Earl Carson - Baker Researcher

Yesterday I created a 26-page ancestor report in PDF format for deceased Baker researcher, Earl Carson and his wife. They had no issue. The report shows where I think Mr. Carson fits into the Baker family tree. Researcher Valerie Kramer reported that he worked on genealogy for 40 years and never published anything. Pity!

The report starts with a non-existent person called, Place Holder. I used this technique in order to include the wife of Mr. Carson in the report. If she had an ancestral line in my file they would thusly be included. After the report is created I "unlink" Place Holder from the parents, but leave the record in my genealogy file waiting for the next time I need it.

The report was uploaded to my "secret" Henthorn Genealogy area on Facebook where it is available for viewing and download to members of the group. If you aren't a member, and want to be included, contact me to apply for membership.

Dick Henthorn

3 November 2015

Who Is "Place Holder?"

Here's a problem you might encounter when you are ready to prepare an Ahnentafel (Ancestor Chart).  What do you do if the couple of interest didn't have any children?  If you have data about the ancestral lines of both members of the couple and you choose one or the other you will only have half of the data in your report.

Here's my solution to this problem.  I create a child record for the couple.  I name the child "Place Holder."  I can even include some information in the Note of this record to explain what I'm doing. I select "Place Holder" as the starting person for my report and the problem is solved. After I generate the report I delete the record for "Place Holder."  If I forget to delete the record I can always easily find any records for "Place Holder" by searching for that name or looking at the sorted name list in the RootsMagic display.

Dick Henthorn
29 August 2014