Welcome to Allen Mellen's TMG example page 2: Finding cousins, etc.

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And we are his sisters and his cousins and his aunts --
His sisters and his cousins whom he reckons up by dizens and his aunts.
-- W. S. Gilbert, HMS Pinafore,1876.

Sometimes you can't see the trees for the forest. For example, my database includes many of the "original" settlers of a few townships in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. My great grandfather Goodrich's four grandparents lived within 10 or 15 miles of his birthplace, and three of them were born in that place. Six of his great grandparents lived there and one set of great great grandparents settled there also. So I have entered a great deal of data from that place, some of whom later turn out to be related in ways I didn't expect to find at first.
I have a similar situation in Albany County, New York, and in Wethersfield and Stonington, Connecticut.

In order to keep track of the web of relationships, I built upon the Related_By flag described on page 188 of the manual. At present I have these flag values:
?, A for Ancestor, U for Uncles and aunts or any degree, C for Cousins of any degree, S for the unrelated spouses of any of the preceding, P for parents of the spouses, G for grandparents and up of the spouses, H for other unrelated Husbands and wives of the spouses (I believe I would use a different code if I had polygamous marriages), and K (for kissing cousins) for any unrelated descendants of the P, G, S, or H people.. In addition I have codes I for I myself, B for my Brothers and sisters, D for my Descendants and N for my Nieces and Nephews.

Actually, I have more than one Related_By flag. There is one for me and another for my stepdaughter. I can visualize using a version of the tag for other people also.

Setting the flag

In fact, setting the flag is almost easier than describing it. Here's how it works.

First, I have defined two temporary flags — Interim and Interim2. Each has values of NY (N is the default.) You could use one temporary flag, or more than two. You will see that TMG will not allow you to name a flag "TEMP".

Finding ancestors.

Finding ancestors is easy. Just run a List of People with Secondary Output set to Change Flag and select the Related_By flag. Set it to change to A.

The filter

The filter for ancestors is one clause:
Is an ancestor of Person # [?] END

The primary output

To assure yourself the filtersare working, you might want to choose the following columns for output:
ID number
Name
Related_by Flag

Remember that the flag is not changed until after the list is produced.

Finding Aunts and Uncles

It takes two steps to find aunts and uncles. The method given here sets the flag to U for me and my brothers and sisters also. This can be changed later in the process.

STEP ONE

The flag

Set the Interim flag to Y

The filter

Related_by flag Equals A END And then add their ....
Descendants for 1 generation

STEP TWO

The flag

Change the Related_by flag to U

The filter

Interim flag Equals Y AND
Related_by flag Does not Equal A END
Be sure to UNCHECK add Descendants

The list

You may wish to include the Interim flag on the output.

And now for the COUSINS

There are several ways to do this. I like this one, because it treats all cousins equally, including me and my children.

Step One Flag

Set the Interim2 flag to Y

Step One Filter

Related_by Flag Equals A END
Then add their .... Descendants for 250 generations

Step Two Flag

Change the Related_by flag to C

Step Two Filter

Interim2 flag Equals Y AND Interim flag Does Not Equal Y END Be sure to UNCHECK add Descendants

This works because the Interim flag is at present set to Y for people who are either Ancestors or Aunts and Uncles. All other descendants of your ancestors are cousins. (As noted above, for the present I'm treatting the descendants of my parents the same as our cousins.)

Another part of the forest

Resetting the interim flag

There are two ways to reset the interim flags. One way is to exit the CRW, delete the flags, then add them again. This way is probably the fastest when you have more than one flag to reset.
I have, however, made a report to reset flags — the output is ID# only, the focus is All People amd the Secondary Output resets the selected flag to N.

The Unrelated Spouses

Step One

Reset the Interim flag to N. Leave the Interim2 flag as previously set. It is set to Y for you and your actual relatives (not spouse or inlaws).

Step Two

Set the (previously reset) Interim flag to Y for the Focus filter:
Interim2 flag Equals Y END
And then add their Spouses

Interim is now Y for Relatives and Spouses, Interim2 is now Y for Relatives only.

Step Two

Change the Related_by flag to S for the Focus filter:
Interim flag Equals Y AND Interim2 flag Equals N END Be sure to UNCHECK add Spouses.

The Spouses's other husbands or wives

  1. Reset Interim2 OR Make a new flag — Interim3
  2. Set Interim2 or Interim3 for focus Related_by Equals S
    And then add their Spouses
  3. Change Related_by flag to H for focus Interim2 (or 3) Equals S AND
    Interim Equals N
    Remember to uncheck Add spouses

TO BE COMPLETED

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