Introduction
Information about people are stored in Individual records.
library(gedcomS7)
anakin <- IndividualRecord(
sex = "M"
)The sex of the individual can be specified with the sex
property, which is a single letter: M(ale), F(emale), (Interse)X, or
U(nknown). If no sex is specified, a value of “U” is used.
Names
A quick and dirty way of adding names is with a character vector (enclosing forward slashes are GEDCOM’s way of indicating a surname):
anakin@pers_names <- c("Anakin /Skywalker/", "Darth Vader")
#> Warning in (function (self, value) : Did you forget to enclose the surname in
#> forward slashes?: Darth VaderIndividuals can have more than one name. These can be different kinds
of name such as birth name or adoptive name, or if there is uncertainty,
variants of these based on conflicting evidence sources. There is also
the ability to provide translated variants of names. Given this
complexity, a personal name is usually defined using a
PersonalName() object (or a list of them):
anakin@pers_names <- list(
PersonalName(pers_name = "Anakin /Skywalker/",
name_type = "BIRTH",
name_pieces = PersonalNamePieces(given = "Anakin",
surname = "Skywalker"),
notes = "He had this name since the death of Mace Windu."),
PersonalName(pers_name = "/Darth/ Vader",
name_type = "AKA",
type_phrase = "Dark Side name",
name_translations = PersonalNameTran(pers_name = "Dark Father",
language = "en"))
)
anakin@pers_names
#> [[1]]
#> Personal Name: Anakin /Skywalker/
#> Name Type: BIRTH
#>
#> Translations: 0
#> Citations: 0
#> Notes: 1
#>
#> [[2]]
#> Personal Name: /Darth/ Vader
#> Name Type: AKA (Dark Side name)
#>
#> Translations: 1
#> Citations: 0
#> Notes: 0In the example above we have defined two names in a list of
PersonalName() objects. “Darth” has been enclosed in
forward slashes because it is the closest thing to a family name for
Sith Lords!
Name types can also be given (with an optional free text phrase) and
must take one of the values of val_name_types():
val_name_types()
#> [1] "AKA" "BIRTH" "IMMIGRANT" "MAIDEN" "MARRIED"
#> [6] "PROFESSIONAL" "OTHER"All names should preferably be provided by a set of name pieces, specifying the given name, surname, nickname, etc.
You can also define a name translation with
PersonalNameTran() or a list of them. There are also
opportunities to record notes and source citations for each name
defined.
Generally, conflicting names are arranged in order of confidence; the first name is more likely to be correct.
Once added to the Individual record, the property
@PRIMARY_NAME will provide the primary (first) name as a
simple character string, and @ALL_NAMES will provide all
names as a simple character vector.
anakin@PRIMARY_NAME
#> [1] "Anakin Skywalker"
anakin@ALL_NAMES
#> [1] "Anakin Skywalker" "Darth Vader"Facts
Attributes and events associated with an individual, such as birth
and death, are accessed with the @facts property. This can
be assigned an IndividualEvent() or
IndividualAttribute() object (or a list of them). These
objects allow you to define a fact, together with associated date,
cause, place/address, and the age of the individual when the fact
applied (among other aspects).
The full list of fact types that can be created are given below:
val_individual_attribute_types(inc_generic = TRUE)
#> Caste Physical description Academic achievement
#> "CAST" "DSCR" "EDUC"
#> ID number Nationality Number of children
#> "IDNO" "NATI" "NCHI"
#> Number of marriages Occupation Property
#> "NMR" "OCCU" "PROP"
#> Religion Residence Social security number
#> "RELI" "RESI" "SSN"
#> Nobility title Other attribute
#> "TITL" "FACT"
val_individual_event_types(inc_generic = TRUE)
#> Adoption Baptism Bar-mitzvah Bas-mitzvah
#> "ADOP" "BAPM" "BARM" "BASM"
#> Birth Blessing Burial Census
#> "BIRT" "BLES" "BURI" "CENS"
#> Christening Adult christening Confirmation Cremation
#> "CHR" "CHRA" "CONF" "CREM"
#> Death Emigration First communion Graduation
#> "DEAT" "EMIG" "FCOM" "GRAD"
#> Immigration Naturalization Ordination Probate
#> "IMMI" "NATU" "ORDN" "PROB"
#> Retirement Will Other event
#> "RETI" "WILL" "EVEN"In the example below, we add 4 facts for Anakin:
anakin@facts <- list(
IndividualAttribute(fact_type = "TITL",
fact_val = "Lord",
notes = "When he was Darth Vader"),
IndividualAttribute(fact_type = "NMR",
fact_val = "1"),
IndividualEvent(fact_type = "BIRT",
place = "Tatooine"),
IndividualEvent(fact_type = "DEAT",
place = "Death Star",
cause = "Injuries sustained from the Emperor's lightning")
)If you add a generic event (EVEN) or attribute (FACT), then as well as defining a fact value, you must also add a fact description which provides a further classification:
anakin@facts <- append(
anakin@facts,
IndividualEvent(fact_type = "EVEN",
fact_val = "Lost legs",
fact_desc = "Injury",
cause = "Lightsaber duel with Obi-Wan Kenobi",
place = "Mustafar")
)You can also assert that an individual never experienced an event via
the @non_events property. This takes a
NonEvent() object or a list of them.
anakin@non_events <- NonEvent("BARM")A non-event with a date period provided asserts that the event never happened in that period. If no date period is provided, it asserts the event never happened at all.
