
Marriage Fact Type
#1
Posted 16 November 2012 - 02:15 PM
I probably selected the "personal" for the marriage fact type for some of my ancestors and "family" for the marriage fact type for the others.
When should you use "personal" or "family" for marriage fact type? I really do not understand the advantages of disadvantages of each. How do I make the corrections so that the marriage information appears in the narratives?
I looked at the RootsMagic 4 book and could not find any reference to this issue.
Appreciate any help.
John
#2
Posted 16 November 2012 - 04:32 PM
If the fact does not show up in a narrative report it is usually because there is no sentence template for that fact.
I don't know how a single person would have a marriage fact, so I would:
DO A BACKUP OF YOUR FILE -- just in case...
Then, go to the Lists - Fact type list - and do a print of the personal marriage fact with People who have this fact, save it to a text file and edit all those people to create a FAMILY marriage fact for all of them, then delete the personal marriage fact.
#3
Posted 16 November 2012 - 05:20 PM
Edit the fact. The Program defined fact Name and Abbreviation can not be changed. The user defined fact Name and Abbreviation can be changed.
I start all my user defined fact names with a character which sorts them to the top of the list.
#4
Posted 17 November 2012 - 01:52 AM
Can anyone list the detailed steps to take so that the marriage information appears in the narratives for the married couple. The marriage sentence template does show the sentence I want in the narrative; however, it does not appear in the narrative.
In addition, if I add a marriage note, the marriage note does not appear in the narrative. What gives!!
This is the only fact type that is giving me problems; the other fact types are great. I must be missing a important concept with this fact type.
Thanks for any help.
John
#5
Posted 17 November 2012 - 08:16 AM
#6
Posted 17 November 2012 - 10:19 AM
I am going to create a new RootsMagic file and add marriage facts to see if I have the same problem.
Anyway, thanks for your input.
John
#7
Posted 17 November 2012 - 11:18 AM
I still have a problem with this issue. If I use the marriage fact with the "family" selection, I still do not have the marriage sentence showing in the narrative for the married couple (for either the husband or wife).
Can anyone list the detailed steps to take so that the marriage information appears in the narratives for the married couple. The marriage sentence template does show the sentence I want in the narrative; however, it does not appear in the narrative.
In addition, if I add a marriage note, the marriage note does not appear in the narrative. What gives!!
This is the only fact type that is giving me problems; the other fact types are great. I must be missing a important concept with this fact type.
Thanks for any help.
John
I'm sort of guessing from your description, but it sounds like perhaps you are expecting the marriage fact to appear in a narrative report in timeline order. It doesn't.
For example, suppose John Doe is married to Jane Smith and John has three facts - born 1870, married 1895, and died 1942. The part of the report that's specific to John Doe will only show two facts - birth and death. The marriage will appear in a slightly different part of the report that's shared between John and Jane. So the marriage will appear only once - for them as a couple. The marriage will not appear twice - once for John and once for Jane. Is that what you are talking about?
Jerry
#8
Posted 17 November 2012 - 02:21 PM
Thank you. I was expecting to see the marriage information in the narrative. I was trying all this time to have the marriage info. in the narrative.
Anyway, you have given me the answer.
Thanks again,
John
#9
Posted 17 November 2012 - 06:01 PM
Thank you. I was expecting to see the marriage information in the narrative.
What you are asking for has been much wished for. However, I confess that I sort of like it the way it is for facts that are what I call "couple facts" such as marriage and divorce. If the capability came into being where such things as marriage and divorce could appear in timeline order with things like birth and death, I think it would need to remain an option to do it the way it works now.
RM calls these kinds of facts family facts rather than couple facts, but I've never understood that terminology. To me, the family is the couple plus the children, and the children didn't marry their parents. At the same time, there are facts such as family census facts which might logically be considered to apply to the whole family of the couple plus the children. However, even family census facts are really treated by RM like couple census facts in narrative reports. If you don't believe it, put in a family census fact and start a narrative report with one of the children who was listed in the census family fact. The child will be missing the census fact for that year.
For that reason and several others, I avoid using RM's family facts to the maximum extent that's reasonable. I seldom go much beyond using marriage and divorce. And I never use family notes (a family note that's freestanding rather than being associated with a family fact). However, I'm sensitive to the fact that many very expert and experienced RM users do like family facts such as family census facts and make heavy use of them.
Jerry
#10
Posted 17 November 2012 - 08:50 PM
When I finally publish my family history and give copies to my relatives, I know, without a doubt, I will get a lot of questions from the family about the missing marriage information in the timeline of the narrative.
Someone will say, something like: "Hey, you missed the marriage date for Aunt Carmela." I will then have to explain that the program does not list the marriage information in the timeline of the narrative. Oh well.
Overall, I have to say RootsMagic 4 is excellent program. Great - no - but none are!
I might add that the RootsMagic 4 book does not have any reference to the marriage fact in the narrative.
Jerry, thanks for input. It really helped.
John
#11
Posted 17 November 2012 - 09:24 PM
I might add that the RootsMagic 4 book does not have any reference to the marriage fact in the narrative.
The marriage sentence really should be there. It just will be after the timeline with birth and death.
Jerry
#12
Posted 17 November 2012 - 09:34 PM
BUT, I could be wrong.
If you would send me a backup file of your database I will try to see what might be the problem
Mention which type of narrative you are trying and who you are selecting as the starting person.
Just attach a copy of the backup file to an email to me at:
adeller@santel.net
#13
Posted 17 November 2012 - 10:04 PM
You are right it was "operator error." I deleted and reentered all the marriage info. All's well.
I will be able to sleep well tonight!
Thank you,
John
#14
Posted 08 July 2013 - 05:15 PM
All the info shows up in Family Group Sheet and Individual Summary reports (as well as Marriage List). Is this still the way the narrative report works or am I missing something? Seems a shame that spousal info does not show up in narrative. Or, at least have the option to include spouses in the report as we do in the Family Group Sheet and Individual Summary reports.
Been with Rootsmagic since the first version and love the program in many ways. But, I would love to have this functionality in Narraitve Reports.
This is what I have as the sentence template in the marriage fact:
[couple] <#Couple#was|were> married< [Date]>< [PlaceDetails]>< [Place]>.
#15
Posted 08 July 2013 - 06:31 PM
Starting with you,an Ancestor report will list your you then the next generation will be your parents. Your mother and father are listed together and their marriage information is only listed once following your father's personal information.
Since a second marriage is not to an ancestor of yours, it isn't included.
You could add this information as a note or a user defined personal fact of the ancestor involved if you wanted to.
#16
Posted 09 July 2013 - 09:19 AM
Sorry, feel dumb on that one. My problem was a PEBKAC error ("Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair")

And a big "Thank you" to you and several others who take the time to reply to user questions with solutions. That's just one of the things that makes Rootsmagic such a great program.
David