Control de la calidad de los datos genealógicos
Estándar GEDCOM, estructura de datos genealógicos. Gestión y control de datos..
Gedcom
La palabra Gedcom designa un formato de intercambio de datos genealógicos.
Fue desarrollado originalmente por la Iglesia Mormona por razones religiosas, luego recuperado por genealogistas para intercambiar datos genealógicos entre personas que ejecutaban sus aplicaciones de genealogía en sistemas informáticos incompatibles.
Así que Gedcom es una especie de lenguaje genealógico. Es el más famoso y utilizado en todo el mundo.
La palabra Gedcom, que es un acrónimo de comunicación de datos genealógicos, (en inglés Genealogical data communication) se escribe como: GEDCOM. Por derivación metonímica, un Gedcom también designa un archivo de genealogía en formato Gedcom. El archivo en que se trabaja dentro de Ancestris es un Gedcom.
Desde mediados de la década de 1990, con el advenimiento de Internet y la proliferación de intercambios digitales, la especificación Gedcom se ha convertido gradualmente en un estándar esencial para la mayoría de los programas y sitios de genealogía en todo el mundo.
Sin embargo, mientras que la mayoría de ellos pueden exportar en formato Gedcom, algunos de ellos no respetan estrictamente el formato Gedcom y hacen algunas adaptaciones agregando estructuras propietarias o utilizando las existentes para diferentes significados. En algunos casos, las estructuras de datos propietarias no se pueden convertir correctamente al formato Gedcom y es posible que algunos datos simplemente no se exporten.
Ancestris es totalmente compatible con las versiones Gedcom 5.5 y 5.5.1. Como usuario, se puede confiar de forma segura en Ancestris para mantener archivos genealógicos completos, sin riesgo de pérdida de datos, y compartirlos o transmitirlos con cualquier persona.
La versión 12 de Ancestris convierte el archivo Gedcom al estándar 7.0 y permite administrar la genealogía en el formato 7.0
Características de un fichero Gedcom
Un archivo Gedcom es un archivo de texto, es decir, un archivo que contiene líneas de texto legibles por humanos, que se puede abrir y editar con cualquier editor de texto, como el Bloc de notas, Kate, Kwrite, Gedit, etc. Su nombre de extensión es "*.ged".
Como resultado, dicho archivo puede ser utilizado *tal cual* por cualquier software de genealogía, instalado en cualquier sistema operativo, sin necesidad de conversión.
Cada línea de texto comienza con un número y una etiqueta. La etiqueta se denomina "tag". Esta etiqueta se compone de tres o cuatro letras mayúsculas. Define el tipo de información que sigue en la línea.
- Por ejemplo, la etiqueta PLAC (= lugar) siempre indica que el texto que sigue a esta etiqueta es un lugar (como lugar de nacimiento, lugar de muerte, lugar de una ceremonia, etc.)
Registros de un archivo Gedcom
Un archivo Gedcom contiene un conjunto de registros. Un registro es un grupo de líneas de texto, la primera de las cuales comienza con un cero "0". Un registro define algo en particular, que depende del tipo de registro.
El primer y el último registro de un archivo Gedcom son de tipos particulares:
- El primer registro se denomina encabezado (etiqueta HEAD) y define información general sobre el archivo.
- El último registro se denomina marcador de final de avance de archivo (etiqueta TRLR). Define el final del archivo.
Cada uno de los otros registros define una entidad genealógica, con su propio conjunto de etiquetas.
Un archivo Gedcom utiliza 7 categorías de entidades. Por lo tanto, los registros que se pueden encontrar en un archivo Gedcom son los siguientes:
- Registros que definen individuos (tag INDI)
- Registros que definen familias (tag FAM)
- Registros que definen notas (tag NOTE)
- Registros que definen fuentes (tag SOUR)
- Registros que definen repositorios (tag REPO)
- Registros que definen archivos multimedia (tag OBJE)
- Registros que definen remitentes de información (tag SUBM)
La elección de considerar estas 7 categorías de datos como registros es arbitraria, por supuesto, pero siempre es el caso cuando se crea un estándar.
Se podría imaginar fácilmente otros tipos de registros, como lugares, por ejemplo. El hecho de que un lugar no sea una entidad separada no impide que Ancestris pueda gestionarlos y respetar el formato Gedcom al mismo tiempo.
Estructura de árbol de un registro
Cada registro se presenta en una estructura de árbol: cada etiqueta puede incluir cualquier número de subetiquetas.
Niveles jerárquicos
Los niveles jerárquicos están numerados.
Como cada línea debe permanecer imperativamente en su lugar desde el punto de vista de la jerarquía, a cada una de ellas se le asigna un número correspondiente al nivel ocupado en la estructura de árbol del registro.
Esta es la razón por la que la línea de nivel principal de cada registro es el nivel cero, numerado 0. Una línea situada en el nivel inmediatamente inferior lleva el número 1. Una línea situada en el nivel inmediatamente inferior al nivel 1 lleva el número 2. Y así sucesivamente.
Registros de identificadores y entidades
Como se mencionó anteriormente, aparte de los registros HEAD y TRLR, todos los demás registros son registros de entidad.
Cada registro de entidad comienza con una línea de nivel 0 seguida de lo siguiente:
- El número de identificación de la entidad rodeado por dos arrobas (@),
- La etiqueta asociada a la categoría a la que pertenece la entidad.
- Por ejemplo, la línea "0 @I5@ INDI" es la primera línea de registro de una entidad INDIvidual cuyo ID es 'I5'.
Sangría
Para mayor claridad, las líneas de un registro se pueden sangrar para mostrar con mayor claridad la relación entre las líneas del registro. Las líneas de información debajo de una etiqueta califican la etiqueta.
- Registro sin sangría:
0 @I5@ INDI => this defines indidual number 'I5'
1 NAME John Doe => The indivudual's name is John Doe
1 SEX M => This individual is a male
1 BIRT => What follows defines his birth event
2 DATE April 16, 1951 => John Doe was therefore born on April 16, 1951
1 FAMC @F1328@ => Family F1328 is the record that defines John Doe's family (FAM) where he is a child (C)- Registro sangrado:
0 @I5@ INDI => this defines indidual number 'I5'
1 NAME John Doe => The indivudual's name is John Doe
1 SEX M => This individual is a male
1 BIRT => What follows defines his birth event
2 DATE April 16, 1951 => John Doe was therefore born on April 16, 1951
1 FAMC @F1328@ => Family F1328 is the record that defines John Doe's family (FAM) where he is a child (C)El editor Gedcom es un editor dentro de Ancestris que muestra la información exacta que se encuentra en el archivo Gedcom y todo lo relacionado con él. También mejora la visualización de esta información para que sea aún más fácil de leer.
Este editor utiliza una pantalla con sangría y no muestra los números de nivel. También agrega controladores para mostrar u ocultar los niveles de subetiquetas, lo que facilita la expansión o el colapso de cualquier rama.
- Así es como se mostraría el mismo individuo en el editor de Gedcom:
Como se puede ver, el editor Gedcom mejora la visualización agregando íconos y obteniendo sugerencias relevantes.
En particular, el dato "@F1328@" se sustituye, sólo en la pantalla, no en el archivo Gedcom real, por la información relevante sobre la familia. Por tanto, aquí sabemos inmediatamente que los padres de John se llaman Martin y Kelly.
Además el nombre se divide en sus partes de apellido y nombre.
Formato de línea dentro de un registro
Formato
Cada línea de un registro se compone de 3 elementos:
- El número de nivel, de 0 a n,
- La etiqueta tag que define el tipo de información genealógica que sigue,
- La información genealógica.
Ejemplo: la línea 2 DATE April 16, 1951 significa nivel 2, información de tipo FECHA cuyo valor es 16 abril 1951.