You can see a summary of all facts associated with an individual with
the df_indi_facts() function.
skywalkers <- new_gedcom() |>
push_record(anakin)
#> New Individual record added with xref @I1@
df_indi_facts(skywalkers, "@I1@")
#> xref type val desc date place age
#> 1 @I1@ Nobility title Lord
#> 2 @I1@ Number of marriages 1
#> 3 @I1@ Birth Tatooine
#> 4 @I1@ Death Death Star
#> 5 @I1@ Other event Lost legs Injury MustafarLinks to other records
Family records
One of the most important linkages in an Individual record are with Family records. An individual can either be linked to a family as a spouse or as a child.
Below we create a new empty Family record in our GEDCOM object
skywalkers, and then link Anakin to this family as a
spouse.
skywalkers <- push_record(skywalkers, FamilyRecord())
#> New Family record added with xref @F1@
anakin <- pull_record(skywalkers, "@I1@")
anakin@fam_links_spou <- FamilyLinkSpouse("@F1@")When we push this record to the GEDCOM object, it will automatically recognise that a new linkage has appeared, and update the Family record to reflect this:
skywalkers <- push_record(skywalkers, anakin)
skywalkers@records@RAW@FAM[["@F1@"]]
#> [1] "0 @F1@ FAM" "1 HUSB @I1@"Creating linkages between individuals and families in this way can get quite cumbersome, and so a suite of helper functions have been created that allow you to add a spouse, parents, children, or siblings with a single function call. These create the records and linkages automatically, and you can fill in the details later. To help you keep track, the functions also allow you to specify the sexes and/or names of those being added.
As an example, we will add a spouse and two children for Anakin:
skywalkers <- skywalkers |>
add_spouse("@I1@", sex = "F", spou_name = "Padme /Amidala/",
fam_xref = "@F1@") |>
add_children("@F1@", sexes = "MF", chil_names = c("Luke", "Leia"))
#> New Individual record added with xref @I2@
#> New Individual record added with xref @I3@
#> New Individual record added with xref @I4@These functions allow for quite a lot of automation. The
add_spouse() function automatically creates an Individual
record for Padme with her sex and name, and if there was no existing
Family record it would have created that as well. The
add_children() function creates an Individual record for
each of the sexes defined. Names can be optionally provided; if no
surnames are included in any names (indicated by forward slashes) then
they will be taken from the father (or mother if there is no
father).
The df_indi() function provides a dataframe summary of
all Individual records in a GEDCOM object:
df_indi(skywalkers)
#> xref name sex birth_date birth_place is_alive death_date
#> 1 @I1@ Anakin /Skywalker/ M Tatooine FALSE
#> 2 @I2@ Padme /Amidala/ F TRUE
#> 3 @I3@ Luke /Skywalker/ M TRUE
#> 4 @I4@ Leia /Skywalker/ F TRUE
#> death_place fam_as_child fam_as_spouse unique_ids ext_ids user_ids locked
#> 1 Death Star @F1@ FALSE
#> 2 @F1@ FALSE
#> 3 @F1@ FALSE
#> 4 @F1@ FALSE
#> private confidential last_modified
#> 1 FALSE FALSE
#> 2 FALSE FALSE
#> 3 FALSE FALSE
#> 4 FALSE FALSEIndividual records
An alternative way of recording the alter ego of Anakin Skywalker
would have been to create a separate Individual record for Darth Vader,
and link them together. This is achievable via the
@alia_xrefs property. Whether you include a one-way, or
mutual link is up to you.
Individuals may also have associations with others that aren’t
necessarily familial. You can record these with the
@associations property. This property takes an
Association() object or a list of them.
This object has a void xref pointer by default, as the person may not
have an Individual record, and if this is the case (as in the examples
below), an @indi_phrase must be given containing their
name. A @relation_is value is mandatory.
anakin <- pull_record(skywalkers, "@I1@")
anakin@associations <- list(
Association(indi_phrase = "Obi-Wan Kenobi",
relation_is = "OTHER",
relation_phrase = "Master",
notes = "While he was Anakin Skywalker"),
Association(indi_phrase = "Emperor Palpatine",
relation_is = "OTHER",
relation_phrase = "Master",
notes = "While he was Darth Vader")
)The @relation_is property must take one of the following
values. If it is “OTHER”, then a @relation_phrase must be
given.
val_roles()
#> Child Religious official Father Friend
#> "CHIL" "CLERGY" "FATH" "FRIEND"
#> Godparent Husband Mother Multiple
#> "GODP" "HUSB" "MOTH" "MULTIPLE"
#> Neighbor Officiator Parent Spouse
#> "NGHBR" "OFFICIATOR" "PARENT" "SPOU"
#> Wife Witness Other
#> "WIFE" "WITN" "OTHER"Submitter records
You can also link to Submitter records in the following ways:
- Those that have contributed information about the individual
(
@subm_xrefs); - Those that have an interest in the individual’s ancestors
(
@anci_xrefs); - Those that have an interest in the individual’s descendants
(
@desi_xrefs).