Notes on inferred relationships

Inferred relationships are those that you assign when creating the Grid and adding a new member. They apply across decades. Do not confuse them with the relationships written on the census manuscripts in each decade. If an individual appears on the census in multiple decades, you may use all that information to assign the inferred relationship for that individual.

We've noticed recently that a lot of people are being assigned the inferred relationship of "sibling-in-law" to someone else on the Grid. This is generally correct, but does not provide much information. If you know a more direct relationship, such as spouse, parent, or sibling, please use it instead of sibling-in-law. For example, here is a household.

·         Bob Jellyby - Head

·         Jane  Thomason Jellyby - Spouse

·         Peepy Jellyby - Son

·         Carolyn Jellyby - Daughter

·         Myrtle Thomason - Sis-in-law

You can infer from the information above, that Myrtle is probably Jane's sister. So, when adding Myrtle to the Grid, she should be entered as sibling to Jane rather than sibling-in-law to Bob. She will still be entered as sibling-in-law in the census decade. If the individual appears in multiple decades, there is usually enough information to assign a more informative  relationship. Remember, you can update the relationships when you find new information.

We have been preparing data to give to the PI, and we are correcting problems we've found with the inferred relationships. It is much easier for an inputter to correct problems while she's working on a family than it is for us to go back later and correct problems.

Here are a few notes to help prevent future problems with inferred relationships:

• Make sure only person 00 is assigned VETERAN.
• Make sure an individual is always "related to" someone. For example, SPOUSE of 00 or CHILD of 10 or VETERAN to 00, etc.
• Double check that when you're updating one relationship (or 2nd parent) that you haven't accidentally removed the relationship for another person.
• Update relationships when you find better information.