Where in Gramps is the best place to context? I am referring to something that is a paragraph or a paragraph with source citations at the end, or a “fat paragraph” (just a longer than normal paragraph).
For example, if a person is identified as a Palatine Migrant and you want to include some description of what the Palatine Migration was, or what and where was The Palatinate, or what/where was the Holy Roman Empire, where does that type of information go?
Do you put it:
- As a general note on a person
- As a note on a place. I don’t know if it would show up in any report. Maybe it does.
- In a PDF linked to a source citation?
- In a PDF linked at the personal level?
I realize, as with many things in Gramps, this might be just a matter of personal preference, but those that have used Gramps for a long time might have more educated preferences than I do as a user of just a few months.
For your example, I would be inclined to add the note in an Emigration event especially if there was a collective emigration from one localized place to another localized place over a not too long time span. Then the event could be shared to the records of appropriate people.
One example that popped into my mind was the Irish Potato Famine which triggered a major migration out of Ireland. Even though a specific person may have identifiable personal emigration and immigration events, they can share the Potato Famine emigration event that could explain the background history.
@DaveSch , that is a great suggestion for my example.
But what do you do about contextual information in general?
Another example, the census records for some of relatives show they lived in Washington County, Tennessee and later in Unicoi County, Tennessee. I suspect they didn’t move because Unicoi County was created in the intervening period and included the area where they were living in the earlier census for Washington County. For context, I would like to include somewhere the year that Unicoi County area created and the counties it was carved out of. Where’s the best place to note that?
Are you saying that they lived in the same spot but the spot changed to a new county when the border changed? This is handled within the location’s place record.
In my example, when Woodstock, Connecticut was created it was part of the Massachusetts colony. Then on 15 Mar 1690, Suffolk County in Massachusetts was expand taking in Woodstock. On 10 Jul 1731, Worcester County, Massachusetts was given domain over the area which included Woodstock. On 30 Apr 1749, Connecticut took control over the area and Woodstock became a part of Windham County.
Each location can have multiple Enclosed by records that create a date path through the hierarchy that displays the correct name for the spot based upon the date of the event. Each place record can have their own set of Enclosed by records.
Additionally, each location can change its name. In the Woodstock example, it was originally named “New Roxbury” changing to Woodstock in 1690. And again, each record in the enclosed by hierarchy can have name changes.
Take note that there is a link under the place record’s Internet tab. I always add the place record’s Wikipedia page here as well as any other relevant link about the location.
Each event was created using the same place record.
My post about the place hierarchy and naming failed to mention that some reports will include the Source/Citation and their notes attached to a place record. My main text report, the Complete Individual does this. You may have to test it in your most used reports. My other most used report is the Narrated Web which displays everything.
A resource for within Gramps is the Historical Context addon. Run it in the sidebar of a People list or Relationships view and it can display world and local events during a person’s lifespan. You will probably need to add the events to the custom_v1_0.txt file or create similar files for the areas and events that interest you.
Thanks. I have not tried that plugin.
Thanks for such a detailed response. I did not know about doing it this case. In my case, I’m not if they moved or not, but my guess they did not move, just a new county was created. I mainly use the “complete report” as well so this is helpful.
