Marked Sets

[drobin8132]

Hi,
Can anyone help me with learning how to use the "Marked Sets" feature in Reunion 7.05? Here's what I'm attempting to do:

I've just had a recent breakthrough in finding the will for a plantation owner who enslaved one of my ancestors. So, I'm trying to use Reunion for something that I know it wasn't meant for, i.e. to keep track of the people enslaved on plantations held by this one owner, his family and anyone he may have sold and/or bought, leased enslaved people from. The purpose is so that I can track enslaved people who may be related to me from one plantation to another thereby establishing a link and/or pattern going backwards.

I figured I can do this by listing the enslaved people from each plantation as "Unrelated People" (unless of course they are related to each other, in which case I link them by blood) and then assign them a "Marked Set" status (naming each set as the plantation they were enslaved on) to keep them grouped. The problem is that after I mark the people (I've only done one set so far) and then check their status in the Index view, they've somehow become "unmarked" except for the very first person that I originally marked!! I've also "flagged" each person as "enslaved" if that has anything to do with anything.

So, my questions are:
1. Does anyone know why marked people become unmarked for no reason, or am I doing something that I'm not aware of since I've never used this feature before?
and
2. Once I get the first "Marked Set" established and working, will I be able to continue this process as I discover the names of more people enslaved on other plantations (thus naming that new marked set as the plantation those people were enslaved on?)

I know this is weird, but I tried to think of some methodical and/or systematic way to track these people (this particular slaveholder held close to 400 people in bondage, over about six plantations) and this is what I came up with.

I was trying to be creative, but am I pushing the limits here?

Please advise, and thanks in advance for any and all input.
Deborah

[theKiwi]

You should be able to do what you're wanting to with Marked Sets with some effort, but I'll offer a different idea that you're partly onto already...

Use Flags to do this.

Define Flags for each Plantation - you could either call them:
Enslaved - Plantation A
Enslaved - Plantation B
Enslaved - Plantation C
etc
etc

or

Enslaved
Plantation A
Plantation B
Plantation C
etc
etc
- this latter suggestion allows you to set the Flag for someone from Plantation A who wasn't enslaved - the owner or his family perhaps, and set both Enslaved and Plantation A to identify someone who was enslaved at Plantation A

Then to call them up do a Find Anything ------> Flags ------> Plantation A Checked [AND Flags ------> Enslaved ------> Checked] for those who meet the specifcs you're looking for at that time.

This will be easier than using Marked Sets, as Marked Sets can only be saved once you've done a find to find a set of people, and each time you add someone who should be in a Marked Set, you need to find that set and resave it.

Cheers

Roger

[gwenboucher]

Hi,


1. Does anyone know why marked people become unmarked for no reason, or am I doing something that I'm not aware of since I've never used this feature before?

Deborah

At the bottom of the "Mark Groups" screen is a small box "Unmark Everybody First." Is it possible that this box is checked?

[drobin8132]

At the bottom of the "Mark Groups" screen is a small box "Unmark Everybody First." Is it possible that this box is checked?

Yes it was checked! That was it. I knew it probably had to be something simple that I just wasn't getting.

Thanks a bunch Gwen.


And, Roger, I like your idea even better than mine! In the back of my mind, I had a feeling that the flags thing was probably a better way to go. In the end I think it will be less cumbersome, as you suggested.

Thank you both for your replies. You were a great help!
Deborah