Para saber a qué se refiere esta fecha, habría que leer las líneas anteriores. Sabiendo que se trata de una línea de nivel 2, debe haber una de nivel 1 (el evento en este caso) y una de nivel 0 (la entidad del registro) arriba.
Hacer referencia a otra entidad
En ocasiones, en una línea, puede ser necesario hacer referencia a otra entidad de registro. Esto se hace indicando el número de identificación de la entidad, rodeado de dos arrobas (@).
La diferencia entre la referencia "@id@" que define un registro y la referencia "@id@" que apunta a un registro es la siguiente:
- Si la referencia se encuentra en el registro de nivel 0 antes de la etiqueta, justo después del "0", entonces se trata de una definición de un registro. Ejemplo:
0 @I5@ INDI: define al individuo I5
- Si la referencia está en el lado derecho de la etiqueta, hace referencia a la entidad. También decimos que "apunta" hacia la entidad. Por ejemplo, si tenemos esta línea dentro de un registro individual:
1 FAMC @F1328@: Esto indica que la familia de la que esta persona es hijo (es decir, FAMC) es F1328. También supone que F1328 está definido en otra parte del archivo Gedcom como un registro que debe comenzar con0 @F1328@ FAM.
Estándar Gedcom
El estándar Gedcom hace referencia al conjunto de reglas que rigen lo que se puede y no se puede hacer al escribir un archivo Gedcom, de forma que todos organicen la información genealógica en el mismo, de forma que los demás puedan entenderla. Se trata, por tanto, de la gramática del lenguaje Gedcom.
Existen dos normas principales, la 5.5 y la 5.5.1, siendo la segunda una ligera evolución de la primera. Lo que estaba permitido en la primera ya no está permitido en la segunda, y viceversa. No obstante, estas diferencias son limitadas.
Ancestris maneja los estándares 5.5 y 5.5.1 y puede convertir su archivo Gedcom de un estándar a otro y viceversa.
Gedcom 5.5
Esta norma fue publicada el 2 de enero de 1996.
Encontrará detalles de la versión completa de Gedcom standard release 5.5 aquí en forma de sitio html.
Gedcom 5.5.1
Esta norma fue publicada por primera vez en 1999 como borrador y se mantuvo estable hasta el 15 de noviembre de 2019, cuando se hizo oficial.
También puede consultar la versión 5.5.1 del estándar Gedcom como archivo pdf: Norme Gedcom 5.5.1.
Estos 20 años de estabilidad hacen de este estándar una forma muy bien documentada y ampliamente utilizada para intercambiar información genealógica.
Encontrará en el documento 5.5.1 una comparación entre los dos estándares Gedcom.
Gedcom 7.0.x
Esta norma se publicó por primera vez en 2021.
Las especificaciones de esta norma se pueden encontrar en el sitio The FamilySearch GEDCOM Specification.
Entidades
Una entidad en el estándar Gedcom es un componente genealógico principal, como un individuo, una familia, una fuente de información o una nota. También puede ser un objeto multimedia, como un vídeo o un registro de audio.
En un archivo Gedcom, una entidad es un registro identificado por un número de identificación y un grupo de etiquetas que especifican sus características.
Las diversas características genealógicas asociadas a una entidad se denominan propiedades: nacimiento, matrimonio, fecha, lugar, acontecimiento, texto, dirección, etc.
Ancestris sigue el estándar Gedcom lo más fielmente posible y utiliza los mismos conceptos de entidad y propiedad.
La organización de la información de cada entidad sigue la gramática precisa del estándar. Esta gramática ofrece varias posibilidades para almacenar la información. Para ver estas distintas posibilidades en Ancestris, utilice el editor Gedcom.
Las 7 categorías de entidades
Existen siete categorías de entidades en el estándar Gedcom. Una entidad siempre pertenece a una, y sólo a una, de estas siete categorías.
Cada categoría tiene sus propias propiedades. Sin embargo, independientemente de la categoría a la que pertenezcan, todas las entidades operan según los mismos principios. Estos se describen a continuación.
En Ancestris, todas las entidades son fácilmente accesibles desde la Tabla de Entidades.
Individuos
Un individuo, o persona, es un ser humano, vivo o fallecido. Es el componente principal de cualquier genealogía.
En el estándar Gedcom, una persona se define mediante la etiqueta INDI y tiene un número de identificación que puede ser prácticamente cualquier cosa. En Ancestris, este ID comienza con la letra I.
Apariencia en Ancestris : 
INDI Individuo
Las principales propiedades de un individuo son:
- un nombre, formado por un nombre y un apellido, y posiblemente formado por otros elementos del nombre.
- acontecimientos como el nacimiento, el matrimonio, la ocupación y muchos otros.
- relaciones con otros individuos en la genealogía.
Los eventos y las relaciones son probablemente las partes más interesantes de tu genealogía porque son las piezas de información que te permitirán comprender la vida de tus antepasados y las historias que podrían contarte.
NOMBRE: nombre de una persona. Esta etiqueta puede repetirse si la persona es conocida con varios nombres.
Sintaxis Gedcom:
NAME Lt. Cmndr. Joseph /Allen/ jr.En este ejemplo, se considera jr. como sufijo del nombre. Toda la información se introdujo únicamente en la etiqueta NAME sin utilizar ninguna subetiqueta.
El estándar Gedcom proporciona una estructura detallada para almacenar el nombre de un individuo y especificar todos los elementos posibles de un nombre, en particular NICK y NSFX, que se colocan al final de NOMBRE.
GIVN : (nombre de pila) Nombre de pila. Su valor debe ser idéntico al de la etiqueta NAME. Es una etiqueta opcional. Los distintos nombres de pila se separan con una coma.- NICK: (apodo) Un nombre familiar o apodo, que se utiliza además del apellido o en lugar de este.
- NPFX : (prefijo del nombre) Prefijo del nombre. Un elemento del nombre que precede al apellido (por ejemplo, Maestro, General, Doctor, etc.)
- SPFX: (prefijo de apellido) Partícula que precede al apellido. Complemento del nombre que precede al apellido y que no se debe tener en cuenta al ordenar los apellidos. Los distintos artículos o prefijos de apellido se separan con una coma, por ejemplo, en el nombre “de la Cruz”, este valor debe ser “de, la”.
- SURN : (apellido) Apellido de nacimiento, apellido. Los distintos apellidos se separan con una coma.
- NSFX : (sufijo de nombre) Sufijo de apellido. Complemento del nombre, artículo, que sigue al apellido y que no se debe tener en cuenta al ordenar los apellidos. Los diferentes sufijos de nombre se separan con una coma. Ejemplo: mayor, hijo.
NOTA: Nota sobre el individuo
SOUR: Fuente de información que acredita la existencia y las características del individuo.
ALIA: (alias) Enlace con otra entidad individual, que indica que esta persona actual podría ser un duplicado de la otra y que una de las dos debería eliminarse eventualmente. Significa que las dos personas son la misma persona con un nombre diferente. Se deben usar dos etiquetas NAME para eso, dentro de una sola entidad individual.
Familia
Una familia es una pareja de seres humanos, vivos o muertos, unidos ya sea por una unión legal (p. ej. matrimonio) o por una unión de hecho (p. ej. convivencia). En la mayoría de los casos, están asociados a ella uno o más hijos.
Una familia es por tanto una estructura que reúne a dos o más individuos (cónyuge, hijos) así como un conjunto de propiedades específicas como los diversos acontecimientos asociados a ella (matrimonio, divorcio, etc.)
En el estándar Gedcom, una familia se designa mediante la etiqueta FAM y recibe un número de identificación que comienza con la letra F en Ancestris.
Apariencia en Ancestris : 
FAM Familia
Multimedia
Un Medio o Elemento Multimedia es una fotografía, un documento de audio o vídeo (una fotografía, una grabación de audio, una película, una copia de un documento, etc.) generalmente destinado a asociarse con una o más personas o familias o a asociarse con una fuente.
