Witness Coding

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There are six methods for coding witnesses: User-defined marriage tag with names of witnesses, user-defined tag with reference to witnesses or names of witnesses, user-defined ASSO tag with reference to witnesses, user-defined ASSO-tag with reference to marriage, user-defined attribute with names of witnesses and user-defined marriage attribute with reference to witnesses. The dialog shows sample lines of a family record and individual record in a Gedcom file for each method.

Warning: Coding using a user-defined ASSO tag with reference to marriage is not located in the family record of the marriage, but rather in the individual record of the witness.

Note for importing: For the name coding methods user-defined marriage tag with names of witnesses and user-defined attribute with names of witnesses, several (max. 9) names must be separated with a comma or a semicolon. The separator is selected in the Program Options, Miscellaneous tab.

Note for exporting: Witness names entered in FamilyTreeFactory are only exported to the Gedcom format if one of the two name coding methods is used: user-defined marriage tag with names of witnesses or user-defined attribute with names of witnesses.

Finally, specify the use for exporting. When importing, all six methods are always used.

Additional details about witness coding and conversion can be found in the Appendix in the section Details for the Gedcom Conversion.

Hint: To set the Gedcom converter to use the coding method of a specific genealogy program, start by determining whether the genealogy program is capable of managing witnesses and, if so, how they are coded. Export a test Gedcom file with the genealogy program that contains a test married couple with defined witnesses for their marriage. This file will be opened in FamilyTreeFactory. Look at the display lists for family records and individual records to determine which method is used for coding. Based on the known witnesses, you can easily determine which of the six methods shown in the dialog is correct. You can then specify the tag, the RELA description, the attribute type and name tag or the marriage attribute tag and marriage attribute type. The tag, the RELA description, the attribute type and name tag or the marriage attribute tag and marriage attribute type are then entered in the corresponding data fields.

The sections Preferred Given Name Coding, Married Name Coding and Marriage Data Coding include detailed configuration examples. Configuration of witness coding is performed in the same way.

Note for users of Brother's Keeper (1): Brother's Keeper uses a coding for witnesses that does not conform to the Gedcom standard. However, FamilyTreeFactory can read the files if you use the following settings: User-defined ASSO tag with reference to marriage (bottom left), RELA description: 2 RELA [ Witness* ]. The asterisk serves as a wildcard for the variable part of the RELA tag content in Brother's Keeper.

(1) Brother's Keeper, 6907 Childsdale Ave, Rockford, MI 49341 USA