Genealogy Software Comparison, Part 3c: Citing a Census Source – LFT

In preparation for delivering some help sessions at my local genealogical society, I am working to become proficient in three genealogy applications:  Family Tree Maker (FTM), RootsMagic  (RM) and Legacy Family Tree (LFT).  I will be using various features of each package and blogging about my experiences.  The “Part 3” posts will look at adding a source citation for a census record.  I will use RM in Part 3a; FTM in Part 3b; and LFT in Part 3c.  If you’d like to start at the beginning, the first post in the series is:  Genealogy Software Comparison.

In Legacy Family Tree, I went to the Individual’s Information for my Grandma Ida and clicked next to the item I wanted to source (e.g. the date next to the “Born” label).  Then I click the Source icon.  It looks like three books standing up (circled in green below).

This brings up the “Assigned Sources” for this individual.  From here, I clicked on the “Add a New Source” button.

Assigned Sources

I was brought to the “Add a New Master Source” screen, Step 1 within the SourceWriter wizard.  From here I chose “Census records” as the type of source.  I was prompted for country, type of census record, the year of the census and the medium.

Add New Master Source

I next went to Step 2 of the SourceWirter.  I filled in the Source List Name.  As the comment indicates, this is the name that will appear in the master list of sources.  It does not appear in the citation itself.  It should be descriptive and meaningful to the user.  After all, the user will need it in the future as a clue fo<4>r which master source to select.  I then filled in the remaining fields with the appropriate information.

Fill in Master Source information

Note that there is an “Output Preview” on the right hand side of this screen.  There are three flavors of citation: Footnote/Endnote, Subsequent and Bibliography (or Source List).  The preview allows the user to see the citations as they are built.  There are additional tabs on this screen to allow one to add comments, repository information, attach an image or to override or customize the Bibliography entry.

I saved this Master Source entry and moved to Step 3, Add the Source Detail.  On this screen, I entered the information in each of the individual fields.  After entering the Dwelling number, I needed to scroll down in order to enter Family Number, ID of Person and Date Accessed.  This is a minor inconvenience at best and results in an incomplete citation if the user fails to notice the scroll bar.  (I missed it my first time through this process.)

Enter Source DetailI saved this citation and was returned to the Individual’s Information screen for Grandma Ida.  The blue text on the label “Born” indicates that there is a source for this information.

The resulting citation is very close to that prescribed in Evidence Explained.  Page number is after sheet number instead of the other way around.  The words “enumeration district” are not capitalized.  The Oct/October difference is due to my data entry.  Garbage in / Garbage out!

LFT:  1920 U.S. census, Hamilton Co., Ohio, population schedule, Cincinnati, Ward 9, enumeration district (ED) 163, sheet 4A, p. 232 (stamped), dwelling 51, family 83, Ida T. Ulrich; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 1 Oct 2012); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T625, roll 1390.

EE: 1920 U.S. census, Hamilton County, Ohio, population schedule, Cincinnati, Ward 9, Enumeration District (ED) 163, p. 232 (stamped), sheet 4A, dwelling 51, family 83, Ida T. Ulrich; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 1 October 2012); citing National Archives microfilm publication T625, roll 1390.

[1] Elizabeth Shown Mills, Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2007), 240.

2 thoughts on “Genealogy Software Comparison, Part 3c: Citing a Census Source – LFT

  1. Have you considered a book? I am making my own book. Thanks you for all the info. This is great. FYI check the spelling on the header of 2B
    Diane

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