Problems showing family on Genealogy Program

[Pat]

Hi all,
I would love to know how other people show mixed up families on their programs.
I have one lady who has children with her first husband.  She leaves this man and lives in a de-facto relationship where she has another 7 children. When this man dies she has at least one more child which is registered under the name of the de-facto although it could not be his.  She later marries again under the name of the first husband, so I am assuming he must have died.  Now there are children coming to light who are born under her maiden name..  I use the PAF file program and am at a loss as to how to show all of this.
Cheers,
Pat

[Guy Etchells]

The first thing I would suggest is to change your software program Personal Ancestral File (PAF) was created in 1984 and updated until 2002 it was finally discontinued in mid 2013.
A lot has changed since then and a current program will certainly help you organise your research better. Hopefully you are using one of the later generations of PAF which has Gedcom allowing you to migrate your research “easily”.

Most programs will allow you to add additional spouses and partners to individuals, then it is simple a matter of ensuring you have the correct partners showing before you add the relevant child to that couple.
I prefer Brothers Keeper, but genealogy software is really a personal choice what suits one person's way of working does not always suit another's way of working.
Many programs such as Brothers Keeper are shareware allowing you to download and try it out before committing to buying it, I would download a few and try them for yourself.
There are also many other programs which you may like but in those cases you have to commit to buying the program and hope it suits you.
Cheers
Guy

[Pat]

Hi Guy,
Thank you for such a fast answer.
Yes, I realise I could change programs, but I find this one so easy to use.  I just wondered what other people did about this problem. e.g. do they put de-facto in the marriage space or just leave it blank.
There is also the problem of her having children under the name of her de-facto too long after he died for it to be his.
Cheers
Pat.
 

[a chesters]

I use Legacy 7, and it very easy to add spouses to a person. It also has a section to say if the pair married or not.

One of my ancestors married 4 times, and it is no problem to add children to the main parent, and limiting them to the parent who is concerned with them.

AC

[GrahamH]

Like Guy, my program of choice is Brothers Keeper. I have been using it since the DOS days of 1994/5. It is as easy to use as PAF, if not easier, so well worth having a go with the shareware version.
If you add a child to an unmarried person the program will automatically generate a spouse of (not entered), which can be updated later if required.
For the father of the child which is registered under the name of the de-facto although it could not be his I would add a spouse of Unknown (or something similar). BK has note space which is easy to use for explanations of unusual situations.

[KGarrad]

Enter the first set of children under the lady and her first husband; enter the marriage details.

For the second set of children, enter them under the lady and her "de-facto" spouse (NB Not husband!). No marriage to enter.

In all the genealogy programs I have seen, "spouse" does not have the same meaning as "husband".

[Pat]

Thank you AC for your info.  I appreciate your help
Cheers
Pat

I use Legacy 7, and it very easy to add spouses to a person. It also has a section to say if the pair married or not.

One of my ancestors married 4 times, and it is no problem to add children to the main parent, and limiting them to the parent who is concerned with them.

AC

[Pat]

Thank you for the info Graham,  I t may be time I have a look at another program.
Cheers
Pat

Like Guy, my program of choice is Brothers Keeper. I have been using it since the DOS days of 1994/5. It is as easy to use as PAF, if not easier, so well worth having a go with the shareware version.
If you add a child to an unmarried person the program will automatically generate a spouse of (not entered), which can be updated later if required.
For the father of the child which is registered under the name of the de-facto although it could not be his I would add a spouse of Unknown (or something similar). BK has note space which is easy to use for explanations of unusual situations.

[Pat]

Hi,
Thank you for the info.  I am sure I shall be able to sort something out with all of these suggestions.
Cheers,
Pat

Enter the first set of children under the lady and her first husband; enter the marriage details.

For the second set of children, enter them under the lady and her "de-facto" spouse (NB Not husband!). No marriage to enter.

In all the genealogy programs I have seen, "spouse" does not have the same meaning as "husband".