En el estándar Gedcom, un elemento multimedia se define mediante la etiqueta OBJE. Tiene un número de identificación que comienza con la letra M en Ancestris.
Apariencia en Ancestris : 
OBJE elemento multimedia
¡Atención! Existen dos tipos de elementos multimedia: la entidad y la propiedad. Estos dos tipos de elementos multimedia, aunque tienen la misma etiqueta (OBJE), no deben confundirse.
- La entidad multimedia puede ser utilizada por varias entidades. Por lo tanto, está destinada a ser compartida, colectiva o común. Es verdaderamente autónoma y puede existir independientemente de las entidades que la remiten. Ejemplo: un archivo de audio que especifica su análisis de una investigación que involucra a varias personas.
- La propiedad multimedia está destinada a calificar una única pieza de información de la genealogía. Sólo puede utilizarse una vez. Es inútil si se saca de su contexto, de su conexión con la información a la que se refiere. Ejemplo: un vídeo de un niño recién nacido. La propiedad multimedia, a diferencia de la entidad multimedia, no recibe ningún número de identificación y sólo es válida para una única propiedad, en una entidad determinada. Sólo puede existir dentro de la entidad que la incluye. Si se elimina la entidad, la propiedad desaparece con ella.
En resumen, si un mismo objeto multimedia debe asignarse a varios individuos, varias familias, etc., es más eficiente almacenarlo en forma de entidad de objeto. Una vez introducido, será posible utilizarlo un número infinito de veces. Como propiedad de objeto, habría que volver a introducir el enlace al archivo multimedia tantas veces como fuera necesario.
¡Atención! Ancestris no realiza ninguna copia de sus archivos multimedia. Simplemente "hace referencia" a los archivos reales. Ancestris los leerá donde los necesite en Ancestris. Por lo tanto, no los borre pensando que Ancestris hizo una copia de ellos.
Nota
Una nota es una información de texto que puede asociarse con otras categorías de entidades (individuos, familias, elementos multimedia, etc.) o con una propiedad en cualquier parte de la genealogía.
En el estándar Gedcom, una nota se define mediante la etiqueta NOTE y tiene un número de identificación que comienza con la letra N en Ancestris.
Apariencia en Ancestris : 
NOTA Nota
¡Atención! Existen dos tipos de notas: la de entidad y la de propiedad. Estos dos tipos de notas, aunque tienen la misma etiqueta (NOTA), no deben confundirse.
- La entidad nota puede ser utilizada por varias entidades. Por lo tanto, está destinada a ser compartida, colectiva o común. Es verdaderamente autónoma y puede existir independientemente de las entidades que la remiten. Ejemplo: un texto que especifica su análisis de una investigación que involucra a varias personas.
- La propiedad nota tiene como finalidad calificar una única pieza de información de la genealogía. Sólo puede utilizarse una vez. Es inútil si se saca de su contexto, de su conexión con la información a la que se refiere. Ejemplo: una característica de un niño recién nacido. La propiedad nota, a diferencia de la entidad nota, no recibe ningún número de identificación y sólo es válida para una única propiedad, en una entidad dada. Sólo puede existir dentro de la entidad que la incluye. Si se elimina la entidad, la propiedad desaparece con ella.
En resumen, si una misma nota debe asignarse a varios individuos, varias familias, etc., es más eficiente almacenarla en forma de entidad de nota. Una vez introducida, será posible utilizarla un número infinito de veces. Como propiedad de nota, habría que volver a introducir el texto de la nota tantas veces como fuera necesario.
Fuente
Una fuente es todo aquello que define el origen de una pieza de información. Puede ser un documento, un libro, un monumento, etc.
También puede ser una persona física: su bisabuela puede, por ejemplo, ser calificada como fuente si le ha transmitido una historia familiar de forma oral, por ejemplo.
Esta entidad tiene como objetivo recopilar de forma muy precisa las diferentes referencias (título del documento, símbolo, número de acto, página, etc.) con el fin de permitir cualquier verificación posterior de las características de otras entidades (en particular, individuos y familias).
En el estándar Gedcom, una fuente se define mediante la etiqueta SOUR y tiene un número de identificación que comienza en Ancestris con la letra S .
Las fuentes mantienen una relación estrecha con otras entidades, los repositorios. Un repositorio contiene fuentes y las fuentes se encuentran en repositorios. Consulte la siguiente sección para obtener información detallada sobre cómo organizar las fuentes y los repositorios.
Apariencia en Ancestris : 
SOUR Fuente
¡Atención! Existen dos tipos de fuentes: la entidad y la propiedad. Estos dos tipos de fuentes, aunque tienen la misma etiqueta (SOUR), no deben confundirse.
- La entidad fuente puede ser utilizada por varias entidades más, por lo que se la considera compartida, colectiva o común. Es verdaderamente autónoma y puede existir independientemente de las entidades que la remiten. Ejemplo: un acta matrimonial.
- La propiedad origen tiene como finalidad calificar una única pieza de información de la genealogía. Sólo puede utilizarse una vez. Es inútil si se saca de su contexto, de su conexión con la información a la que se refiere. La propiedad origen, a diferencia de la entidad origen, no recibe ningún número de identificación y sólo es válida para una única propiedad, en una entidad determinada. Sólo puede existir dentro de la entidad que la incluye. Si se elimina la entidad, la propiedad desaparece con ella.
En resumen, si una misma fuente debe calificar varios eventos de individuos, familias, etc., es más eficiente almacenarla en forma de entidad fuente. Una vez ingresada, será posible utilizarla un número infinito de veces. Como propiedad de la fuente, habría que volver a ingresar las características de la fuente tantas veces como fuera necesario.
Remitente
Un remitente es una persona que recopila información para contribuir a la construcción de un archivo de genealogía.
Es probable que esta persona sea uno de los autores de la genealogía, o cualquier genealogista que pueda proporcionar al usuario de Ancestris su información genealógica.
En el estándar Gedcom, un remitente se define mediante la etiqueta SUBM y tiene un número de identificación que comienza en Ancestris con la letra B.
Apariencia en Ancestris : 
SUBM Remitente
Repositorio
Un repositorio es un lugar donde se pueden encontrar fuentes genealógicas (documentos, libros, grabaciones de audio, películas, etc.). Puede ser un edificio físico (por ejemplo, un archivo, un cementerio) o un sitio web (por ejemplo, el sitio web del servicio de archivo).
Las entidades de repositorio mantienen una relación estrecha con las entidades de origen. Es probable que un repositorio contenga varias fuentes, y una fuente pertenece a un repositorio.
En el estándar Gedcom, un repositorio se define mediante la etiqueta REPO y tiene un número de identificación que comienza en Ancestris con la letra R.
Apariencia en Ancestris: 
REPO Ubicación de almacenamiento
Entidad de encabezado
La entidad de encabezado es el primer registro del archivo Gedcom. El encabezado contiene información sobre el archivo: versión del estándar (5.5 o 5.5.1), autor del archivo, estructura de jurisdicciones en lugares, etc.
Ancestris se encarga de su creación al crear un nuevo archivo. Lo más probable es que no necesites modificarlo después de la creación.
En Ancestris, se puede editar mediante Menú > Archivo > Propiedades. Consultar la página Propiedades de archivo para obtener más detalles
Número de identificación de una entidad
El ID es un número de identificación asignado a cada entidad, dentro de una misma categoría. Para evitar la creación de posibles duplicados, este número es obviamente único.
Además, este número particular siempre tiene la misma forma, es decir, una letra seguida de un número determinado de dígitos. Cada categoría de entidad está asociada a una letra determinada, por lo que la primera letra del número de identificación indica la categoría a la que pertenece.
El usuario no tiene que preocuparse de asignar un nuevo número de identificación al crear una nueva entidad: esta numeración la realiza automáticamente Ancestris.
