lincolnville - Leonard R Coombs & Miss Mary C
Abigail Cutler Whitney
Abigail Cutler Whitney
Abigail Whitney
Albert Calder James of Jamaica Plane dies 14 Oct 1960
Albert Calder James of Jamaica Plane dies 14 Oct 1960, brother o
Alice Kennedy Coombs
Ann S Davis
Annie Rebecca Howe Coleman
Aug 1890 - Joseph Alba Davis of Jamaica Plain & daughter Eth
Bangor property transfer 27 Apr 1987 to Bostwick
Benjamin Sumner
Capt. David Howe (1810-1892) - Obituary
Caroline Howe Bowker
Colin L. Coombs
CPT David Howe
CPT George W. Bullock
David Howe (1810-1892) - Obituary
David Howe Esq
David Mead Howe
David Whitney
Divorce Decreed - Mary Ann (Coombs) from John F Dyer Jr
Dyer-Coombs Wedding - Married 16 Dec 1961
Edwin P Bowker
Elizabeth C. Orr Coombs
Evelene Amanda Sherman Howe
Father & Daughter visit to Sorrento & Bar Harbor
George W Howe
Georgia Lawrence Howe
Isabella Sarah Howe Griffin
Joseph Whitney Howe
Leonard R Coombs
Leonard Raymond Coombs
Lucy Whitney Ludwig
Margaret Bowker
Margaret F. Howe Bullock
Margarette Whitney
Maria H Davis Estate - Probate Notice
Marriage of Marshall / Coombs
Married - In Lincolnville, ME, Capt. Samuel Whitney of New Orlea
Mary A. Howe
Mary Caroline Howe Coombs
Melancholy Accident - Capt. Samuel and Rebecca (Howe) Whitney dr
Nancy Whitney Adams
Obituary for HOWE-Of
Obituary for Alice Coombs
Obituary for Brigham D. JAMES-
Obituary for Caroline H. Bowker
Obituary for Colin Coombs
Obituary for Elizabeth H. Griffin
Obituary for Isabella Howe Griffin
Obituary for J. Alba Davis
Obituary for Leonard R. Coombs
Obituary for Maria Hunter Davis
Obituary for Raymond Coombs
Obituary for Ruby I. Coombs
Off Turtle Head, the boat struck by a flaw and upset
Raymond Howe Coombs
Rea Anna Howe
Real estate transfer - West Roxbury, Norfolk County
Rebecca Witherle Whitney
Royal S. Howe
Ruby Amanda Gardner Howe
Ruby Isabella Coombs
Samuel Sumner
Samuel Whitney
Sarah Ann Howe
Sarah F. (Mead) Howe (1815-1892) - Died
Sarah F. Mead Howe
Sisters Seek A Ruling
Stayed the night on Brigadiers Island with bodies of sister and
Tragic Crossing of Penobscot Bay - 3 cousins headed from Castine
William L. Howe
I don’t struggle with this issue on Ancestry. Looking at your list of fact types being introduced it appears you have a junky user submitted tree that is filled with people’s names as fact types. I would manually enter this type of fact if you really wanted them.
If you want to keep the fact, with ones like obit, you could use tools ( left side) in RM 10 to change the fact to a standard obit fact BUT think it is going to be 1 at a time since they all have names attached–as for the rest with just names, your going to have to see ( maybe on Ancestry) what the fact refers to and either change to an existing fact, make a customized fact or add to general notes…
edit–sorry I didn’t realize obit wasn’t a regular fact–so yes create a customized fact for obits then move..
@rzamor1 - You don’t struggle with this issue on Ancestry …
Do you mean that you avoid this by not using Ancestry fact labels?
As for using other users’ submitted trees, for the most part, no thanks. I try and only use source-based facts; e.g., https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/201881936/family?cfpid=102632792789&fpid=102632792795&usePUBJs=true
In this case, I’m focused on the descendants of David Howe & Sarah (Whitney) Howe and hope to create a nice looking report, for this my first RM project.
