Question Maintaining IDs from an existing hardcopy family tree

I am creating a webtrees site to contain family info currently in a large hardcopy book. I already have a fair bit of data in a private program and database from which I can export a Gedcom file which webtrees happily accepts. All good so far.

In the hardcopy book, every person has been given a unique code that is very useful for examining and navigating the book. An example code is 'B31': 1st child of 3rd child of individual with code 'B'. When I create the Gedcom file and import it into my webtrees site I would like to bring these codes across, and hopefully have them show up when a person is viewed.

Firstly: what is a suitable Gedcom tag/method to encode such data for each individual?

Secondly: does webtrees permit/support such a datum per individual? Where would it be shown?


Thanks in advance for any help.

for gedcom and/or webtrees it is not necessary to have such pointing.
you can create a tag of your own and maintain the content by hand. (I think, that is not what you want to do. It is work for trash.)

perhaps you can use the SOSA. There is a custom module for that.

I know it is not 'necessary' to have this feature, but it is something that I think would be helpful for the people who will be using the website. Some of them have a copy of the printed book, and if they can see the same code on the website as is printed in the book, it will be very helpful for them. I certainly don't want to invent a Gedcom tag 'of my own' if there is a correct existing way to do it.

Regards.

I do not think so.
a name and a date will be sufficiant to identify.

What is 'SOSA'?

Why not use the unique identifier tag

That looks promising.

There is also the IDNO field. This might work.

Note: note all individuals have the code I am talking about. Only direct descendants of the patriarch have a code, so, for examples spouses of descendants don't have a code.

I would simply add the book ID as a suffix to their name.

 

This would mean it's seen on the page of that person and a search using the ID e.g. 'B31' will easily find them.
 

Thanks. Interesting idea.

I have several published books that contain information about individuals in my family tree.  I’ve also obtained some unpublished histories from the area my family came from in Norway and my wife’s family in the USA.  Each of these sources have their own numbering systems for the individuals contained in the source.

On top of that I’ve numbered the individuals with my own numbering system so that each individual (and family) can have a unique number that can be used externally for documents in my paper filling system.

All of these numbers are entered into the GEDCOM as INDI.REFN values, with a INDI.REFN.TYPE code that indicates where each number comes from.  For example:

1 REFN LFD_1-5-3-3-3
2 TYPE Ludwig Fender Descendants

Where, the reference number (REFN) is a combination of unique prefix for the source material (LFD) followed by the number issued by the source material for that particular individual.  The TYPE tag references the actual name of source material.

This provides me with a quick way to find the individual again in the source material and can be easily printed in a report under the name of the individual.  This works better for me over referencing the source in a citation that could be at the bottom of the written page or at the end of my final book.  The down side is that I must do this data entry by hand and I’m required to be very particular about the accuracy!

 

IDNO is really designed for official identity numbers, such as social-security numbers.

REFN is probably the one you want.

You will see it displayed in the "Extra information" sidebar on the right.

Thank you Ken, that is just what I need.

One more question, if I import a GEDCOM INDI record containing, for example,

1 REFN LFD_1-5-3-3-3
2 TYPE Ludwig Fender Descendants

then will this show up in the webtrees website for that individual. Where and how will it show?
I would like it to show in a prominent position so a casual user sees it as soon as they view they individual's entry.

Regards,
Colin

By default, REFN is shown in the "Additional information" section of the sidebar to the right of the screen.

If you disable this module, it will be shown in the "Facts and events" tab, along with birth, marriage, death, etc.

Marky wrote:

I would simply add the book ID as a suffix to their name.

 

This would mean it's seen on the page of that person and a search using the ID e.g. 'B31' will easily find them.


 

I tried this, added B9 name suffix to an individual, but name still displays without (B9).
(I can't find function to add a screenshot to this post    )
 

Did you put the (B9) in the NAME tag or just the NSFX tag?

norwegian_sardines wrote:

Did you put the (B9) in the NAME tag or just the NSFX tag?

look at the screenshot.
must be both.
and preferable the first name tag

Franz Frese wrote:

norwegian_sardines wrote:

Did you put the (B9) in the NAME tag or just the NSFX tag?

look at the screenshot.
must be both.
and preferable the first name tag

Franz, Just to be clear, you are responding to carlocol, not me!

Carlocal, Actually, if you want to do the “marky” concept rather than the better use of REFN as I suggested I would only put the (B9) in the GEDCOM NAME tag like this:

1 NAME John /Doe/ (B9)
2 GIVN John
2 SURN Doe

The REFN suggestion would look like this!
1 NAME John /Doe/
2 GIVN John
2 SURN Doe
1 REFN B9
2 TYPE The Book of Doe

Have a look at 
dfrese.de/webtrees/tree/ahnen/individual...26/Betty-McMyers-B31

You can login with user Edit, pw EditEdit to see the raw gedcom

Hi Ken,
I tried editing the GEDCOM (Edit the raw GEDCOM) following your example:
1 NAME Alexander /Mackay/
2 GIVN Alexander
2 SURN Mackay
1 REFN B92

However webtrees wouldn't accept the update - I can't post a screenshot here, but the entry widget showed a red border, but no error message.

I can't see any other way to edit 'REFN' other than through the Raw GEDCOM option.

You can only add one fact at a time in the Raw GEDCOM.

To add REFN to an individual you must go to the Control Panel->Your Tree->Preferences and ad “Reference Number to the list of Facts for Individuals then you can add it like any other fact!  Save your change.