Tener en cuenta que en el menu Herramientass / Preferencias / Ediciones / Número de Identificación, se puede activar una casilla de verificación para reutilizar los números de identificación que quedaron disponibles por las entidades que han sido eliminadas.
Además, siempre puedes cambiar los números de identificación más tarde, una vez que se hayan creado las entidades. Para ello, utiliza la herramienta Generar ID Números.
Properties
A property if a piece of information describing a characteristic of an entity.
A property consists essentially of two elements: its name, identified by a TAG, and its VALUE.
Description
Let's consider the following three properties.
- City : London
- City : Paris
- City : Rome
These three properties share the same name (City), but have different values: London, Paris and Rome.
The City is coded in the Gedcom file by the tag CITY, in capital letters.
Tags
The Gedcom standard defines a large number of genealogical properties.
Each of these properties is identified by a Tag, which make each of them unique and unambiguous.
Here are some examples of properties and their tags between parenthesis.
- Name (tag NAME)
- Date (tag DATE)
- Place (tag PLAC)
- Note (tag NOTE) - here we mean the NOTE property, not the NOTE entity.
- Sex (tag SEX)
- Birth (tag BIRT)
- Marriage (tag MARR)
- Death (tag DEAT)
- Occupation (tag OCCU)
- Religion (tag RELI)
- Residence (tag RESI)
For more details:
- For the properties available in a Gedcom file, see the Tags page
- About Dates, please read the Date page.
- About Places, please read the Places page.
- About Events, please read the Events page.
Usage
In the Gedcom file, properties always keep the same structure and follow strictly the same syntax rules.
In Ancestris, properties exactly correspond to the Gedcom properties, but they may look different depending on the view that displays them.
Properties in the Gedcom file
Each line of the Gedcom file is a property.
Each property line has the following format:
Number Tag Value
Number is the hierarchical level of the property as described in the Gedcom page.
Example:
2 DATE 27 SEP 1601The first item is the number 2, indicating the level of the row in the record entity.
The second element is the DATE tag, indicating that the property is a date.
The third element is the value of the date (27 SEP 1601).
Therefore, the whole line means that the date of the genealogical element above this line, is September 27, 1601.
Properties in the Gedcom editor
The Gedcom editor displays property lines in a manner quite similar to that of the Gedcom file: one line per property, containing the tag followed by its value.
However, the following differences exist.
- The editor does not display the entire Gedcom file, but only one entity at a time: the ID number and the category of this entity appear on the first line, at the top
- To the left of the label (tag), there is a symbol in the form of a mini-icon referring to the nature of the tag. The mini-icons added to the tree view make it much easier to read compared to the raw Gedcom file.
- The editor does not display the line numbers, but represents them in a tree structure, with a more or less pronounced indentation depending on the situation of each line in the hierarchy. These lines are also provided with handles, which can expand or hide the subdivisions of a particular branch.
Properties in the other editors
In editors, properties are displayed in the user's language.
In the Aries and Cygnus editors, neither the labels, nor the lines, nor their tree structure appear: the name of each field, more explicit than a simple tag, simply invites the user to fill it in, as we fill in a form.
Properties in the Entities Table
In the Entity Table, each row represents an entity, and each column represents a property.
It is possible to configure the Table in order to choose the properties to display.
Properties displayed in windows
Other windows display properties, and allow them to be viewed, printed or edited (Navigator, Dynamic tree, etc.).
Tags
A tag is a property type identifyer.
The Gedcom standard defines a number of tags on three or four capital letters, taken from the English name of the property type.
For example, knowing that the SURN label means surname, the SURN Martin property line can be translated as: the surname is "Martin".
Ancestris assigns an icon to each property, just like with entities. For example, Ancestris adds 
to the NAME tag.
You will find in this page the list of most common tags.
The Gedcom editor is the Ancestris window that shows best all the properties in your genealogy.
Icons
The icon next to a tag helps you know whether the tag complies to the Gedcom standard or not.
, 
, 
, 
, 
, etc. : regular pre-defined tags. Therefore they are compliant with the Gedcom standard.
: unknown tag, or at the wrong place.
: user-defined tag : tags starting with the underscore "_" are user-defined tags. These tags can be added underneath any other tag in the Gedcom file. They are allowed.
- However, before creating a new tag, please check if the type of information is not already defined by the Gedcom standard. This will allow you to better exchange genealogical data. You can check predefined tag using the Gedcom editor.
- You may tell Ancestris, in the Preferences, when you use the Gedcom validation tool, whether to consider user-defined tags as erroneous or allowed.
- On rare occasions, Ancestris had to defined user-defined tags when the Gedcom standard did not plan for it (e.g. _SOSA for the SOSA numbering)
: indicates a correct tag with an invalid value.
, 
, 
: navigation tags: the "
" symbol on the icon is specific to Ancestris and indicates a pointer to another entity. You can navigate to the entity indicated in this tag by jut clicking on it.
All the Gedcom standards tags are managed by Ancestris: all the pre-defined Gedcom tags, all the user-defined tags(
) that Ancestris has defined (e.g._SOSA), and all the user-defined tags you may have defined.
This first table is a description of the main tags.
| Tag name |
Tag | 5.5. | 5.5.1. | Description and usage |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Abbreviation | ABBR | X | X | A short name of a title, description, or name. |
 |
Adoption | ADOP | X | X | Pertaining to creation of a legally approved child-parent relationship that does not exist biologically. |
 |
Address | ADDR | X | X | The contemporary place, usually required for postal purposes, of an individual, a submitter of information, a repository, a business, a school, or a company. |
 |
Age | AGE | X | X | The age of the individual at the time an event occurred, or the age listed in the document. |
 |
Agency | AGNC | X | X | The institution or individual having authority and/or responsibility to manage or govern. |
 |
Alias | ALIA | X | X | An indicator to link different record descriptions of a person who may be the same person. |
 |
Annulment | ANUL | X | X | Declaring a marriage void from the beginning (never existed). |
 |
Associates | ASSO | X | X | An indicator to link friends, neighbours, relatives, or associates of an individual. |
|
Attribute | FACT |
X | Attribute assigned to an individual | |
|
Author | AUTH | X | X | The name of the individual who created or compiled information. |
 |
Marriage Bann | MARB | X | X | An event of an official public notice given that two people intend to marry. |
 |
Christening | CHR | X | X | The religious event (not LDS) of baptising and/or naming a child. |
|
Baptism | BAPM | X | X | The event of baptism (not LDS), performed in infancy or later. |
 |
Bar Mitzvah | BARM | X | X | The ceremonial event held when a Jewish boy reaches age 13. |
 |
Bas Mitzvah | BASM | X | X | The ceremonial event held when a Jewish girl reaches age 13, also known as "Bat Mitzvah." |
 |
Blessing | BLES | X | X | A religious event of bestowing divine care or intercession. Sometimes given in connection with a naming ceremony. |
 |
Map | MAP | X | Pertains to a representation of measurements usually presented in a graphical form. | |
 |
Marriage license | MARL | X | X | An event of obtaining a legal license to marry. |
|
Change | CHAN | X | X | Indicates a change, correction, or modification. Typically used in connection with a DATE to specify when a change in information occurred (it is automatically handled by Ancestris) |
 |
Postal code | POST | X | X | A code used by a postal service to identify an area to facilitate mail handling. |
 |
Status | STAT | X | X | An assessment of the state or condition of something. |
 |
Confirmation | CONF | X | X | The religious event (not LDS) of conferring the gift of the Holy Ghost and, among protestants, full church membership. |
 |
Marriage contract | MARC | X | X | An event of recording a formal agreement of marriage, including the prenuptial agreement in which marriage partners reach agreement about the property rights of one or both, securing property to their children. |