@Kelly --not Renee BUT in my opinion, most of the facts you are having problems with are customized facts that are using the person’s name as part of the fact such as Dyer-Coombs Wedding - Married 16 Dec 1961 instead of using either already built facts such as marriage birth, divorce etc or making a customized fact in Ancestry such as obit (without the person’s name etc as part of the name of the fact)-- if I remember correctly on a customized fact from Ancestry, if you add the sentence to the fact-- the info should show up in the reports correctly
and in the bottom right screen on the person’s edit page
Was the Obituary published in a Belfast, Maine newspaper? Is 22 Dec 1892 the Date of the Obituary? If that’s a Date for his passing… it’s ripe to be a Death event or is duplicative of one.
I would never add a person’s name to a fact. In would lead to all these custom facts types. I would simply call the fact Obituary and have it import into RM as an obituary fact that is then standardized for everyone to use. Otherwise, you make a lot of work for yourself having to write a ton of custom sentence templates, or needing to delete them. If I find a user submitted tree with facts like that I wouldn’t copy it to my database. Thankfully, I don’t find that many written incorrectly anymore.
Thank you all for your replies which have been most instructive and helpful.
@kbens0n - Regarding your question, 22 Dec 1892 is the automated date filled in by Newspapers.com which reflects the specific date of publication. The actual date of death was 14 Sep 1892.
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-republican-journal-capt-david-howe/169615037/
@nkess & @rzamor1 - Up until this point, I had been trying to name the clips I’ve created on Newspapers.com something that would 1) identifying the person of interest while 2) providing a terse summary in the title, and finally, 3) adding a thematic tag or two. In other words, I was trying to help make sense to what the clipping related. Now, finally, I can see that the Ancestry custom event, Fact label is really the key in answering the original question at the top of this thread. Again, I can’t thank you enough for your help.
So, for example, and if I’ve maybe understood things a bit better, in RM Tools, Add or modify fact types, Add Fact Type, Individual Fact Type, Name: Obituary, followed next with my first stab at a sentence:
And then in Ancestry, prepend the Fact label with OBITUARY
Is this close to how I should be going?
I would leave the Fact label just Obituary. Otherwise it looks like you’re trying to use facts as citations.
If you have obit–David, then obit–Anna etc–I think you will have the same problem you have now with many facts with no sentences that you have to do one by one to fix.
If you just use obit on Ancestry, When you treeshare it will again show that you need to define the sentence BUT if you are on RM 10, you can change all of the obits facts at one time using Tools ( left side)–Fact Tools-- Change Fact type for everyone
note–once you have tree shared and have the 2nd obit from Ancestry in your fact list, go in and edit that one naming it obit 2–so you can tell the difference
Thanks Nancy.
You are correct, RM’s NEED TO DEFINE SENTENCE problem starts with the custom labeling of the Fact on Ancestry prior to invoking TreeShare into RM. Additionally, the Description field for that fact on Ancestry appears to be the best opportunity for meaningful sentence development targeted for RM.
So for example, in this case the instances related to the NEED TO DEFINE SENTENCE problem stems from my Newspaper.com clippings shared with Ancestry and my labeling of the Fact on Ancestry without correctly incorporating the RM fact type naming schema. Some of clippings are Obituary, but many others we might just refer to as Life Story; e.g., death notice, birth notice, divorce, estate notices, land transfers, etc., but all were related to Newspapers.
Currently in RM 10.0.5.0, build 30 Jan 2025, I couldn’t find an existing predefined Newspaper Fact Type … so from Tools, Fact Tools, Add or modify fact types, Design new fact type, Individual Fact Type, Name: Newspaper, with the Sentence template
This newspaper clipping relating to [person] was published [date] [place] mentioning [desc]
Edited Update: This newly defined fact type can be imported into other RM databases as Bob points out below.
Avoiding these instances related to the NEED TO DEFINE SENTENCE problem for facts like newspaper clippings brought into RM through TreeShare, begins with how those facts are originally labeled by the user in Ancestry.
File>Import Lists>Select File allows you to import Fact Types from one database into another.
Help Importing Lists
Thanks Bob - that’s a great tip!
I just created a new RM database and successfully imported this new Fact type. Worked quite well.
Looks great but a word to the wise–if you import from other genealogy programs such as FTM , Legacy ( your own or from someone else) and have a custom fact, it will say need to define sentence–as I had it happen many times..
