Examining Migration Patterns with the Census

As my research on a particular family line expanded, I began to notice what appeared to be interesting migration patterns that involved members of the extended family. I wanted a census report that might help me see these patterns more clearly. This turned out to be an interesting reporting problem.

What I wanted was the entire census history of a group of people who met certain criteria, and I wanted it in a format that allowed me to manipulate the data so I could see patterns. I also wanted a way to mark relationships among the selected people.
• The output was relatively easy. I wanted a spreadsheet report that let me examine the census patterns by name, by year, and by location.
• The focus was not as easy. I wanted to examine a selected group, i.e. List of People report; but that report did not allow Census tags as columns.
• If I wanted an entire census history, I needed a List of Events report, but that report did not allow me to specify the group of people I wanted. In fact, it did not even let me specify people with a flag.

When you need two seemingly exclusive reports to produce the desired end result, maybe there is a way to use the reports sequentially. For example, run a List of People report to change a flag; then, run a second report selecting only those people with the changed flag. That wasn't going to work for this report, since the List of Events report didn't filter with flags.

The Secondary Output Tab for the List of People report has several options: Create New Project, Create New Dataset, Change Flag, and Lock and Unlock Timelines. If I selected the group of people I wanted and "split my dataset", i.e. copied that group to a new dataset, I could then run the List of Events report on the new dataset. Everyone in that dataset qualified for my final report!

Step One: Create a New Dataset

Although this is commonly called "splitting the database", that is a misnomer. What this report does is select a filtered group of people and create a new TMG dataset, complete with sources, etc., based on that selected group. The original dataset remains unchanged!

Report Definition Screen		Select a List of People report I want a Filtered Group. I want to select a couple and their descendants. Note that there is no output to screen, printer, or file.
Report Filter		This filter selects a progenitor by ID number. (Note the use of [?] so the report can be reused.) The OR connector adds the next filter line to the group: all descendants of the progenitor. All spouses are then added to the group. [This is a simplified version of my actual filter, which includes inlaws and their children.]
Report Options: Secondary Output		Only the Secondary Output Tab is important in the Report Options. Check "Create New Dataset" and give it a unique name. I usually check "Suppress output", but an output to screen is a good choice when experimenting with a new filter.

Step Two: Census History Report from the New Dataset

Report Definition Screen		To produce a list of censuses, select a List of Events report. Although I might want all census events, this is still a filtered group. The output will be to an Excel file. I want as much flexibility in examining patterns as possible.
Report Filter		I want only Census events, so I first select Tag Type Label begins with CENS. The filter could end here, but I usually don't look at all fourteen federal censuses plus many state censuses at one time. I prefer to examine a range of censuses. Therefore, I choose a beginning year and and ending year [Year is not less than and Year is not greater than] Because this report was designed to examine migration patterns, I don't want to limit the results by placing a geographic constraint on them.
Report Options: Output Columns		Output Columns must include all data that I might want to sort as well as the minimum information necessary to identify each principal Potential sort columns include Name (last name first), Year, and State, County, and City. Principal ID number is included to identify principals of the same name.

The Final Report

This page is sorted first by City and then by Year. A sort by Name, ID, Year shows an individual's migration. A sort by State, County, Year shows migration into and out of a region. A sort by Year, State, County, City (the original report's sort) gives an overall picture of family migration.

Colors on this report identify the 1790 Census individuals. I would love to export TMG's accent colors with this report, but I haven't figured out a way to do it. I would also like to figure out a way to include the ancestral line with each individual, but I haven't figured that one out, either. Despite its shortcomings, this report has been very helpful in identifying migration patterns and confirming hypothesized identities.

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This page copyright November 2004 by Susan Goss Johnston.
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