 |
Marriage settlement | MARS | X | X | An event of creating an agreement between two people contemplating marriage, at which time they agree to release or modify property rights that would otherwise arise from the marriage. |
 |
Cremation | CREM | X | X | Disposal of the remains of a person's body by fire. |
 |
Date | DATE | X | X | The time of an event in a calendar format. |
 |
Death | DEAT | X | X | The event when mortal life terminates. |
 |
Graduation | GRAD | X | X | An event of awarding educational diplomas or degrees to individuals. |
 |
Divorce | DIV | X | X | An event of dissolving a marriage through civil action. |
|
Data | DATA | X | X | Pertaining to stored automated information. |
 |
EMAI | X | Gedcom 5.5.1 only. An electronic mail address. | ||
 |
Fax | FAX |
X | Electronic facsimile transmission | |
 |
Child | CHIL | X | X | The natural, adopted, or sealed (LDS) child of a father and a mother. |
 |
Multimedia element | OBJE | X | X | Pertaining to a grouping of attributes used in describing something. Usually referring to the data required to represent a multimedia object, such an audio recording, a photograph of a person, or an image of a document. |
 |
Emigration | EMIG | X | X | An event of leaving one's homeland with the intent of residing elsewhere. |
 |
Wife | WIFE | X | X | An individual in the role as a mother and/or married woman. |
|
State | STAE | X | X | A geographical division of a larger jurisdictional area, such as a State within the United States of America. |
|
|
Event | EVEN | X | X | Pertaining to a noteworthy happening related to an individual, a group, or an organization. An EVENt structure is usually qualified or classified by a subordinate use of the TYPE tag. |
 |
Family | FAM | X | X | Identifies a legal, common law, or other customary relationship of man and woman and their children, if any, or a family created by virtue of the birth of a child to its biological father and mother. |
 |
Family where person is a child | FAMC | X | X | Identifies the family in which an individual appears as a child. |
|
Family where person is a spouse | FAMS | X | X | Identifies the family in which an individual appears as a spouse. |
 |
Engagement | ENGA | X | X | An event of recording or announcing an agreement between two people to become married. |
 |
File | FILE | X | X | An information storage place that is ordered and arranged for preservation and reference. |
 |
Format | FORM | X | X | An assigned name given to a consistent format in which information can be conveyed. |
 |
Submitter | SUBM | X | X | An individual or organization who contributes genealogical data to a file or transfers it to someone else. |
| |
Individual | INDI | X | X | A person. |
 |
Immigration | IMMI | X | X | An event of entering into a new locality with the intent of residing there. |
 |
Burial | BURI | X | X | The event of the proper disposing of the mortal remains of a deceased person. |
|
Ancestor interest | ANCI | X | X | Indicates an interest in additional research for ancestors of this individual. |
|
Descendants interest | DESI | X | X | Indicates an interest in research to identify additional descendants of this individual. |
|
Language | LANG | X | X | The name of the language used in a communication or transmission of information. |
|
Latitude | LATI | X | A value indicating a coordinate position on a line, plane, or space. | |
|
Place | PLAC | X | X | A jurisdictional name to identify the place or location of an event. |
 |
Repository | REPO | X | X | An institution or person that has the specified item as part of their collection(s). |
|
Longitude | _LONG | X | Anticipation of the 5.5.1 standard. A value indicating a coordinate position on a line, plane, or space. | |
|
Longitude | LONG | X | A value indicating a coordinate position on a line, plane, or space. | |
 |
Husband | HUSB | X | X | An individual in the family role of a married man or father. |
 |
Marriage | MARR | X | X | A legal, common-law, or customary event of creating a family unit of a man and a woman as husband and wife. |
|
Birth | BIRT | X | X | The event of entering into life. |
 |
Nationality | NATI | X | X | The national heritage of an individual. |
 |
Naturalisation | NATU | X | X | The event of obtaining citizenship. |
 |
Education | EDUC | X | X | Indicator of a level of education attained. |
|
Name | NAME | X | X | A word or combination of words used to help identify an individual, title, or other item. More than one NAME line should be used for people who were known by multiple names. |
|
Surname | SURN | X | X | A family name passed on or used by members of a family. |
 |
Number of children | NCHI | X | X | The number of children that this person is known to be the parent of (all marriages) when subordinate to an individual, or that belong to this family when subordinate to a FAM_RECORD. |
|
Number of marriages | NMR | X | X | The number of times this person has participated in a family as a spouse or parent. |
|
Note | NOTE | X | X | Additional information provided by the submitter for understanding the enclosing data. |
 |
Identification number | IDNO | X | X | A number assigned to identify a person within some significant external system. |
 |
Social security number | SSN | X | X | A number assigned by the United States Social Security Administration. Used for tax identification purposes. |
 |
Binary object | BLOB | X | Set of data entered into a multimedia system that processes binary data to represent images, sound, video. | |
 |
Ordination | ORDN | X | X | A religious event of receiving authority to act in religious matters. |
|
Page | PAGE | X | X | A number or description to identify where information can be found in a referenced work. |
|
Country | CTRY | X | X | The name or code of the country. |
|
Pedigree | PEDI | X | X | Information pertaining to an individual to parent lineage chart. |
|
Name prefix | NPFX | X | X | Text which appears on a name line before the given and surname parts of a name. i.e. (Lt. Cmndr.) Joseph /Allen/ jr. In this example Lt. Cmndr. is considered as the name prefix portion. |
|
Surname prefix | SPFX | X | X | A name piece used as a non-indexing pre-part of a surname. |
|
Given name | GIVN | X | X | A given or earned name used for official identification of a person. |
 |
First communion | FCOM | X | X | A religious rite, the first act of sharing in the Lord's supper as part of church worship.. |
 |
Occupation | OCCU | X | X | The type of work or profession of an individual. |
|
Publication | PUBL | X | X | Refers to when and/or where a work was published or created. |
|
Quality | QUAY | X | X | An assessment of the certainty of the evidence to support the conclusion drawn from evidence. |
 |
Cause | CAUS | X | X | A description of the cause of the associated event or fact, such as the cause of death. |
 |
Census | CENS | X | X | The event of the periodic count of the population for a designated locality, such as a national or state Census. |
 |
Religion | RELI | X | X | A religious denomination to which a person is affiliated or for which a record applies. |
 |
Divorced filed | DIVF | X | X | An event of filing for a divorce by a spouse. |
 |
Retirement | RETI | X | X | An event of exiting an occupational relationship with an employer after a qualifying time period. |
|
Reference | REFN | X | X | A description or number used to identify an item for filing, storage, or other reference purposes. |
|
Relation | RELA | X | X | A relationship value between the indicated contexts. |
 |
Residence | RESI | X | X | An address or place of residence that a family or individual resided. |
|
Role | ROLE | X | X | A name given to a role played by an individual in connection with an event. |
 |
Sex | SEX | X | X | Indicates the sex of an individual--male or female or unknown. |
 |
Source | SOUR | X | X | The initial or original material from which information was obtained. |
|
Name suffix | NSFX | X | X | Text which appears on a name line after or behind the given and surname parts of a name. i.e. Lt. Cmndr. Joseph /Allen/ (jr.) In this example jr. is considered as the name suffix portion. |
|
Nickname | NICK | X | X | A descriptive or familiar that is used instead of, or in addition to, one's proper name. |
|
Phone | PHON | X | X | A unique number assigned to access a specific telephone. |
|
Temple | TEMP | X | X | The name or code that represents the name of an LDS Church Temple. |
 |
Will | WILL | X | X | A legal document treated as an event, by which a person disposes of his or her estate, to take effect after death. The event date is the date the will was signed while the person was alive. |
|
Text | TEXT | X | X | The exact wording found in an original source document. |
|
Title | TITL | X | X | A description of a specific writing or other work, such as the title of a book when used in a source context, or a formal designation used by an individual in connection with positions of royalty or other social status, such as Grand Duke. |
