Adding a link to an unrelated person

[Ed McKie]

Neither of the two programmes I use will allow me to link an unrelated person to another. Or perhaps, more accurately I cant find a way.
Does anyone know? To explain my wife's grandmother had in her possession a Silver War Badge issued to a WW1 soldier with the same surname as herself. they had to have been related, but in the absence of his service records, I cant prove who he is. I come back to this problem from time to time (I have had the badge for several years and it sits on my desk). What I want to do is to link him to Nan and keep the notes of my research there. Why, because I start all over again every time. Not too much to ask in this computerised age, is it?

cheers Ed

[Peter Goodey]

In the system I use (sadly lo longer supported) you could set up a custom event called "mysterious artefact" and link the soldier in as being involved.

What do your census entries look like? Mine contain plenty of unrelated people (landlord, lodger etc). Likewise marriage entries surely have to accommodate unrelated witnesses.

[warncoort]

Some systems will allow you to add to a person with the same surname,then remove the relationship of the new person.

[Lesley Robertson]

I have FTM, and use the notes section on the related person's personal page. It has the advantage of keeping the unrelated person off the index...

[emmteeyess]

Neither of the two programmes I use will allow me to link an unrelated person to another. Or perhaps, more accurately I cant find a way.
cheers Ed

What programmes are you using?

We might be able to point you in the right direction if we've had experience of them, or offer more specific options to try.

Some systems will allow you to add to a person with the same surname,then remove the relationship of the new person.

eg Ancestry does - you can create a stand alone entry for him.

I have FTM, and use the notes section on the related person's personal page. It has the advantage of keeping the unrelated person off the index...

Again, Ancestry has notes and comments fields against a person's entries



Cheers, MTS

[Megan Roberts]

In Family Tree Maker you could add the person as a "spouse" then go the "relationship" box which allows you to select from a drop selection one of the following:

Spouse
Partner
Friend
Single
Other
Private
Unknown

It wouldn't totally answer the problem because it still show the person as a spouse in the layout boxes.

[Ed McKie]

Peter, when you and I started then we did not have the facility of having pictures of censuses. Had to copy out the details and then put the information into the programmes.
So I used the notes section and just said" on 1851 census at" .etc. And then "also living in the house was......." but I didnt add the other people into tree because there was no where to put them.

[Ed McKie]

I use Legacy and Brothers Keeper, also have a tree on Ancestry.
None of these will allow what I want to do. And yet it seems so simple to me that if I had the necessary programming skills I am sure ti could be achieved. After all of these are just databases and it should be possible to have an entry which links to another without being in the straightjacket of a specific relationship. Ancestry tells you that it can be done by creating a relationship but then deleting it and lleaving the other person as a standalone not connected to anyone.

Oh well..... Thanks for all the comments.

cheers Ed

[arthurk]

I think something like what you're asking for might be possible in Family Historian, using what's termed Associated Persons.

There's a recent thread on the Family Historian Users Group forum about this - https://www.
fhug.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=15065&p=79318

It gets a bit technical in places, covering GEDCOM standards and fairly advanced FH queries and reporting, and the optional Ancestral Sources program, but even if you don't follow that part, I think you may get something from it.

The discussion includes the distinction between Associated Persons and Witnesses, which are less well-supported in GEDCOM (or not at all). However, although I use Family Historian, I don't use Associated Persons or Witnesses, so I can't really comment on how well it works.

[Ed McKie]

Thanks for that. I have never looked at Family historian but will do so now.

Cheers. Ed