XPost: alt.genealogy   
   From: G6JPG@255soft.uk   
      
   On 2026/2/8 9:19:17, john wrote:   
   > On 06/02/2026 22:59, J. P. Gilliver wrote:   
      
   []   
      
   >> FWIW I record such events, if in plain text, as e. g. 1960Q2; in the   
   >> software I use (Brother's Keeper), which doesn't "know about" quarters,   
   >> I enter just the year, with Q2 in the comment field for that event.   
   >   
   >  From an AI query for: "how should BMD dates, where the only reference   
   > is the entry occurring in a year quarter, be entered"   
   >   
   > For civil registration BMD events where you only know the registration   
   > quarter (e.g. UK GRO index entries), treat the “date” as an imprecise   
   > range, not a specific day.   
      
   Definitely. (Yes, I have seen people use the first - or last - day of   
   the quarter. IMO that's a Bad Idea, as it can be later taken to indicate   
   that the date is known precisely.)   
   >   
   > How to record the date   
   > Common, standards‑compatible options are:   
   >   
   > Use a quarter code as a date phrase, e.g. Q1 1883, Q2 1901, etc.; many   
      
   I'd probably seen that somewhere.   
      
   > genealogy programs and GEDCOM readers accept this and internally treat   
   > it as a range for Jan–Mar, Apr–Jun, Jul–Sep, or Oct–Dec respectively.   
      
   (Unfortunately, AFAIK at least, Brother's Keeper isn't one of them.)   
      
   >   
   > Use an explicit “between … and …” range, e.g. BET JAN 1883 AND MAR   
   1883   
   > for a Q1 registration; this is the official GEDCOM style and is widely   
   > understood by software and websites.   
      
   Indeed; it's just tedious! (Same applies to other such ranges; if   
   someone is recorded as age X in a census, then we know they were born   
   BET the date X+1 years less a day before census date and X years before   
   it, but it's a faff!)   
      
   >   
   > In all cases, remember the quarter refers to the registration date   
   > range, not necessarily the actual date of birth, marriage, or death, so   
   > do not invent a specific day or even a specific month unless you have   
   > further evidence.   
      
   Indeed. So events recorded in Q1 may well have happened in the previous   
   year (especially given any Christmas/New Year closedown). and - although   
   penalties for late registration were eventually introduced in some   
   circumstances - there's little checking that this didn't happen, in fact   
   may even encouraged incorrect registration.   
      
   >   
   > -------------   
   >   
   > It all depends on the program you use.   
   >   
   > I still use TMG (and see no reason to move to another program) which   
      
   I use Brother's Keeper (and the thought of changing gives me ...) ...   
      
   > does a lot to ensure correct dates and sorting and GEDCOM exports   
      
   ... which does some checking - both of format at time of entry, and (if   
   triggered) for illogical dates (e. g. birth/baptism/death/burial being   
   in the wrong order, or too old/young motherhood, or excessive age). I   
   presume any genealogy software worth its salt has some checking, both of   
   format and logic.   
      
   []   
      
   > Date within 20 years plus or minus:   
   > circa date   
   > cir date   
   > c date   
   > about date   
   > abt date   
      
   BK accepts CIR and ABT, though I don't think a figure of 20 is involved   
   anywhere. It also accepts unknown digits - for example, I use ddmmyyyy   
   (for entry - it displays them as d Mmm yyyy; it can use about ten   
   formats of entry/display to suit preferences, including the US variant),   
   and for example I can enter 2_041960 if I only know it was the   
   twenty-somethingth, or even _3041960 if only the second digit can be   
   made out in the source document. (For cases where there is a -1/+0   
   uncertainty in the year [such as birth year from age on census or at   
   marriage], I could enter e. g. 196_, though I tend to say CIR 1961 in   
   those cases, as I then know it means either the given year or th one   
   before.)   
   []   
      
   > One date or another date:   
   > date|date   
   > date or date   
      
   That one would be useful.   
   >   
   >  From one date to another date:   
   > from date to date   
   > date to date   
      
   BK has something similar - it can take two dates, but can record whether   
   it's "starting date and ending date" (e. g. occupation, resided) or   
   "event happened somewhere between dates" (e. g. birth, qualification).   
   >   
   > I enter quarter dates as e.g. Jan-Mar 1899 and my TMG preferences   
   > changes them to Jan 1899 - Mar 1899 and uses that for the sort field   
      
   Sounds good.   
   >   
   > --------------------   
   >   
   > I started using Brother's Keeper in 1990 (or possibly earlier).   
   > Unfortunately I think that original DOS BK must have lacked any proper   
   > reference fields and all the source etc. information ended up in the   
   > comments field. So when I converted the 2000+ records I then had in BK   
      
   The current (v7) has reasonable source, comment, and witness fields per   
   event.   
      
   > when I switched to TMG in 2004 I ended up with source reference and   
   > related data in the TMG memo field. I've never sorted them out. I'm   
   > beginning to wonder whether ChatGPT AI could create a PYTHON program to   
   > tackle a GEDCOM export from my TMG and at least extract some source data   
   > and duplicate it in the correct reference fields?   
   >   
   Interesting thought! Do tell here if you try anything, and how well it   
   worked (I'd be particularly interested in if it did anything _wrong_ or   
   _lost_ anything).   
      
   >   
   >   
   >   
      
   --   
   J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()ALIS-Ch++(p)Ar++T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf   
      
   ... the pleasure of the mind is an amazing thing. My life has been   
   driven by the satisfaction of curiosity. - Jeremy Paxman (being   
   interviewed by Anne Widdecombe), Radio Times, 2-8 July 2011.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)