|
Type | TYPE | X | X | A further qualification to the meaning of the associated superior tag. The value does not have any computer processing reliability. It is more in the form of a short one or two word note that should be displayed any time the associated data is displayed. |
 |
Probation | PROB | X | X | An event of judicial determination of the validity of a will. May indicate several related court activities over several dates. |
|
City | CITY | X | X | A lower level jurisdictional unit. Normally an incorporated municipal unit. |
|
Internet web site | WWW | X | World Wide Web home page. |
Other predefined tags
| Tag name |
Tag | 5.5. | 5.5.1. | Description and Usage |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Address1 | ADR1 | X | X | The first line of an address. |
|
Address2 | ADR2 | X | X | The second line of an address. |
|
Address3 | ADR3 | X | The third line of an address. | |
|
Ancestral File Number | AFN | X | X | A unique permanent record file number of an individual record stored in Ancestral File. |
|
Baptême LSD | BAPL | X | X | The event of baptism performed at age eight or later by priesthood authority of the LDS Church. |
|
Call number | CALN | X | X | The number used by a repository to identify the specific items in its collections. |
 |
Confirmation LDS | CONL | X | X | The religious event by which a person receives membership in the LDS Church. |
 |
Caste | CAST | X | X | The name of an individual's rank or status in society which is sometimes based on racial or religious differences, or differences in wealth, inherited rank, profession, occupation, etc. |
|
Adult christining | CHRA | X | X | The religious event (not LDS) of baptising and/or naming an adult person. |
 |
Physical description | DSCR | X | X | The physical characteristics of a person, place, or thing. |
|
Endowment LDS | ENDL | X | X | A religious event where an endowment ordinance for an individual was performed by priesthood authority in an LDS temple. |
|
Media | MEDI | X | X | Identifies information about the media or having to do with the medium in which information is stored. |
|
Phonetic name | FONE |
X | Phonetic variation of the name | |
|
Romanized name | ROMN |
X | Romanized variation of the name | |
 |
Property | PROP | X | X | Pertaining to possessions such as real estate or other property of interest. |
|
Restriction | RESN | X | X | A processing indicator signifying access to information has been denied or otherwise restricted. |
|
Record File Number | RFN | X | X | A permanent number assigned to a record that uniquely identifies it within a known file. |
|
Record Identification Number | RIN | X | X | A number assigned to a record by an originating automated system that can be used by a receiving system to report results pertaining to that record. |
|
Sealing Child | SLGC | X | X | A religious event pertaining to the sealing of a child to his or her parents in an LDS temple ceremony. |
|
Sealing Spouse | SLGS | X | X | A religious event pertaining to the sealing of a husband and wife in an LDS temple ceremony. |
They are in the header of the file, except for HEAD and TRLR. They can be visible when opening your Gedcom file in a simple text editor.
| Tag name |
Tag | 5.5. | 5.5.1. | Description and Usage | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Ancestors | ANCE | X | X | Pertaining to forbearers of an individual. |
|
Character | CHAR | X | X | An indicator of the character set used in writing this automated information. |
|
Concatenation | CONC | X | X | An indicator that additional data belongs to the superior value. The information from the CONC value is to be connected to the value of the superior preceding line without a space and without a carriage return and/or new line character. Values that are split for a CONC tag must always be split at a non-space. If the value is split on a space the space will be lost when concatenation takes place. This is because of the treatment that spaces get as a GEDCOM delimiter, many GEDCOM values are trimmed 85 of trailing spaces and some systems look for the first non-space starting after the tag to determine the beginning of the value (it is handle automatically by Ancestris) |
|
Continuation | CONT | X | X | An indicator that additional data belongs to the superior value. The information from the CONT value is to be connected to the value of the superior preceding line with a carriage return and/or new line character. Leading spaces could be important to the formatting of the resultant text. When importing values from CONT lines the reader should assume only one delimiter character following the CONT tag. Assume that the rest of the leading spaces are to be a part of the value (it is handle automatically by Ancestris) |
|
Copyright | COPR | X | X | A statement that accompanies data to protect it from unlawful duplication and distribution. |
|
Corporate | CORP | X | X | A name of an institution, agency, corporation, or company. |
|
Descent | DESC | X | X | Pertaining to offspring of an individual. |
|
Destination | DEST | X | X | A system receiving data. |
|
Family File | FAMF | X | X | Pertaining to, or the name of, a family file. Names stored in a file that are assigned to a family for doing temple ordinance work. |
|
Information | GEDC | X | X | Information about the use of GEDCOM in a transmission. |
|
Identification | HEAD | X | X | Identifies information pertaining to an entire GEDCOM transmission. |
|
Legatee | LEGA | X | Person receiving a legacy or beneficiary of a testamentary clause. | |
|
Ordinance | ORDI | X | X | Pertaining to a religious ordinance in general. |
|
Submission | SUBN | X | X | Pertains to a collection of data issued for processing. |
|
Time | TIME | X | X | A time value in a 24-hour clock format, including hours, minutes, and optional seconds, separated by a colon (:). Fractions of seconds are shown in decimal notation. |
|
Trailer | TRLR | X | X | At level 0, specifies the end of a GEDCOM transmission. |
|
Version | VERS | X | X | Indicates which version of a product, item, or publication is being used or referenced. |
They are already defined in the previous tables but added here for convenience reading.
| Tag name |
Tag | 5.5 | 5.5.1 | 7 |
Description and Usage | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Daboville | _DABOVILLE | X | X | X |
Special. It is not defined in the Gedcom format. It is used in Ancestris to generate the Daboville numbering for a descending genealogy. |
|
_EMAI | X | Anticipation of the 5.5.1 standard. An electronic mail address. | |||
|
Latitude | _LATI | X |
Anticipation of the 5.5.1 standard. A value indicating a coordinate position on a line, plane, or space. |
||
|
Longitude | _LONG | X | Anticipation of the 5.5.1 standard. A value indicating a coordinate position on a line, plane, or space. | ||
|
Map | _MAP | X | Anticipation of the 5.5.1 standard. Pertains to a representation of measurements usually presented in a graphical form. | ||
|
Phrase | _PHRASE | X |
For Gedcom 7 enumerated fields where PHRASE is not allowed, Ancestris will keep invalid values originating from file conversion or imports into this tag. | ||
|
Private | _PRIV | X | X | X |
Special. RESN is the Gedcom standard tag but cannot apply everywhere. Where RESN is not possible for a property, _PRIV is used in Ancestris to mark the property as private (private data in preferences tools). |
|
Sosa | _SOSA |
X | X | X |
Special. It is not defined in the Gedcom format. It is used in Ancestris to generate the Sosa numbering for a person's ancestors and descendants. |
|
Sosa | _SOSADABOVILLE |
X | X | X |
Special. It is not defined in the Gedcom format. It is used in Ancestris to generate the Sosa d'Aboville numbering for a person's ancestors and descendants. |
|
Time |
_TIME |
X |
X |
Special. It is not defined in the Gedcom format. It is used in Ancestris to store the time of a date where the Gedcom format doesn't allow it. |
|
|
Ignore | _VALID | X | X |
X |
Special. Used to ignore the anomaly related to the parent tag in the GEDCOM verification of anomalies and confirms it is valid. |
|
Internet web site | _WWW | X | Anticipation of the 5.5.1 standard. World Wide Web home page. |
Events
An event is a notable fact in the life of an individual or a family, usually dated and localized.
While some events are necessarily unique (e.g. birth, death, burial), others may occur several times during a lifetime (e.g. marriage, occupation, residence, divorce).
The various types of events
Whether associated to an individual or a family, there are many different events.
A large number of events are predefined in the Gedcom standard and in Ancestris.
When a type of event has not been predefined, it is possible to choose the event "EVEN" which allows you to specify your own.
