Genealogists and family historians often find themselves with unknown dates for events they have researched. How to capture this in a genealogical database is not immediately apparent to many of us. We think, “Perhaps I should enter ‘Unknown,’ or a question mark, or omit the date entirely.” After all that work, it seems like something should be documented to indicate that research has been done and no conclusion reached. Trying to force the date field to do more than it’s intended or capable of doing isn’t the solution. It could be an indication that we’re not confident that our research is well documented or that our plan is recorded. What should one enter in a genealogical database when the date of an event is unknown? How should one deal with that feeling of unease that’s causing them to look at the date field as a cure-all? This article will answer both questions for you. Let’s start with what to do with the unknown date.
[Read more…] about Documenting Unknown Dates
MacFamilyTree Updated to 5.4.2
An update bringing the Mac genealogy software, MacFamilyTree, to version 5.4.2 was just released. The following are the release notes from the software update dialog box:
- Fixes in the Family Assistant (alignment improved, pictures now always show up)
- Fixes in the Web Export
- Several localization fixes
- Minor Interface improvements
- Performance of all 3D charts improved
- General stability improvements
There’s nothing in there that warrants a video walkthrough, so go update your copy.
Reunion for Macintosh Updated to 9.09
Leister Productions released version 9.09 of Reunion for Mac. This is a bug fix release as shown in the release notes:
- Fixed a rare crash when sending a family file to the iPhone.
- Fixed a problem that could cause incorrect or missing links after a crash or power failure. This problem was accidentally introduced in the 9.08 update.
- Fixed some minor memory leaks.
There are upgrade instructions and a video to walk you through the process if needed.
Death Records Database at SeekingMichigan.org is Back Online
This morning I was able to connect to and use the Michigan Death Records, 1897-1920 database at seekingmichigan.org. Access was quick! Give it a try.
Alas, I found no hits for my ancestors. I’ll check again when more records are added.
SeekingMichigan.org is Adding Capacity
I received an update from SeekingMichigan today. Their systems have been “overwhelmed,” to use their word. They’re making changes that will increase capacity for us by this weekend.
Happy searching! Leave us a comment if you find anything good.