Set Living=N

On this page: Description, Step by Step, Log File Format, Notes

Description

Set Living=N looks for people who have Living=?, but who should have Living=N. It looks for a BMDB event prior to a year you specify. A good value for the year is the current year minus 120.

The function has three options: Use Ancestor's Events, Use Descendant's Events, and Use Five Generations Rule.

If Use Ancestor's Events is checked, the program will set Living=N if any ancestors of a person have BMDB events prior to an adjusted threshold year. See Note 1.

If Use Descendant's Events is checked, the program will set Living=N if any descendants of a person have BMDB events prior to the adjusted threshold year. See Note 2.

When Use Descendant's Events is checked the Use Five Generations Rule option is enabled. If Use 5 Generations Rule is checked, the program will set Living=N for people who have 5 or more generations of descendants.

Step by Step

1. Choose Set Living=N from the function tree.
2. Enter the threshold year in the YYYY textbox.
3. Check or uncheck Use Ancestor's Events as desired.
4. Check or uncheck Use Descendant's Events as desired.
5. Check or uncheck Use 5 Generations Rule as desired.
6. Click the [Set Living=N] button.

Log File Format

The log file includes a list of the people whose Living flags have been changed. The log includes the TMG ID#, the event type, and the year from the event that triggered the change.

ID, Event and Year
24324, Marriage 1786

In the case above, a Marriage event in 1786 triggered a change of the Living flag for person #24324, who was a principal in the event.

If Use Ancestor's Events is checked, and an ancestor's event is the reason for the change, the log includes the ancestor's event, and the linkage between the subject and the ancestor. The text is indented a few spaces for each generation.

ID, Event and Year
    8364, Death 1607
    8364 is parent of 7093
  7093 is parent of 7700
7700, *

In the case above, a Death event in 1607 triggered a change of the Living flag for person #7700. ID #8364 died in 1607, who was a parent of #7093, who was in turn a parent of #7700. The log entries describe a change to person #7700 only. The same event may trigger a change for person #7093, but there will be a separate log entry for #7093 if that is the case. If the threshold year was 1880, then the death of a grandparent in 1607 would be earlier than the adjusted threshold of 1760 (1880-(2*60)=1760).

If Use Descendant's Events is checked, and a descendant's event is the reason for the change, the log includes the descendant's event, and the linkage between the subject and the descendant. The text is indented a few spaces for each generation.

ID, Event and Year
  24073, Marriage 1861
  24073 is child of 24564
24564, *

In the case above, a Marriage event in 1861 triggered a change of the Living flag for person #24564. One of the principals in the Marriage was #24703, who was a child of #24564. The log entries describe a change to person #24564 only. The same event may trigger a change for person #24073, but there will be a separate log entry for #24703 if that is the case.

If Use Descendant's Events is checked, and Use 5 Generations Rule is also checked, and 5 generations of descendants is the reason for the change, the log includes the pedigree of the descendant. The text is indented a few spaces for each generation.

ID, Event and Year
          2408, Gen=5
          2408 is child of 2451
        2451 is child of 2461
      2461 is child of 2463
    2463 is child of 2465
  2465 is child of 2469
2469, *

In the case above, person #2408 is a 3rd-great grandchild of #2469.

Notes

1. When the Use Ancestor's Events option is checked, and the program is inspecting the ancestor's events, it subtracts 60 years from the threshold year for each generation. For example, if the threshold year is 1880, then the adjusted threshold year for a parent is 1820; if either parent has an event prior to 1820, the program will change Living=? to Living=N for the child.

The offset of 60 years is deliberately conservative; it is possible, but rare, that a person has a child when they are 60 years old. Moreover, it is unlikely that two successive generations will have a child at an average of 60 years old. You can change the 60 year offset via the Set Living.Ancestor Years parameter in the tmgutil.ini file.

2. When the Use Descendant's Events option is checked, and the program is inspecting descendant's events, it adds 10 years to the threshold year for each generation. For example, if the threshold year is 1880:

If a grandchild was born in 1886, the subject's Living flag would be set to N because the birth year is before the adjusted threshold of 1900.

The offset of 10 years is deliberately conservative; it is unlikely that a 10 year old is a parent. You can change the 10 year offset via the Set Living.Descendant Years parameter in the tmgutil.ini file.