Predefined events for individuals
- Adoption
- Adult baptism
- Baptism (give a name) (CHR tag)
- Baptism (sacrament) (BAPM tag)
- Bar mitzvah
- Bas mitzvah
- Birth (BIRT tag)
- Blessing
- Burial (BURI tag)
- Caste
- Census
- Confirmation
- Cremation
- Death (DEAT tag)
- Description
- Diploma
- Educational level
- Emigration
- First Communion
- Identity number
- Immigration
- Nationality
- Naturalization
- Number of children
- Number of marriages
- Ordination
- Occupation (OCCU tag)
- Property
- Religion (RELI tag)
- Residence (RESI tag)
- Retirement
- Social Security number
- Title
- Validation
- Will
Predefined events for families
- Cancellation
- Census
- Certificates or authorizations
- Divorced
- Divorce filed
- Engagement
- Marriage (MARR tag)
- Marriage banns (MARB tag)
- Marriage contract (MARC tag)
- Prenuptial marriage contract
Event properties
An event is generally dated and localized. It can have other properties.
Here is a sample of them.
- Date (tag DATE): date the event took place
- Place (tag PLAC): location where the event took place
- Agency (tag AGNC): the institution or individual validating the event
- Cause (tag CAUS): the cause of the event, such as the cause of death.
- Type (tag TYPE): a short description of the type of event
- Sources (tag SOUR): links to source documents
- Notes (tag NOTE): notes or comments about the event
- Multimedia element (tag OBJE): links to multimedia illustrating the event
Dates
The date makes it possible to locate in time any genealogical event: birth, death, marriage, diploma, residence, etc.
In Ancestris, the date can be entered and displayed in different ways because it is set in a given calendar and can be more or less precise.
Enter dates
In Ancestris, date are entered using a specific widget, which is made up of two buttons, one for precision, the other one to specify the calendar, and the three components of a date (month, day and year). Examples :
 |
 |
 |
Relative precision button
The Relative precision button unfolds a mini menu allowing you to indicate whether the date is precise or not, and in that second case, the range.
- Precise Date (default choice): this is a standard date, made up of the month, the day and the year
- Period from/to : this is to express the period of time during which the event has lasted, of was valid, such as a residency in a location.
- Period from : same as above except that there is no end period, the event is still valid today.
- Period To : same as above except that there is no start date. The event was true until the end date.
- Range between/and : this is to express that a short-timed event has taken place somewhere between the dates indicated. For instance, a birth that has happened in the first half of January 1874 could be indicated as
BET 1 JAN 1874 AND 16 JAN 1874. Please note it could also be writtenJAN 1874if it were just somewhere in Januray 1874.
- Range before : same as above except that only the maximum end date is known (the minimum start date is not known).
- Range after : same as above except that only the minimum start date is known (the maximum end date is not known).
- About : It means the date is not exact.
- Calculated : Date is calculated mathematically, for example, from an event date and age.
- Estimated : Date is estimated based on an algorithm using some other event date
- Interpreted : Date is interpreted from knowledge about the associated date phrase specified in the field. This date phrase can be any statement offered as a date when the year is not recognizable to a date parser, but which gives
information about when an event occurred.
Calendar button
The Calendar type button opens a mini-menu allowing you to select one of the four calendars available to express the date. Here is an extract from Wikipedia.
Gregorian : the Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most of the world. It is named after Pope Gregory XIII, who introduced it in October 1582. The Gregorian calendar is the default choice in Ancestris.
To align the calendar in use in England and in North America to that on the European continent, the Gregorian calendar was adopted, and the calendar was advanced by 11 days: Wednesday 2 September 1752 was followed by Thursday 14 September 1752. The year 1752 was a leap year so that it consisted of 355 days (366 days less 11 omitted).
Julian : The Julian calendar, proposed by Julius Caesar in 708 Ab urbe condita (AUC, 'from the founding of the City') (46 BC), was a reform of the Roman calendar. It took effect on 1 January 709 AUC (45 BC), by edict. The Julian calendar was the predominant calendar in the Roman world, most of Europe, and in European settlements in the Americas and elsewhere, until it was gradually replaced by the Gregorian calendar, promulgated in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII. The Julian calendar is still used in parts of the Eastern Orthodox Church and in parts of Oriental Orthodoxy as well as by the Berbers.
Hebrew : the Hebrew calendar also called Jewish calendar is a lunisolar calendar used today predominantly for Jewish religious observances.
Republican : the French Republican calendar also called French Revolutionary calendar, was a calendar created and implemented during the French revolution, and used by the French government for about 12 years from late 1793 to 1805, and for 18 days by the Paris Commune in 1871
When a date is currently entered, any change to the calendar type immediately converts that date to the newly selected calendar.
Please note the republican calendar only accepts conversion for dates between September 22, 1792 and December 31, 1805 as these are the main period during which this calendar was used.
In addition, following the name of the calendar, each line of the mini-menu displays the date currently entered, converted into this calendar, with the same exceptions as mentioned above concerning the line of the republican calendar.
Components of a date
The three constituents of a date - month, day and year - line up horizontally, always in the same order.
- The day is the number of the day in the month
- The month is either the number of the month in the year of the month name
- The year is a number on 4 digits.
- When the Precision button is a period or a range, the three components are obviously supplied twice.
Display
The different dates entered in Gedcom files are likely to be displayed in various reports, windows, and views.
The choice of how dates should be displayed is available in the panel Preferences / Data / General data.
Whatever format is adopted, the order of the three constituents of the date is always day month year in the Gedcom file.
In the Preferences, the Dates drop-down menu shows the following four display formats.
GEDCOM Format - 25 JAN 1970
The Gedcom format is the format used in the Gedcom file: the month is written in capitals, using the first three letters of the month in English.
Short Format - 25 Jan 1970
The Short format displays the month in lowercase starting with a capital letter, written using the first three or four letters of the month in English.
Long Format - 25 January 1970
The Long format also displays the full month word in lowercase with a capital letter.
Number Format - 01/25/1970
The Numbers format displays month, day and year as numbers separated by a slashes (/).
Places
A place is a property indicating a physical location associated with an event, and generally provided with a postal address and capable of receiving geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude).
In the Gedcom standard, a place is defined by the PLAC tag.
Place jurisdictions
The value of a place is presented as address elements separated by commas, such as a postal address.
Example (tag and value):
PLAC Hyde Park,02136,Boston,Suffolk,Massachusetts,New England,USA
These elements of the place are called jurisdictions. A jurisdiction, also called a place criteria, is therefore a constitutive element of a place: the city, the postal code, the region, the country, etc.
In the example above, the jurisdictions are: neighborhood, postal code, city, county, state, region, country.
In the Gedcom standard, the different jurisdictions of a place are organized from left to right, separated by commas, and in increasing order of administrative importance.
The following example, which indicates the jurisdictions in random order, would not be compliant with the Gedcom standard.
PLAC USA,Suffolk,Massachusetts,02136,New England,Hyde Park,Boston
The Gedcom standard allows you to define your own jurisdictions. We can indeed define the parish or neighbourhood level for example, or have two codes within the city: the ZIP or Postal code and the Census units.
How to use the comma
In the Gedcom standard, the comma is the separating element making it possible to distinguish the different jurisdictions of a place.
If one of the jurisdictions of a place is unknown, an empty space will be left to materialize this jurisdiction.
For example, in the absence of neighbourhood and ZIP code, the place of Boston mentioned above would take the following form:
PLAC ,,Boston,Suffolk,Massachusetts,New England,USA
The initial two successive commas indicate the locations of the two unspecified jurisdictions (neighbourhood and ZIP code).
For a good understanding when reading a place, it is therefore essential to respect the location of the commas, and obviously not to use a comma within a jurisdiction.
Please note that the Gedcom file does not accept any blanks on either side of these commas.
- For example, the city of New York keeps its white space between New and York, but no other space character can be added before of after the name.
- To facilitate reading, the various views of Ancestris (in particular the editors) can display spaces after the commas. These spaces are not saved in the Gedcom file.
Place formatting
All places of the same genealogy must be described according to the same jurisdictions and in the same order.
This is the place format of the Gedcom file.
