Add "this couple had no natural children" below a couple where names of children r given
Occasionally a married pair had no children (especially if they married later in life or one was widowed when they were young with children but were remarried) but that fact is not obviously to someone searching for children who may be wasting their time since someone who knew that the couple had "no children" doesn't have anywhere to post it where it could be readily seen.
I would suggest in place of the first child that there be a box that says "This couple had no natural children." There could be children in that particular union since children can be natural, adopted, step, etc, but the obvious fact that all children come from another union (or there simply aren't any) is a very helpful fact for someone doing research on a given person.
It is particularly helpful to know "this couple had no natural children" where a couple simply didn't have children nor adopted or acquired children through another means. Knowing that fact will save me from wasting time looking for natural children for the couple.
Thanks for your kindness in considering this change.
Denney Pugmire
username denneypugmire
Comments
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This feature basically already exists: for each person, click "Add Fact" under Other Information, and choose No Children. You can include the details in the reason box.
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One post has been edited to remove personally identifiable information.
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Unfortunately, unless the fact is 100% certain (which cannot always be the case with our long-passed ancestors) this would deter other users from making a further check to ensure that was a fact.
In recent years, I have found many children who were born / died between a ten-yearly census. I had previously assumed that the couple had remained childless, but this has not necessarily been the case. I'm afraid (in many cases) I would not trust a prominently placed suggestion such as, "This couple had no natural children", as I would need to make a double-check to confirm this truly did appear to be the case.
So, rather pointless for someone like me, who likes to confirm everything for themselves.
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This is a sad but fascinating article and graph: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1041693/united-states-all-time-child-mortality-rate/
Around 1920 about one fifth of all children did not see their 5th birthday. A US couple without children in 1920 and 1930 census could easily have had and lost four children between those two censuses.
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