This format is indicated inside the Gedcom file, for all places in the genealogy, in the header of the Gedcom file.
These are the following lines of the header (HEAD) of the Gedcom file that will indicate this correspondence
1 PLAC
2 FORM neighbourhood, postal code, city, county, state, region, country
This format is optional in the header but in terms of consistency and data quality we strongly recommend using it.
For a genealogy covering several countries, you therefore need a generic format that is extensive enough to allow the places of all the countries considered to be referenced under the same format.
Changing place formatting
The Modification of place criteria window allows to add or remove a type of jurisdiction in the format of the location, and also to modify the order of the different types of jurisdictions, for all locations and all the entities of the genealogy file. This window is accessible from the File / Properties menu.
Changing the format of places is also possible from the Gedcom editor: right-click on a PLAC line, then Context menu, then Set places criteria menu item.
To enter a location, you must rank the different jurisdictions in ascending order of importance, separating each level with a comma.
If a jurisdiction is not entered, the comma must be kept.
Entering a place
Principle
If in the Preferences you have chosen the presentation Split jurisdictions to edit in Gedcom editor, you do not have to worry about the explanations which follow, you will enter the jurisdictions separately, that is to say, level by level .
Otherwise, you must enter your locations globally, that is, as a serie of jurisdictions separated by commas.
For example, if the format is neighbourhood, postal code, city, county, state, region, country, for an event located at Hyde Park in Boston, ZIP Code 02136, state of Massachusetts, in the USA, you should enter:
Hyde Park,02136,Boston,,Massachusetts,,USA
- Nothing should follow the country name.
- If a jurisdiction is unknown, a comma is repeated, even if it stands at the beginning of a line.
- If only Boston is known, in the USA, then we would write:
,,Boston,,,,USA
The principle is easy:
- From the smallest to the largest jurisdictions
- All jurisdictions are separated by a comma, even if left empty
Auto-completion of place jurisdictions
While entering a place name, a drop-down menu will open offering you already known places with the same string of characters inside the name. Just click the suggested line and press OK to select.
If you have chosen to display separate jurisdictions in the Preferences, this feature also exists, but line by line.
Change all places in one single change
If you notice that from the beginning, you made a typing error on a place, or if the same place was registered in different ways, you may want to make a change of all the erroneous places in one single change without having to go back in each of them to correct them.
This can be done using the Gedcom editor, or using the List of places or the Table of places.
Shared Information
Some pieces of information collated in a genealogy can either be specific to an individual, or shared by several individuals or several families of that genealogy.
A genealogy contains a lot of information, you will necessarily want to be able to reuse most of it.
If you want to reuse information, we strongly recommend that you initially store it in an entity rather than in a property.
This is the case for all Notes, all Sources, all Repositories, and all Multimedia Elements.
These Entities are defined here in the dedicated Entities.
Other information in Ancestris can be reused in a transparent way for you: these are places, occupations, types of events, diplomas, etc., and more generally all the short labels which describe events.
Principle
The principle, before creating any information in Ancestris, is to ask yourself whether this information is likely to be used again or not for other individuals.
Creation of shared information
If the information is likely to be reused:
- first create it as a new entity as such
- then link it from the other entity that will use it
In certain cases, the choice of shared information is obvious, such as repositories for instance.
In other cases, this choice is more subtle, such as Sources and Notes.
Entities using shared information
Another benefit of using shared entities is when you want to know all the entities in your genealogy that use a given information. You can know so by selecting the shared entity. The list of entities that use it appears in a list attached to this shared entity.
Conversely, it is a way to know if a shared entity is still being used at all.
Examples
Case of repositories
During your genealogical research, you will probably collect several documents originating from the same location.
To store all this information, you will create this location as a single repository, indicating its description, address, contact details, etc.
Then all the extracted documents will be your sources. Each of these sources will indicate the same repository.
This repository can also be a regional archive, a town hall, a website, a cemetery for instance.
Example of three sources from the same repository:
Case of a family certificate
If you discover a family certificate in which are indicated 3 children, and that in addition you write a note explaining your research story, you will have a diagram which could look like this:
The 3 individuals represent the siblings. Their births are sourced from the family certificate, which itself is sourced from a repository.
And your note comes in to support your research or observations about the 3 births.
You will notice in the diagram above that the source relates to the birth events of individuals, and not the individuals directly, which is more precise.
I assumed in the example that your note only spoke about the births of individuals. If it talked about their lives more broadly, you should probably link your note to the individuals rather than just to their birth.
Case of a note
On the other hand, a note which comments on specific circumstances relating only to one single individual in particular should preferably be entered as an individual note and not generate the creation of a dedicated Note entity.
This is the case, for example, for details of a birth (the height and weight of the child, the fact that the person was born at his parents' home, etc.). These details will only ever relate to the birth of the individual considered and it is more efficient to enter this information directly at the birth level as an individual note.
Case of a place
The first time a place is created, it appears in the event where it is used first. Ancestris does not allow you to put it in a Place entity, even if you think you might need to reuse it later. This is because the Gedcom standard did not define places as entities.
This is not a problem, Ancestris manages the repository of places for you and considers that each place can be reused.
However, you must be careful when you create a place: it is up to you to check if it does not already exist, in order to avoid creating a duplicate. A duplicate on a place is not annoying as such, but it becomes so when, for example, you correct one of the two while thinking of correcting them all.
To avoid generating a duplicate when entering a place, Ancestris automatically suggests all the places found in your genealogy that include the text being entered.
Also, thanks to the List of places view, it is possible to merge places that have been entered twice by mistake.
Steps
Creation
The creation of Notes, Sources, Repositories, and Multimedia Elements is done either via the Context Menu of Ancestris, or via the menu bar, or automatically from the Cygnus editor or manually from the Aries editor.
The creation of places is done by entering a place directly in the editors, or in the Places editor.
Link
The link to an existing Note, Source, Repository, or Multimedia Elements is done via the Context Menu of Ancestris or via the Editors.
The link to an existing place is done as when it was created: when entering a place directly in the editors, or in the Places editor.
Usage
To find out the list of entities using a particular Note, Source, Repository or Multimedia Element, all you have to do is select it from the table of entities for example, and view it in the Gedcom Editor.
You will then see all the entities using this information as linked properties.
Here is an example of source S5 that we have selected in the table of entities. If we look at the Gedcom Editor, we see the following:
This source S5 is used by four other entities of the genealogy: the note N2 on the assassination by Ravaillac, the name of the individual I29 Robert Capet, the death of Louis IX, and the name of Marguerite de Provence.
In the case of a Place, the easiest way to find out in which events it is used, is to go to the List of Places and select it. Events are listed by expanding the flap in the list. See the List of Places for more details.
B-A BA
There is an educational B-A-BA on shared information in PDF format. It is written in French.
It corresponds to version 9 of Ancestris but most of it is still relevant.
It tells you in detail how to create and use each of the shared entities presented above.
You can download it here.
Quality control
In order to be able to navigate your genealogy or in order to transmit this lifelong effort amount of information, it is necessary to remain consistent in the way you write similar types of information.
The Gedcom standard is a strong reference for this and suggests an extensive way to structure and specify your information.
Even staying within the standard, there are sometimes various possibilities to enter locations, notes, sources, events, media, etc. You may therefore want to control the quality of your data to make sure is it consistent.
We have identified several types of controls you can make:
- Gedcom compliance. Example : only one birth is possible for an individual, a tag is undefined, a date cannot be empty, etc.
- Genealogical data consistency : invalid date, persons buried before their death, age difference between spouse too long, person too young to have a child, etc.
- Places non in line with the place format
- Multimedia object not found on disk
Ancestris provides a way to know if the information entered is consistent with the standard, consistent with each other, or aligned with a format.
To identify most of the anomalies listed above, you may go to Menu / Tools / Validate Gedcom compliance and data consistency.
To rectify places and multimedia elements, you have File / Properties.